A human-centric approach gives Carly the edge in the world of HR
WPO member Carly Holm has successfully married her love of business and people as founder and CEO of Humani HR, which offers outsourced human resources services to small and medium-sized companies. And her twin passions allow her to keep a firm finger on the pulse of this ever-evolving, never-boring industry.
The 38-year-old, who received the Forty Under 40 Award for Canada’s National Capital Region in 2022, has brought her youthful verve and vigor first to the WPO’s Ottawa Chapter, and now to the Nashville Chapter.
As a millennial herself, she is well acquainted with the changing needs of the modern workforce. She reminds the businesses she consults for that if they want to see their profits rise and retain their top talent, they need to prioritize their people. And she does the same within her own business, being intentional about employee engagement, even with remote teams.
Born with an entrepreneurial streak
“I always had an interest in business but couldn’t imagine myself doing economics and math all day long, and then someone said, ‘Why don’t you consider HR? It kind of mixes both the people side and the business side.’ And from that moment, I was like, ‘This is it. This is me.’”
After university and business school, Carly worked in corporate before taking the leap and striking out on her own. “I’ve always had this entrepreneurial mindset ever since I was a little kid,” she reflects. “I liked the idea of working for myself.”
She drew inspiration from an HR mentor, who showed her it was possible to consult to a company yet still feel part of its team. “I realized that small businesses have the same HR issues as large corporations, but they don’t have the budget or the need for a full-time HR person. So that’s how the idea was born to start my own consulting business.”
She made her first hire in January 2020, just before the global pandemic – but that didn’t stop Humani HR’s upward trajectory. “I had a newborn baby when Covid hit, and our business exploded. I thought it was going to go the other way, that clients would say they didn’t need us … and then the opposite happened. The business just took off.”
With its human-centric approach, Humani was such a success that soon this Canadian business was servicing companies on both sides of the Canada-United States border. Having joined the Ottawa Chapter of the WPO in 2021, Carly moved to the Nashville Chapter after expanding her operations to Tennessee a year later.
Bringing your real self to the WPO
She says both WPO chapters welcomed her with open arms. “It’s been amazing, being able to sit at a table with other female business owners who are experiencing the same challenges as you. Just to have that in-person connection and be around my peers has been invaluable.”
She’s realized that, regardless of where in the world WPO members are, “we’re all dealing with the same issues. Whether it’s HR issues, managing people, sales or new business – having this group to tap into has been incredible. You can bring your real self to it, knowing you’re in a safe environment. I look forward to our meetings every single month. It’s been one of the best investments I’ve made since starting my business.”
Carly says the world of HR today is “completely different” to how it was when she started her career 17 years ago. “Back then, employers had all the power; you were grateful for your job and you didn’t job-hop. From an HR standpoint we did payroll, we did hiring, we did onboarding, we did terminations. It was very transactional and cyclical.
“But the world of work has changed so much through technology. Ever since COVID-19, people have realized they have a choice and their priorities have changed. The younger generations in the workforce are not putting up with the same things the older generations have, and they’re quite vocal about it. So employers, now more than ever, need to have a people strategy.
“That’s why we say to our clients: focus on your people to retain them and have a healthy workplace. HR is now about having a strategic focus on investing in your people as your biggest asset and allowing them flexibility if you want your business to thrive.”
How to keep your employees engaged
How can companies keep their employees engaged? “We’re seeing a workforce that is a lot more remote. There’s less collaboration, more independent working and more asynchronous working – and less connection. That’s going to drop employee engagement levels. I’m not saying you have to be in the office to have an engaged workforce, though – our team is fully remote, but we’re very, very, very intentional about creating that engagement. We prioritize getting together in person, ideally quarterly, so we have that touchpoint to meet on topics outside of work.”
There are many ways of maintaining engagement levels with remote or hybrid teams, says Carly. “If you’re on a call with a colleague, grab your AirPods or your headphones, and go for a walk while having your meeting. Make small talk, find out about their families, how their summer was, what their plans are. Run employee engagement surveys twice a year and check the pulse of your employees, to see how they’re doing. Take a minute to check in on them.”
She values the intergenerational mix of ideas in the modern workplace. “I love learning from the older generations. They have wisdom that we don’t, especially on things like challenges and roadblocks. But I think we also have a lot to learn from the younger generations. They are pushing back and challenging the world of work, but they are the future. So we need to be open-minded to people with different views.”
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