Canadian HR Reporter

YOUNG INFLUENCERS 2021 SPECIAL REPORT 20 www.hrreporter.com cultures, but marriage is possible — you just need to work with little tweaks here and there. But if you really want to marry them off and if the people on both sides are willing to collaborate, definitely, it is possible," she says. Samaraj's first project focused on data accuracy and efficiency improvements within the learning management system (LMS). She partnered with talent develop- ment leaders to identify the gaps by preparing a needs analysis. She then designed and implemented a solution by working with the vendor and their IT department to articulate the gaps. Samaraj then created an automated report from the HRIS system which auto- matically integrates into the LMS to ensure all of the employee data is accurate and up-to-date on a daily basis. Her efforts on this project led to at least 25-per-cent administrative efficiencies within the talent team. "The initial idea was to just clean up the data to make sure that the data accuracy is there... but then I realized that the same data is entered on both the systems — it seems also you are... giving all their data and then for the learning management system also, you are doing the same; it did not make any sense... three, four people are doing the same work into a different system," she says. One of Samaraj's biggest accomplish- ments in the past year was successfully leading Sunwing's first ever single sign-on project whereby employees gained easier and safer access to the HCM and LMS via their daily login into their network. She partnered with the IT department and several vendors to achieve this milestone, and along with gaining positive feedback from employees, network security increased by over 20 per cent. "Now the employees also don't have to remember three different user usernames, three different passwords, they can just remember one email and one password and they can access all the systems [with] that single sign-on," she says. HR'S INFLUENCE GROWS IN PANDEMIC instrumental in improving the employee experience at Sunwing Travel Group by leading various people and culture (P&C) technology efficiencies. Prior to 2020, Samaraj was exclusively a subject-matter expert for the HRIS/ payroll system, but Sunwing realized she could handle more, so it expanded her portfolio to oversee and become the subject matter expert for all HR systems which include a human capital manage- ment system, a global learning manage- ment system and an applicant tracking system. IT and HR "both are like people from different countries, so they sometimes talk different languages, different Source: Sage HR leaders who say they feel they have become more influential as leaders 59% HR leaders who say they experienced an increase in both administrative and strategic tasks in the pandemic 60% executives who say that the pandemic has accelerated changes in HR, such as having greater influence 87% HR leaders who say the crisis has helped them demonstrate their value and increase peoples' understanding of HR's role 72% HR leaders who say their teams have had a vital role to play in the pandemic, driving change, enabling remote working and supporting well-being 65% "We had a number of individuals who raised their hands to volunteer to be immediately mobilized to go out and help provide support." Kyle Wagstaff, Home and Community Care Support Services

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