The Small Business HR Podcast
Ep. 2
2. Elevating HR as a Driver for Human Experience w/ Elisa Garn
Elisa Garn
Vice President of Digital Brand
A career in HR isn’t for everyone. Just ask Elisa Garn—she turned down the opportunity to work in HR three times before a change in perspective changed, well, everything. Sixteen years later, she’s grateful to have had the opportunity to influence people’s lives—both in and outside the workplace.
We sat down with Elisa, now a Vice President of Digital Brand at GBS Benefits and Executive Director at Utah SHRM, to find out how HR professionals can shape the employee experience—and be a positive driver of engagement.
We also discussed:
- How she defines human experience and how it’s different from employee experience
- The three personas of HR and how to use them to get more credibility with the C-suite
- Why she made a recent career pivot—and how HR prepared her for it
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Healthy conflict at work can help us better understand the human experience—and avoid just looking through our own personal lens."
Besides managers, HR is the primary facilitator of what the employee journey looks like. That’s a monumental opportunity to be a force for good.”
You have to approach the HR profession with empathy and compassion—and look at everything through a human lens.”
As HR professionals, if we want our colleagues to speak our language, the burden is on us, not them. And in order to change the reputation of HR, we need to find opportunities to understand each other through shared needs and values.”
You elevate the importance of HR in the organization when you come to your C-suite with strategic solutions, not problems.”
Employee experience tends to be more through the view of what’s in it for the company. Human experience takes a holistic approach. It considers the whole iceberg—and companies that take that approach not only foster a better environment to work in, but also attract the best talent.”
Put employees at the center of everything you do.”
