Coworking with Ruthie Snow

On Wednesdays, we schedule our weekly 1:1 with HR Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Ruthie Snow had her first taste of HR in the 10th grade as the VP of personnel for an extracurricular small-business project, and she hasn’t looked back. In her career, she’s worked in HR in the hospitality and manufacturing industries, as well as for the US Air Force and NASA. For the last 12 years, she has been at McIntyre Center, a substance-use disorder and mental health facility, where she said she loves supporting those who support her community.

How would you describe your specific job to someone who doesn’t work in HR?

The best job in the world! You have the ability to initiate and support growth and change within an organization and its team, with the additional bonus of utilizing a plethora of talents and skills in your wheelhouse, from advocacy to career planning, to regulatory compliance, to nurturing company culture.

What’s the best change you’ve made at a place you’ve worked?

Giving everyone a safe space to express themselves. This is the best place to start to nurture trust, work out differences, and grow.

What’s the biggest misconception people might have about your job?

​“HR doesn’t understand the business.” In my experience, throughout all these years, HR was in this little silo. We were lucky in the beginning part of my career [if we got] to sit in on leadership meetings and express our side. There’s a big difference from when I started way back when to how it is now, and how it is [at McIntyre Center].

What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

In the substance-use disorder and mental health field, recruitment and retention is a huge challenge. To work in concert with a team of committed professionals who are so focused everyday with the health and well-being of clients is very rewarding. “Together, we make a difference” is our mantra, and I feel humbled and inspired each and every day to see the miracles that happen as result of the work our team is doing for each client under our care, their families, and for the community. And thusly, to see the support of our leadership in the growth and well-being of our team makes all of this possible.

How does HR work in the world of social services?

The support of our people is so important. It is hard work, so anything that I can do, that our owners of this organization can do, to make the path a little easier for employees and [for them to] feel more supported is how we approach the HR initiative and people ops. [Employees are] giving support, they need to feel support for the great job that they’re doing, because…what our people are doing, it changes communities, and they’re so passionate.

What trend in HR are you most optimistic about? Why?

If the predictions for 2023 are correct, we will continue to see a move away from “traditional” training methods or a “one-size-fits-all” model to more individualized training that is linked to how employees prefer to learn. Some thoughts are: micro-mentoring, performance coaching, and learning in the flow of work, all aligned—of course—with the capabilities the organization needs.

What trend in HR are you least optimistic about? Why?

Working in the metaverse: I may change my mind at some point, but I feel that this trend may work more to separate us than unite us, and limit positive interaction and growth. Though, I guess on busy days I could send my AI-enabled twin to a meeting.

Tell us one new or old HR tech product or platform that’s made your life easier, and why.

The move away from mountains of paper to HRIS systems and electronic timekeeping that Paychex offers.

Want to be featured in an upcoming edition of Coworking? Click here to introduce yourself.