IS HR SITTING AT THE TABLE?

Peggy Eddens, WSFS Bank

by Maria Geserick, Associates Graphic Services

Peggy Eddens, currently the Executive Vice President/Human Capital Management at WSFS began her speech at the Delaware SHRM Conference by playing the guitar and singing Bob Dylan's song, "The Times They Are a-Changin". She was saluting the most recent historic event of president elect Barack Obama. She spoke of the stories of her very successful career from her beginning as an internal auditor to various positions in training and Human Resource Management at Cooper, Citizens Bank, Mellon Bank, Nex Tier Bank and now at WSFS.

Peggy Eddens has demonstrated through her work the return on investment she has brought to these organizations. She knows the business and understands the goals of the company's plan. She continually contributes and adds value to the bottom line. Through her story telling, her strategic approach evolved and yes "The Times They Are a-Changin" as well for the role of Human Resources. She earned her place at the table but as Peggy stated "sometimes you need to set the table, determine the menu, serve it up and even clean it up."

So how does one get to sit at the table? I believe Peggy Eddens found her way to become a valuable asset to her employers through three key aspects: a genuine interest in people, communication and honesty.

The first is "people". Peggy truly pays attention to what people are saying, instead of making demands on people; she engages people and doesn't try to be an imposition but rather seeks to help find a way to make it better. Her advice is to speak with those in the know and get into the trenches with them; it's not always the managers in the know but the employees who are performing the actual tasks. She suggests using all of your senses, truly listening to what people have to say, trust people, use your intuition, make connections, and relationships.

The second aspect she strongly emphasized was the importance of communication. "Don't underestimate the value of communication for everything you do, have a communication plan, and know how you're going to position it, support it, give it momentum and speak it!" Communication involves speaking and listening and we communicate through our voice, our words, our tone and attitude.

Honesty is the third aspect. As Peggy told her story of the sale of the credit card portfolio at Mellon Bank, being honest was beneficial for both the employees and Mellon Bank. By informing the employees of the truth, Mellon Bank gained the loyalty of the employees and the employees worked together on their resume skills, mock interviews, and rallied together to support each other. A newsletter "Straight Talk" was created to communicate with the employees. Even one of the employees had requested a party at the end and it was approved. As we all know it's not always easy to be honest! Sometimes we find ourselves not being honest or telling the whole story to protect someone or to just avoid confrontation. We become trustworthy by being challenged and we learn from our challenges.

Peggy Eddens recognized how to add value to the companies from a Human Resource position which traditionally has been perceived as non-value added. However I was more captivated by her personal power. She gained the respect of her peers and coworkers through her concern for people, communication and her honesty. She recognized that it is through people that things will get done and you can learn from others. It's up to us to determine our future and where we see ourselves. People can help us just as we can help them.

In the end people are our most valuable asset. So while yes the "The Times They Are a-Changin", human resources is proving its worth at the table in these changing times.