Employee Spotlight: Lisa Preston, Chief Human Resources Officer

 

Lisa Preston, Chief Human Resources Officer, joined Qlarant in 2023 and has become a driving force for growth, culture, and positive policy change. In this Q & A, Lisa discusses her Qlarant HR team’s, projects and obstacles, the core values at the center of Qlarant’s company culture, and what’s ahead.

Can you describe your role at Qlarant and how your group contributes to the company’s mission?

As the Chief Human Resources Officer, my role is to look out for the well-being of our associates and the organization.  That includes ensuring associates are engaged as well as have a good experience working for Qlarant. We bring on talented new associates, and help them get integrated into the organization.  We facilitate a lot of critical administrative processes (open enrollment/benefits, compensation, performance management). We also manage business risk. The team also encompasses training and development, ensuring that our people continue to grow in their careers.

For Qlarant to deliver the quality, clarity, and opportunity outlined in our mission, HR must help our leaders bring on people who already embody our organization’s values (Quality, Leadership, Integrity, Innovation, and Collaboration), and help ensure our associates have the resources they need to fulfill our mission.

What are some of the biggest challenges your team tackles, and how do you work together to overcome them?

Like all teams, the HR team tackles challenges of all shapes and sizes. In the last year, we had a significant team rebuild, which meant each of us were taking on new responsibilities, covering roles that were not filled, learning new areas of the business, and training new team members on the various aspects of Qlarant’s business and people. Concurrently, we implemented a new Human Resources Information System (HRIS). We had to move our data and processes into a new tool, build out the tool to make sure it would support the business’s needs, and figure out what to do when the tool didn’t support our needs in the way we hoped. This required an organization-wide change management and training effort, including the creation of work instructions and job aids to ensure people could self-service in the new tool. On a daily basis, we still work with current and new associates to make sure they understand how our processes and tools have changed, and help them get comfortable in the new system.

The HR team pulls together when facing a challenge as well as any team I’ve ever worked with – there are no people saying, “But that’s not my job” or “I’m too busy for that”. Everyone has a role they fulfill, but are always willing to cross-train, or step in to help when a colleague or the team needs them to. I’m so proud to be a part of this group!

How does your team’s work directly impact the people or communities served by Qlarant?

The HR team directly impacts every associate at Qlarant, from your initial introduction to the organization (recruiting and onboarding) through your eventual retirement. We are here to help, answer questions, supply meaningful benefits, support growth and development, and administer processes including performance management and compensation. We use all the information at our disposal (conversations, surveys, data) to ensure that we are aware of what is working well within the organization and are always looking for opportunities to improve the service and offerings we provide.

What recent project or initiative are you most proud of, and why?

We’ve had several major initiatives over the last few years, including the culture effort, the career architecture implementation (both of which arose from survey feedback we received in 2023), and most recently our HRIS implementation. I’m incredibly proud of all of those efforts. The HRIS implementation was especially challenging as we were onboarding new HR team members who were not familiar with the system or our processes. They had to jump in, deep dive into how things had been done, and find ways to update and enhance what we do while learning all the nuances of a new technology behind the scenes. While I hope that the transition was mostly seamless for most of our associates, it was a monumental effort behind the scenes. These changes created a lot of visibility and self-service for our associates, while creating much better and more integrated processes on the back end. We are excited about other ways we will be able to use the new system in the future.

How do you stay aligned with Qlarant’s core values, especially around quality and collaboration in your daily work?

A big part of HR’s success is dependent upon our core values, especially Quality and Collaboration.  When we produce data or provide information to our people or our vendors, we need it to be accurate and objective. We strive to be trusted advisors to our associates and Qlarant’s leadership team, and if we can’t provide them quality information, we can’t build the trust that we need. This ties directly to collaboration as well. We want associates and leadership to reach out to us when they need help, and we want to work closely with them to find the best solutions. We have to collaborate with one another, our associates, our vendors, and our leaders to ensure we can provide the best possible support to Qlarant’s people.

 What partnerships or collaborations have been key to your group’s success?

When we conducted our last full survey, we identified three primary areas for improvement within Qlarant based on the input from our people. Each of these workstreams was facilitated by an HR team member, but each workstream was made up of Qlarant Associates who were willing to spend their time and energy making things better for their colleagues and themselves.  Those workstreams helped us achieve so much, based not what HR alone thought was best, but on what Qlarant Associates thought was needed.  Those workgroups still communicate and provide input today. We just completed another survey, and I’m excited to create new opportunities for collaboration – and change! – based on the input our Associates have provided.

Can you share a moment or experience that really affirmed the importance of the work you and your team do?

I had the chance to speak with an associate who had one child before we had paid parental leave (PPL). She wasn’t sure she was going to be able to afford to have a second child. She came to me to share her appreciation for Qlarant’s decision to add PPL to our benefits. You can see how much the work we do impacts people’s lives. This is a big example, but we have examples like this, large and small, almost daily.

What do you see as the biggest opportunities for growth or change within your group in the next year?

Our biggest initiatives – the Career Architecture, Culture journey, and HRIS implementation – are (mostly) behind us, and that clears the way for us to tackle new opportunities. Many of them are likely to come out of the survey results from the survey we just conducted. We will work with associates and leaders to tackle those new areas for improvement. We also are rethinking how we do goal-setting and performance management. While this effort will be a multi-year approach, we are looking to implement phase 1 going into our FY28 performance year. There’s a lot more we can do, and we are ready to roll up our sleeves, collaborate with our Qlarant team, and improve where we can!

How do you support professional development and morale within your team?

I want to make sure everyone has the chance to grow and learn, so I encourage them to take on projects that might go beyond the boundaries of what they normally do so they can get exposure to other areas, grow new skills, and have hands on experience with other aspects of HR. I also strongly believe in each person using their training stipends for something that will help them learn a new skill or provide them greater insight into their roles or our business.

I also make sure I spend time with my team members, getting to know them and what is important to them so they feel like they are valuable contributors and partners, and not just a cog in a wheel.

What advice would you give to someone looking to work for your team or any team at Qlarant?

Come in with an open mind and assume positive intent. If Qlarant hires you, we believe you have the experience and capabilities to be successful here. Living our culture and learning every day will help you have a great experience.