Vice President of Learning and Engagement at Freudenberg Sealing Technologies

Connie Sandros

I’ve heard it said that the most interesting people don’t know what they want to do until they are forty. If that is right, then I am on my way to being interesting. I started my career in retail management, then became a schoolteacher and followed that by managing a few not-for-profit programs in the education and workforce readiness sphere before I was introduced to a person doing the career I most wanted. From that moment on, I started pursuing organization development and HR, and now I find myself in my mid-forties, enjoying a career I never dreamed of in my twenties or even thirties.

My journey to the position of vice president of Human Resources Americas and Global Learning and Engagement started in earnest in 2016 when I joined Freudenberg NOK Sealing Technologies as a corporate trainer after relocating with my family from Canada to the United States. Although it was a significant career step backward, I was happy to make a start in HR and to gain work in my new country of residence. Fortunately, it didn't take long for me to be promoted to a global management position, followed by a global director position and finally to the position of vice president of learning and engagement in 2021. In 2022, I added the dual role of vice president of HR for the region Americas to my responsibilities.

In my current role, I am responsible for the transactional and strategic sides of HR. I am responsible for the strategic direction and execution of the company in the learning and engagement topics; I am responsible for the compliance, recruitment, compensation, benefits, and process innovation in our 22 sites, spread across Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Additionally, this year, I took over responsibility for guiding the strategic direction and execution of the company in the sphere of diversity, equity, and inclusion and the business partner role for our corporate and sales functional leaders. I manage a corporate team in Plymouth, Michigan, and a learning and engagement team headquartered in Weinheim, Germany.

‘In HR, we all know compensation doesn't retain people; relationships retain people. Find a way to make relationships easy, and you will go a long way to solving your retention issues.’

From my position, I see a few trends that I expect will have a lasting impact on how we work in human resources. I expect that data analytics will continue to increase, and we will be able to analyze and support business objectives in ways we've never known before. I also expect digitalization to increase in general as companies embrace AI solutions. We, for example, are already using several AI products to create just-in-time training solutions at a minimal cost. I also expect that we will continue to see upheaval in the labor markets for the next few years; after surviving a global pandemic and an inflation crisis, it seems people are looking for something different than the traditional 40-hour work week, and I think we will grapple with that until we find a collective new model of employment that fits the workforce of the future. Also, when considering the workforce of the future, one thing is non-negotiable. It will be more diverse and more equal than ever.

As I mentioned earlier, I think there are a lot of technological solutions that will transform HR in the next five years. The first is comprehensive HR platforms that manage people's data from hire to retirement. Those systems are allowing for report generation and analysis that will support organizational advancement in ways we only dreamed of even five years ago. In the learning space, AI, translation programs, and Microsoft Teams are allowing for excellent digital solutions to train a global workforce from anywhere in the world and in whatever language best serves their knowledge acquisition. For DEI, AI can also be an excellent technology, supporting equitable hiring, promotion, and compensation. Viva Exchange is also a great Microsoft tool for engagement, knowledge exchange and inclusivity.

As a leader, I implement a few strategies to raise awareness of the coming HR transformations. First, I execute strategies that focus on sound principles of change management. I engage with critical stakeholders and influencers within the organization to share my knowledge and garner support for the strategic directions needed to meet the coming challenges. Additionally, as a Lean Blackbelt, I use the principles of lean process management to simplify HR touchpoints and to ensure they are laser-focused on the needs of the customer. In managing my teams, I am committed to trusting and empowering my people, and they have very rarely let me down. As a leader, I am very aware of the fallacy of the Emperor's New Clothes, so I regularly conduct skip-level meetings and ask for feedback, especially critical feedback, to ensure that I am fully understanding the needs of the company of my people. I am never afraid to say I made a mistake or to change my direction if it's wrong for the company or my people.

It seems disruption is the new normal, so yes, I expect more disruptions in the future. However, I also expect predicting disruptions beyond the next 18 months is likely a fool’s errand. What I expect to continue to disrupt the industry is big data, AI, and the integration of Generation Z into the workforce. What I would mention, though, is that overall, I am a fan of disruption. I see change as an opportunity to remake our organizations in ways that better meet the needs of our customers and our employees

The best advice I can give anyone starting in HR is to stay informed. I have a natural love for economics and business, so I pay attention to economic trends and business trends so that I can be the best partner to my peers in leadership. Staying informed about what is happening helps me get in front of trends that will impact our labor and drive surgical preemptive solutions instead of waiting and being forced to implement broad-brush reactive solutions. I would also recommend staying connected to the workforce; when you get into corporate roles, the operators and operations can feel very far away.

I also recommend focusing on creating the best corporate culture possible, focusing on your corporate principles and values, and staying true to them. One of the initiatives I am most proud of is creating global engagement teams and virtual communities that focus on creating cultures of engagement at our operation sites based on our guiding principles. In HR, we all know compensation doesn't retain people; relationships retain people. Find a way to make relationships easy, and you will go a long way to solving your retention issues.

Lastly, don’t ever forget that HR is important. It is the people that make the business successful; everything else can be purchased in the open market, but the people in your company are great differentiators. In HR, we support the people who make the difference.