Here’s this week’s edition of our Coworking series, in which we chat 1:1 with an HR Brew reader. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.
They say experience is the best teacher. For Kimberly Williams, the VP of people at Walker Advertising, previous HR experience at county governments, where she held top brass accountable to workplace policies, got her in “situations where I felt like [that] by doing my job, I was…putting my head on the chopping block.” She left the public sector and joined legal advertising agency Walker Advertising in September 2021 and is now using her expertise to help employees far and wide handle “discrimination and harassment” at their own companies. She’s even channeling her HR expertise to help the agency guide client law firms through expanding their labor and employment work—teaching people “how to sue their boss.”
What’s the best change you’ve made at work?
At a former organization, I walked into a space where a few privileged individuals had openly mistreated others. There was a culture of fear, and I could tell the prior HR chief had not held folks accountable. So, I started engaging leaders when violations occurred and explaining the risks of inaction. I initiated outside investigations into misconduct and [sought] to rebuild trust in our department. We began disciplining when investigators came back with findings and defended our decisions all the way to arbitration. With each action, more people came forward because they could trust in the process.
What’s the biggest misconception people might have about your job?
That I am only here to protect management and won’t help employees who have been subjected to discrimination or harassment. National surveys point to a high degree of mistrust in HR—and for good reason. There have been many instances where HR ignored misconduct or retaliated against the person who complained. But there are still many in this field who actually equate protecting employees with protecting the company and know that the best way to defend against the threat of a lawsuit or reputational harm is by addressing the problem.
Do you think your experience filing complaints against top brass in previous roles has helped you better serve employee needs?
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It was shocking to go into these smaller, insulated communities, and you’re like, “Whoa, what’s happening?” I think that [colleagues] were shocked that this person was coming in, being like, “You can’t do this”’ because it just had never been questioned before.
Do I have more empathy? Yeah. I was always pretty sensitive to the pain that people were under. It’s part of the reason why I went into HR because I felt like it’s so meaningful. When you’re scared for your job, you’re scared for your entire life because that determines where you live, where your kids go to school, how much you can eat, where you eat, how you support your family. There [are] so many things that are tied to it. So, it can be downright traumatic for folks and helping people as much as you can through that process is certainly valuable. In terms of a takeaway from that experience.
What trend in HR are you most optimistic about? Why?
I am most excited about increasing accountability. For years, employees have been coming forward with complaints and dozens of new laws are changing the labor and employment landscape in ways that will protect people at work. But there is still more work to do with regard to leaders who ignore problems or mistreat others and then hide behind opaque HR processes. Now, everyone is just one viral TikTok video away from accountability. And I’m hoping this broader, more public conversation will help people feel safer coming forward and pushing for change where they are.
What trend in HR are you least optimistic about? Why?
While I believe there will be more accountability at the top, I worry about the legacy that is left by slow movement in this area. In particular, when I look at HR Brew’s recent post on the number of Black employees seeking other jobs to flee toxic and racist environments, it confirms my belief that there is a general mistrust of HR and leaders. Much work is needed to repair the reputational damage of this field and to communicate that laws and courts are more on the employees’ side than before.