Laura Selig, Chief People Officer, joined Model N in 2018. Laura is responsible for all aspects of human resources, including talent attraction and retention, employee learning and development, and culture initiatives to grow and enhance Model N’s reputation as a great place to work.
She has 20+ years of HR experience across a variety of industries, including high-tech and financial services. Prior to Model N, Laura led the people functions for high-tech startups, including SnapLogic and Couchbase. She also spent a number of years in global HR leadership roles at Visa, Inc. In an exclusive interview with HR.com, Laura touches upon her HR journey, the challenges, learning, and future HR trends, among others.
Q: What has your HR journey been like and what influenced you the most to have a positive impact on your career?
Laura: My journey into HR wasn’t what I originally set out to do. I took an HR job after college to earn money to go back to school for my psychology master’s degree. By sheer luck, I found my calling in HR and decided to build a career in the field. While a career in HR was not part of my original master plan, I feel so grateful to have found work that I’m so passionate about and that I find so rewarding.
My background in psychology plays a significant role in my attraction to the field. I have a natural orientation and deep interest in understanding people, especially at work. I’ve always seen my purpose in HR in the simplest way: to create environments that bring out the best in people and make them happy at work. Doing this requires knowing what employees need and what motivates them to perform at their best.
| Name: Laura Selig Designation: Chief People Officer Company: Model N Total number of employees: 1,072 When did you join the current company?: November 2018 Total experience in HR: 28 years Hobbies: Travel, food, TV series’ binging (currently favorites are The Bear and Succession), family time, nature Book you are reading currently: ‘Lady Tan’s Circle of Women’ by Lisa See; ‘From Strength to Strength’ by Arthur C. Brooks |
What I love about this is that every employee is wired differently, with unique wants, needs, and goals for themselves. The challenge for me is to create talent strategies that appeal to a broad set of employees and are also adaptive to changing employee needs and expectations.
The most powerful influence on my own career was the experience of working for a company where I was not happy. I know what it’s like to be unhappy in your job and its impact on all aspects of your life. I turned this negative experience into a positive motivator for myself as an HR leader to do whatever I can to ensure that employees feel trusted, respected, and valued in ways that drive positive engagement and job satisfaction.
Q: What were your challenges during the early days of your career? What are those today?
Laura: Earlier in my career, HR as a function honestly had a harder time getting a seat at the table. Looking back, many things essential today to any company’s ability to build a highly engaged workforce and retain top talent — employee wellness, values-driven leadership, DEI, etc. — were not given the same attention and focus as they are now. I’m so excited about how HR as a field has evolved to be a critical contributing driver of business success and how many companies across industries know that success depends on putting people first. Today, my greatest challenge is similar to what I said earlier about keeping pace with a constantly changing employee landscape with changing needs and expectations.
As HR leaders, we must stay proactively plugged into our people’s needs and find ways to personalize the employee experience, provide the right programs and opportunities, and create an atmosphere of growth and inclusion. We must anticipate changes and adapt our approach to create a supportive environment. Listening to our employees is the key to understanding and preparing for future needs.
Q: How do you see workplace culture changing over the years/decade?
Laura: While I anticipate artificial intelligence (AI) will transform how we work, we should be wary of how it alters interpersonal interactions. We can leverage AI to increase productivity and lighten workloads, promoting engagement and job satisfaction. However, we must remember that AI supports people, not replaces them. Leaders should strategically implement technology, considering the needs and feelings of the humans using it.
The same can be said for the continuation of remote/hybrid working. While we see an increase in companies requiring their employees to return to work, companies offering remote/hybrid will have a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining talent. It’s clear employees want flexibility, and that won’t change. However, flexible work can limit employees’ depth of connection and relationships. We must consciously work to build, encourage and create opportunities for human connections in an increasingly technological and dispersed work environment.
Q: Can you share the top three learnings from the challenges you faced?
Laura:
- Culture is the lifeblood of an organization. In today’s world, employees seek companies with strong values and a commitment to doing what’s right. Values must be more than words — they must guide every decision to help build genuine trust and a strong sense of teamwork. A strong, positive culture sets organizations apart.
