In this special format bonus episode I’m in Montreal meeting Katya Laviolette, chief people officer at SSENSE. Katya leads a growing team of HR Operations, Talent Attraction, Talent Management, and Real Estate experts to shape and enhance people focused programs at SSENSE. Katya holds over 25 years of senior leadership experience in human resources and is a speaker at the RCC Retail HR conference coming up March 25th. I ask her for two starts, and one stop, based on what he has learned and experienced over the past year of the COVID era.
Welcome to the The Voice of Retail , I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
In this special format bonus episode I’m in Montreal meeting Katya Laviolette, chief people officer at SSENSE. Katya leads a growing team of HR Operations, Talent Attraction, Talent Management, and Real Estate experts to shape and enhance people focused programs at SSENSE. Katya holds over 25 years of senior leadership experience in human resources and is a speaker at the RCC Retail HR conference coming up March 25th. I ask her for two starts, and one stop, based on what he has learned and experienced over the past year of the COVID era.
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Thanks for tuning into today’s episode of The Voice of Retail. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss out on the latest episodes, industry news, and insights. If you enjoyed this episode please consider leaving a rating and review, as it really helps us grow so that we can continue getting amazing guests on the show.
If you are a retail HR professional you don’t want to miss the RCC Retail Human Resources forum, March 25th. Learn more and register at http://rcchrconference.ca/
I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co!
Until next time, stay safe and have a great week!
Michael LeBlanc
Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc. This podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada. In this special format bonus episode, I'm in Montreal meeting Katya Laviolette, Chief People Officer at SSENSE, Katya leads a growing team of HR Operations, Talent Attraction, Talent Management, and Real Estate experts to shape and enhance people focus programs at SSENSE. Katya holds over 25 years of senior leadership experience in human resources and is a speaker at the RCC Retail HR Conference coming up March 25th. I asked her for two starts, and one stop, based on what she has learned and experienced over the past year of the COVID era. Let's listen in now.
Michael LeBlanc
Katya, you're welcome to The Voice of Retail Podcast. How you doing this morning?
Katya Laviolette
I'm good. Thank you for having me Michael.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, thank you so much for joining me. I'm really looking forward to this. I'm looking forward to hosting and seeing you on the virtual stage for Retail Council of Canada's HR Forum coming up March 25th.
But, let's jump right in tell our listeners a little bit about yourself. I was looking at your LinkedIn profile, we could spend 15 minutes looking at your, your great career alone. Like, what names and stuff you've done. And, you know, take us through a snapshot of that. And let's start there.
Katya Laviolette
Sure, well, I currently head up the Human Resources function for SSENSE. Really in the, I would call it, the e-tailor space. And, I basically have had my entire career has been in the Human Resources function. Mainly, until I got into SSENSE, mainly in large, publicly traded companies, I would call them blue chip companies.
And, a couple of years ago, I joined SSENSE, which is a private company, headed out of Montreal. Co-founded by three brothers. We're over 1000 employees now. And, we are really in the luxury fashion retail space. We are growing immensely double digit growth. And, we basically serve over 150 countries. Our core of our business is e-commerce. We're in the luxury fashion streetwear. I call it avant garde labels. And we most recently moved into what we call the everything else category, which is self care, technology, and basically different activities. So, take care of the Human Resources function for this, this technological scale up business. And really excited to talk to the Retail Council about, you know, how are we managing in today's, today's market,
Michael LeBlanc
Give me a bit of a sense, so, it's not unusual for retailers to have big employee numbers, of course, well, more likely when they have stores. So, 1000 people in a dot com, so to speak, or a pure play, what, is that a lot of on the phone? Do you do your own fulfillment? And, is that a lot on the technology on the merchandising side? Like how does that break down? Give me a give me a sense of that
Katya Laviolette
Yeah, great question. So, we basically, an actually 1000 is what I call our stable workforce. And we have two sales a year, spring, summer, fall winter, where we ramp up anywhere from 800 to 1000 employees and our distribution and fulfillment operations. So, the core of our business is a permanent base of 1000 and growing. And it's really a technology place. So obviously, we have all our functions which are critical to our operations.
