Coworking with Teresa Sayler

On Wednesdays, we schedule our weekly 1:1 with HR Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Teresa Sayler is the HR manager at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota, where she oversees total rewards for benefits and compensation, employee relations, and workforce planning and change management. The 18-year HR veteran sees herself as an advocate for modernizing the field to better meet the needs of employees in a rapidly changing workplace environment.

How would you describe your specific job to someone who doesn’t work in HR?

My primary job is ensuring people are set up for success and have meaningful and respectful experiences throughout their day-to-day engagement with the company…In the areas I lead, my role is to ensure our total rewards offerings are competitive, equitable, and support employee retention, and [establish] properly structured teams to achieve the company’s goals.

How have you seen your role as an HR professional shift over the years?

When I was at Microsoft, at one point I knew my position was going to be eliminated, and it just kind of hit me like, “Oh my gosh, why? Why do I do what I do?”…If I had to justify why I needed to keep my job, what would I even say? I didn’t know how to answer it…So, I went on this whole discovery journey for months, and I finally came down to the two things that everything in HR hits, and it needs to focus on is the employee experience, and setting employees up for success.

What’s the best change you’ve made at a place you’ve worked?

One of the most impactful changes I have led has been in planning workforce reductions…While very difficult, it is possible for employees to feel hopeful for the future after losing their job, depending on how HR and leadership manage the implementation. So, in those cases, we make sure to prioritize the experience the employee has so they feel respected, valued, and prepared for the next phase in their career. We overplan the resources they’ll need financially, emotionally, and professionally; we meticulously plan out communications for the day, minute by minute, and we take an all-hands-on-deck approach to making ourselves available for impacted employees.

How do you design layoffs that are compassionate, show departing colleagues they’re valuable, and are meaningful?

When I went through it, the number one thing that I remember is how I felt...The employee experience is first. They need to feel like they are respected…They need…personalized communication. They need us as HR people to be available. They need their leaders to be available. The leaders need to be prepped with what to say, how to say it, what questions they might get. We thought about all the different scenarios that an employee may be going through.

What’s the biggest misconception people might have about your job?

We’re often thought of [as] being here to protect the company or protect management, or that we’re only around when things go wrong. Yes, there is sometimes an element of legally protecting the company, but in practice, HR’s role should be about employee success and experience first, then looking at how we can achieve that ethically, morally, and legally.

What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

I think the most fulfilling aspect of my job has been getting others in HR to see just how much value they bring to a business. Being in HR is hard. You don’t typically get a lot of love or direct support on a daily basis, so sometimes we have to fight pretty hard to establish our value. I love being a leader that can show other HR professionals the “why” we exist and watch them lean into the “how.” I, of course, help along the way, but it’s fulfilling to see them make the connections themselves and make things happen.

What trend in HR are you most optimistic about? Why?

I am very optimistic about the increased focus on mental health…There are many traditional avenues you can take to support the mental health of your employees from company programs, medical coverage, and time off. These should be offered at a minimum. The untapped opportunity, however, is addressing and removing the barriers that exist within an organization that negatively impact mental health.

What trend in HR are you least optimistic about? Why?

Quiet quitting. I completely understand why this is happening and have seen it happen myself. I want people to speak up if they are not feeling fulfilled or energized, but so many don’t feel empowered or confident to do so. Some may struggle with even understanding why they feel that way in the first place. But, the reality is that the workforce is exhausted. HR is exhausted and the demands keep coming. We have to be advocates for ourselves and for all employees in finding a way to navigate through these challenges.

Want to be featured in an upcoming edition of Coworking? Click here to introduce yourself.