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Member Profile
Shelley Salinero, SPHR, SHRM-SCP
DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES OPERATIONS
HELLER EHRMAN, LLP
MEMBER SINCE 2006
What led you to Human Resources as a profession?
It was an accident really. I was offered the opportunity to help build the
HR team after my firm went through an MBO. We had 325 people and 14
offices and no infrastructure. I wrote the company's policies, put benefits
in place and hired the HR team. By the time I got most of this in place I
was hooked on the profession. The effort to build the team and then the
study and certification I received ultimately got me the job directing the
HR department.
In your opinion, what is the future of HR?
I believe that the move towards more strategically inclined HR professionals
is going to prove valuable and then it will spread across industries. That
will likely create more movement to outsourcing specific tasks. Since my
background is full service HR, this is hard to say. However, there are a
number of strategic ways that HR can support a business through resource
planning and development, organizational development and employee
relations efforts. Other items can be much more technical and rote and can
be outsourced. How much so depends, there are so many moving parts
in HR and so many requirements, I doubt that we will ever get to a strictly
strategic model. There will probably always be technical generalist duties
that are in house; the unknown is where that focus will be.
What would you recommend to
someone just starting out in HR?
A lot depends on where you are starting from. If you have received a degree
in HR, then you have the basic tools. The trick to success is to learn how
to use those tools and to effectively support a business’s goals. Being in
HR is a challenge as we are not always viewed as team players or as part
of the business. Business leaders and employees can run afoul of the vast
employment regulations and HR best practices. As practitioners we have
to learn to prioritize our efforts and learn where it is most important to get
a company on track with the regulations and practices. Understanding the
areas that create the most risk to an organization and its employees is a
great way to set goals. For example if an organization has no Harassment
Free Workplace training or policies, that is a good place to explore as there
is huge risk in an untrained workplace.
What do you find is the greatest reward working in HR?
On a day-to-day basis my greatest reward has been working with other
HR professionals. The people I have worked with have been generous
of spirit and devoted to the work that they do. I have been privileged to
work with and learn from many great people.
In terms of the work, human resource issues can be extremely complex.
Many issues have nuances that require individual solutions that will likely
touch multiple company policies and maybe more than one employment
law. I have found the greatest reward in HR is when the effort to
understand all sides of an issue results in a satisfactory resolution for the
company and the employee.
What role has NCHRA played in your career?
For me NCHRA has been a resource to remain up to date on changes
to HR. I am grateful for the organization as it is a challenge to learn and
stay up to date in the profession without organizations like NCHRA and
SHRM. I took an NCHRA course to study for the SHPR, and it was
wonderful to have this in place. I studied for the PHR on my own, and it
was much more stressful.
BIOGRAPHY
Shelley Salinero has 25 years of management experience in operations, administrative and human resources management. Her experience covers
both public and privately held companies in professional services environments as well as materials distribution operations. Aside from building
and developing highly functioning human resources teams to support dynamic organizations, she spent more than seven years managing the
human resources process of mergers and acquisitions participating in over 15 transactions. Most recently she has been leading the liquidation
of a top 100 law firm including the management of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. Shelley earned her Bachelor’s from St. Mary’s College of
California in Leadership and Organizational studies. She holds the SPHR and SHRM-SCP certifications.
HR
