Peer groups are a lifeline for this HR pro

Here’s this week’s edition of our Coworking series. Each week, we chat 1:1 with an HR Brew reader. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Marcie Chavez is the director of people at Artisight, an AI healthcare tech company providing hospitals and clinicians with tech to increase efficiency and do more with less staff—something Chavez said hospitals need amid a widespread staffing shortage.

Chavez began her career in marketing and communications, and fell in love with working in hospitals and healthcare. It was at a local hospital—as a comms pro—that she began training employees and got her foot in the HR door. After returning to school for an MBA focused on HR and organizational design, Chavez then moved into HR at that hospital, which she described as “baptism by fire.” She said resources like HR Brew, SHRM, and small peer groups got her through the challenges she faced as a new HR leader.

“I’ve always worked for smaller organizations, and when you do work for smaller organizations, [or] when you’re the HR person of one, or the team of two…It’s so valuable to have these peer mentors, these networks, these resources because you don’t have that boss with the 20 years’ HR experience to go to you.”

She is especially thankful for small peer networks, and found her colleagues across different organizations have been generous with their knowledge. “When you get to know these smaller resource groups, folks are very willing to share so it’s really exciting,” she said.

What’s the best change you’ve made at work?

One memorable change I made at a job was establishing a job shadow/mentorship program for high school students. It was a goal of mine to create a pipeline program for students interested in healthcare, and to see that come to fruition was very rewarding for me.

What’s the biggest misconception people might have about your job?

I think several people feel like HR makes the decisions on hiring and firing when it’s really the hiring managers [or] people managers who decide those things—not HR.

What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

Showing compassion and supporting people through the good and bad during their employment. HR is there guiding employees through the exciting things like hiring, promotions, celebrations, but also there during difficult times, when they may need leave because of an illness, are going through a challenging performance situation, or even separating employment.

What trend in HR are you most optimistic about? Why?

I’m very excited about more HR practitioners moving away from the traditional compliance focus and moving towards managing HR like a product—in the way a product manager does with sprints, iterations, understanding the customer, and getting them to continue “subscribing” to what we are selling (the job).

What trend in HR are you least optimistic about? Why?

I don’t like hearing about companies doing away with DE&I positions or programs—this seems like a huge step backwards. I think we need to continue to figure out ways we can support BIPOC employees and other groups in the workplace.