But in terms of scaling this business, we are what I would call a, an e-commerce version. And, we build what is very, very critical to our business, is we have a tech stack. We don't buy the technology. We build. It's very, very complex. And we obviously have a lot of interfaces with internationalization so far. So, a large component of our business is around studio employees, tech employees, buying, merchandising, and obviously, all the other functions that make up the entire chain of business.
Michael LeBlanc
All right, well listen. So, in this format, it's going to short form format give you giving folks a sense of what you'll be talking about on the stage. But, let's let's jump in with the two starts and one stop. So the two starts based on your observations over the past year. Who knows maybe based on, on your career moving into retail. That's a big shift for you, right? You've been in media. You've moved into retail, that's, that's got to be a thing for you. And congratulations on moving into one of the most interesting times in the history of retail. What are your two, two starts that you advise our listeners to think about?
Katya Laviolette
Well, I was thinking about this and it's really, it really has an overlay of COVID as well because we have, we have been in a crisis situation for the last year. I think we're, we're now kind of into, we hope looking forward to the the light at the end of the tunnel and the post pandemic.
But, a couple of things that I have really done some self reflection on, because when we started down this road for us, it was in February, we started to prepare for this onslaught of this pandemic. And I've managed a few crises in my career. This one, I kind of is analogous to, I thought, okay, well, is it like a sprint? Is it like a 5k? 10k? And, now it has become the analogy of the ultra marathon. So, you need to be resilient. You need to learn to pivot. So, one thing around starting was the fact that when I've typically managed crises in the past is being very directed for short periods of time. This is not the same thing. So what I did learn very early on was, yes, you need to have a very strong leadership and direction, but you need to listen to your people. And you need to be able to pivot and have the humility to say, Oh, really, that perhaps was not, or that's not going to be the right choice. Or was not the right choice. Let's course correct. So that would be one start.
Michael LeBlanc
Yes, right?
Katya Laviolette
Exactly. And we see this all over the world. We see what's happening. I mean, we are, we are changing as we're going. So you can't, you can't just say, well, we've made that decision and stick with it. You have to continuously pivot. And I believe that's here to stay for the future. And it's not something that is just COVID related. It's, is what we're seeing in the market?
Michael LeBlanc
Well, a couple of things that, you know, it's interesting, in 2020, we talked a lot about, it was the year to keep employees physically safe, right? Get all that COVID stuff down, whether in the warehouse or wherever the workplace. But 2021 was a focus, and I think will be a focus, on mental health.
Katya Laviolette
Oh,it is.
Michael LeBlanc
Would you agree on that?
Katya Laviolette
Completely, completely. So our first part of the year was really around ensuring that we had the best in class safety measures for our on site employees and a number of our other employees who went home. And we did put in a number of wellness initiatives. And now we're actually turning our efforts to integrating wellness, because it's not just an issue, at essence, it's a societal issue. And it's, it is a, we call it at SSENSE, what are our needle movers. And we have four main strategic priorities and the people function and one of those as wellness for 2021 and beyond. So, that would be my first start.
My second start would be data mixed with intuition and instinct. So, we are a very data driven company. We are co-founded by two engineers and one business leader. And we use a lot of data and we, we analyze. We're obviously looking at artificial intelligence and analytics constantly in terms of our business. And what are, what kind of inventory are we going to offer to our consumers. But what that transcends in the people function is data is really important, too, in terms of how we're running our people strategy.
However, one start is data can't just be the end of everything. You actually have to overlay some heart to it, some empathy to it, and some of your intuition that needs to play out just in terms of experience from the past. So, I think it's kind of a good recipe for the future. Because, what we're doing in this day and age, is we are in new territory. And again, it's a bit about pivoting. So, the second start would be data is critical, but data and then having some good common sense on how to interpret that data on what to move forward with.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, I think it's such a relevant point, because, and from your perspective, I've talked to a lot of retailers, who say, Listen, I my data doesn't make sense anymore. And for a group of data analysts steeped in looking at prediction models based on past behaviors, what behaviors are we gonna base this on now that the behaviours are?
