paul joseph
F
or most of the 20th century,
workers were regarded as
little more than cogs in the
corporate machine—with the
personnel department enforc-
ing rules and -lling out forms.
As the economy evolved in
the information age, workers
began demanding more; they
wanted non-monetary recognition, more
personal autonomy and an acknowl-
edgment they were, -rst and foremost,
human beings. "Personnel" slowly gave
way to "Human Resources"—a change in
vernacular that Pau says reŒects a shift
in values away from policing the work-
force and toward a strategic approach to
managing it. "The new workforce is very
values-driven," says Pau, adding that
HR's primary function is increasingly to
connect the dots between corporate and
personal goals.
Creating those links is something
that Marlene Higgins thinks a lot about.
As HR director for Kal Tire, a 62-year-old
automotive retailer and service com-
pany based in Vernon, she's respon-
sible for managing a diverse workforce
of more than 6,000 sta• in 250 loca-
tions across Canada. Getting people to
consider a career selling tires in a slick
startup world requires a personal touch.
To that end, Kal Tire has built an internal
development strate˜y based on -nding
out, and leveraging, what makes indi-
vidual employees tick—whether it's the
knowledge that installing new tires helps
keep the roads safe or that they have
the chance to move up within the com-
pany while maintaining their work/life
balance. Says Higgins: "When you
connect an employee and employer
with purpose and meaning, you've
got magic."
While Kal Tire can't o•er frontline
sta• the same sort of Œexibility or remote
working arrangements common in, say,
the tech sector, the company o•ers partial
28 BCBusiness december 2015
easy does it
Leslie Collin, people and
culture manager at tech
startup Unbounce, where
employees work how, when
and where they please