- Stay close to employees. The workplace is an ever-changing environment. As HR professionals, we must recognize that employees are complex beings, not just job performers. They bring their personal lives and societal pressures to work. Understanding these factors is vital, as they influence employees’ needs, wants, and desires for engagement and belonging. I’ve found having a regular practice of soliciting employee feedback is critical to taking a regular pulse on how employees are doing. At Model N, we do this in many ways, from our quarterly engagement surveys to hosting live feedback sessions with employees to get direct input. As a mid-sized company, we don’t always have the resources to do everything our employees want, but our goal is to make sure our employees feel heard.
- HR is a continuous journey of letting go of what we think we know and embracing constant evolution. With constant change, an open mind and learning mindset are imperative not just in HR, but also the wider professional world. For me, this constant change for HR professionals that began with the start of the pandemic is what makes now the most exciting time to be in this field. We’ve had to pivot and adapt in entirely unexpected ways, and I can honestly say I’ve learned more in the last three years than at any other point in my career. Learning new approaches and strategies to build a highly engaged workforce today has been — and will continue to be — a wild and exciting journey.
Q: Where do you draw inspiration from? What do you have to say to those who are still struggling to find a place in the boardroom?
Laura: I draw inspiration from my three teenagers who are growing up in an environment where they don’t hesitate to say what’s on their mind, challenge what they don’t agree with, and push for change. While any parent of teenagers knows it’s not easy raising soon-to-be adults, I admire teens’ self-confidence and freedom to speak their minds. Growing up in a different generation, I learned these skills over time, but they didn’t come as naturally as it does for my kids, and I’m inspired by that.
The journey to the boardroom is still not an easy one, particularly for women. This is an area where we have work to do, but it starts with having a strong community of support.
If you’re trying to find your place in a boardroom, lean on your networks — both professional and personal — to talk with people in board positions about their experiences. Seek mentorship from leaders in or outside your organization to learn and grow. Join relevant professional organizations to expand your network and gain knowledge from others. Be proactive in seeking opportunities and developing skills. And give back by helping others on their own career journeys. It feels good to help someone else in reaching their aspirations and goals.
Q: How do you draw the line to achieve work-life balance?
Laura: Maintaining boundaries between work and life can be challenging considering all the demands on our time, and needs differ depending on one’s stage of life or career goals. The most crucial step is to be clear on your priorities. What is important to you? What do you consider to be the right balance for you? This looks different for everyone. What do you need to be present and productive at work?
Defining, communicating, and adhering to your boundaries helps achieve balance. Saying no when necessary and asking for help will help protect your time and space. We also need to be more okay with seeing our career journeys as long and winding with different acceleration/deceleration stages based on what’s going on in our lives. Having the confidence to communicate when you need to take a step back or when you are ready for more is critical to a healthy, long-term relationship with work.
Personally, I’ve found that the best approach for me to feel balanced is to think of work and my personal life in a fluid way. There are times when I need to be hyper-focused on work, but I know there will be other times when I’ll have time to run the kids to an activity or turn the computer off at 5 p.m. to spend time with my husband. Knowing that things at work ebb and flow reduces my anxiety and stress in peak times because I know I’ll find the time for myself and my personal priorities when I’m not as busy.
Q: What fundamental change(s) (in terms of culture) have you brought into your company?
Laura: I would say the biggest change I’ve led at Model N is introducing our DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging) strategy as a corporate initiative two years ago. We decided early on to add the “B” for Belonging to our strategy to ensure that our focus isn’t just on actions, but also on creating a sense of welcome and connectedness for all employees, which leads to the feeling of belonging. This initiative started two years ago with a handful of employees and now has engaged hundreds across our global workforce. Seeing the level of participation and enthusiasm within our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) across the company is truly amazing. DEIB is now infused in every HR initiative, and many of our actions are guided by direct feedback from our employees. Personally speaking, it’s been incredible to be a part of something so important and inspiring.
Q: What are some of the major changes you see affecting HR within the next few years?
Laura: AI will bring significant changes to HR. The technology can streamline hiring, reduce administrative workloads, monitor employee performance, and analyze data, among many other benefits. However, we should proceed with caution and remain wary of letting AI take over too much of the job. HR will always require a personal touch. Only humans can truly understand employee needs and provide the emotional support necessary for a positive and successful workplace.