Katya Laviolette
Yes
Michael LeBlanc
The behaviors are so unusual. So, that takes a different type of person, right? That takes a more, as you say, someone who is a little more, perhaps fluid with their interpretation rather than just looking at the data. That's a real, I'm sure that's a real challenge to find that right fit, right? That right person who's both steeped in the, in the data and also the judgment around the data, right?
Katya Laviolette
It is, but I think it's also something that we all need to develop as leaders no matter what function you're in, because I, I think that when you come back to your point, Michael, on mental health, mental health is soft. It's, yes there's data to it, but it's also about empathy, listening, identifying signs and so forth. So, you have to
Michael LeBlanc
Experience right
Katya Laviolette
Yeah, you have to combine those two.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah. So interesting. I think I think that the retailer of the futures is a lot more agile, and you used that word before. In other words, in a world where we can't predict the future, clearly, we need to build organizations that have that muscle memory to be nimble versus that, you know, that muscle memory that many retailers developed to be just relentlessly efficient. And, you know, just knock it out, you know, two three year plans. Now you've just like, two, three week plans.
Katya Laviolette
Yes, well, I think you need to have the ambition for the future and it's actually a mix of both strategic and operational.
Michael LeBlanc
Yeah, well said well said. All right, two great ones.
Katya Laviolette
And then I would say for stop, actually, it's actually what you said, we should not assume the past will predict the future. And, I think our last year has actually been very telling in this regard. So, we need to be open to change. We need to be able to not just take what we've done in the past and say, we're just going to apply it, you know, point blank, like we, like would, might have done in the past. So it's really dissecting into, into different pieces, you know. What is our journey? What is our experience? What have we gained? And then looking to the future and putting all that together to be able to build a strategy as we move forward? So, I think exactly that. Like we, for me, it's around when I first got into this, I was like, what have we done in the past. All that informs us. But it's not the, it's not the measure for success. We need to be creative, innovative. We need to continue to drive and so forth. So the one stop would be assuming the past will not predict the future.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, coming up very shortly, actually, March 25th, you'll be on the virtual stage, what are you going to be talking about? What are you going to be doing at the Retail Council of Canada HR Forum?
Katya Laviolette
Yes, on March 25th, we have a panel with other HR colleagues. So I'm excited to be on the panel with my other colleagues. And really, the theme is around recruitment, challenging challenges and changing priorities. Which is so relevant, for SSENSE. We're going to be addressing the talent pool, which has been extremely competitive. I've never seen the market, we have two extremes we have very competitive. And then we have very, unfortunately, not competitive at all. I've never seen anything where there's nothing in the middle. And, and part of this theme is how do you continue, especially in the e-commerce world, to compete for talent.
So for us, we are a Montreal based employer. We've been in business for 18 years. We've relied heavily on talent in Montreal. We've relied heavily on tech talent. We need to move out of, of Montreal into the remote world. And we're doing that. We're going international and so forth. And COVID has been a precursor to that too actually accelerate our expansion. And really accelerate our talent pools, and how to manage. We will not go back to the office in the same format we left in mid-March. So, all that we're talking about on March 25th, in terms of what are the challenges, but what are we doing to address those challenges in terms of ensuring that we have the right talent in place to be able to manage this growth.
Michael LeBlanc
Well, fantastic. Sounds like a great session. I'm the Emcee for the event. So, you and I will speak again. I'll have the pleasure of introducing you and chatting briefly with you on the 25th. But until then, thanks again for joining us on The Voice of Retail. Was great to meet and chat a bit. And I wish you continued success and look forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks.
Katya Laviolette
Wonderful, thank you Michael.
Michael LeBlanc
Thanks for tuning into today's episode of The Voice of Retail. Be sure and subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss out on the latest episodes, industry news and insights. If you enjoy this episode, please consider leaving a rating and review as it really helps us grow so we can continue to get amazing guests onto the show.
If you are a retail HR professional, you don't want to miss the RCC Retail Human Resources Forum, March 25th. Learn more and register at www.rcchrconference.ca orr retailcouncil.org.
I'm your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc Company Inc.. And if you're looking for more content or want to chat, follow me on LinkedIn. Visit my website at meleblanc.co. Until next time, stay safe and have a great week.