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career paths
HR CAREER PATHS:
Doug Brown, BSc.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
By Kristy Rydz
After 25 years in both sales and operations management
for the food and chemical industries, Doug Brown knew
he could help businesses build better teams and avoid
some of the frustrations in the workplace.
The result was Engaged2Perform, the southwestern Ontariobased
employee engagement solutions company that Brown
founded 11 years ago. With clients across North America in sectors
such as oil, food, insurance, health care and more, he and his
team provide resources and tools to companies that ensure they
are in tune with the needs and attitudes of their employees.
While he began by building employee recognition programs,
Brown soon realized that those systems were only one aspect of
what it takes to inspire people to strive higher.
“Although it’s an important component, there are just so many
more factors and issues that influence employees and their ability
to deliver their best performance on a day-to-day basis. So, we
began to explore what tools and services can support business in
really achieving that,” said Brown, who holds an honours bachelor
degree in food science with a minor in business from the
University of Guelph.
With more than a decade of experience, he told HR Professional
about how emotions drive workplace engagement each day and
discussed the importance of research in his field.
In your current position, what are your
main areas of responsibility?
Doug Brown: There are two areas where I focus my
time – one is externally, by which I mean clients, and
the other is internally. Much of my external work is understanding
needs – what clients are seeking to achieve with their
goals, what strategies make sense for them and marry with those
objectives, along with things like coaching support and leadership
development. I put a lot of time into understanding how
different sectors and industries are impacted by engagement,
what’s affecting them, how it’s influencing the bottom line and
what human capital challenges they’re facing. Internally, it’s more
focused on how I can improve, align and position our tools and
services to support clients in their engagement and performance
needs while making sure they’re achieving their expectations in
working with us.
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ OCTOBER 2016 ❚ 47