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2014 Dynamic Dozen Top Local Human Resources Professional: Laura Gates

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Laura Gates thought she wanted to work for a big organization. Then she landed at a family owned company and discovered otherwise.

“I started here when I was in my 20s. I grew up here,” says Gates, director of human resources for Strafford-based trucking company TCSI-Transland Inc.

The atmosphere that drew her to TCSI is what the company’s 270 employees still find appealing, a trend Gates wants to continue.

“We just want that family feel. In exit interviews, in our surveys every year, that’s one of the things people love the most,” she says.

The Ozark native started at TCSI in 1999 working in accounting for Chief Financial Officer Tammy Campbell, one of the people Gates credits with giving her the opportunity to grow with the company.

“I was willing to take on whatever they would let me have. I wanted to learn it all,” Gates says.

“As things started happening, it was new, and it was exciting.”

Without a human resources department when she started, personnel issues were part of her job. In 2013, the same year a leadership change brought in one of the founders’ sons, Mark Walker, as chief operating officer, Gates fully transitioned to her current role.

“I really wanted the organization to take this opportunity to make some fundamental changes in our culture,” Gates says. “With the new CEO, we were successfully able to implement a mission, vision statement and core values, which helped with the entire decision-making process in our corporation.”

For the company, that meant consistent policies and procedures across the board. For Gates, that meant more involvement with senior management and moving into a more strategic role, not just one focused on compliance issues.

“My No. 1 goal when becoming director of human resources was to remove the old view of HR being a cost center,” she says. “I wanted to show how HR can help drive bottom-line results. When we are able to connect the correct people with each department’s needs, it helps to lessen the turnover rate (and) creates less mistakes in day-to-day jobs for employees. This allows managers to spend less time managing problems and more time managing business.

“To achieve this, you really need HR and management on the same page and successfully working together.”

Gates credits CEO Walker with supporting the creation of an employee-empowered culture and a shared vision, something she believes helped TCSI end 2013 with turnover just below 50 percent in an industry where driver turnover is twice that.

“If we can exceed the expectations of our employees, they give back to us with loyalty and dedication to their careers,” Gates says.

“By having a good communication flow between HR, executives, managers and employees, we are successful in this area.”

Working with an executive coach this year to enhance her performance has been a career highlight, even as it was both exciting and sometimes discomforting, Gates says.

She praises management for having faith in her.

“You spend so much time with your work family, sometimes more than your home family. It’s important to have that bond,” Gates says.[[In-content Ad]]

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