Bridget Boyle leads a team of HR professionals at the Roche Diagnostics Corp., building upon much of what she’s learned during a career in human resources.
“I was drawn to HR early in my career because I recognized that as an HR leader, I was in the business of people and culture,” Boyle told HR Daily Wire on March 9. “My focus is on creating a unique culture that fosters inclusion, accountability and innovation.
“Every Roche employee shares a common vision that unites us – doing now what patients need next. In order to achieve that vision, we need everyone to feel challenged, supported and included so they can bring their best ideas and achieve the best results each day. That’s one of my favorite things about working at Roche – the quality of our employees. I get to work with some very smart, talented individuals that stretch me and make me want to up my game every day.”
Before her work in Indianapolis, Boyle was senior HR leader at Roche Tissue Diagnostics in Tucson, Arizona. Prior to that, she was a vice president of Human Resources with JPMorgan Chase in Texas.
Part of Boyle’s passion for promoting success goes back to her college years.
“I think back to a moment when I was attending Smith College for a weeklong conference on women in leadership,” Boyle said. “I was attending with one of my most admired work colleagues, Jennifer Zinn. We were walking across campus one afternoon after a very motivational session, and she said to me: ‘We need to do this….we need to create a Women’s Leadership Initiative at Roche.’ We need to do it now.”
At first, she said, she had a lot of questions.
“I remember thinking: How will we do this? Can we pull it off?” Boyle said. “Will we have the support? Lo and behold, with a lot of work, tremendous senior leadership support both personal and financial, and some high-risk moments, we kicked off in 2012. I look at where we are now and it blows my mind. We aren’t done… not by a long shot, but what this has done is show me that the sky is the limit. I can’t wait to see what we accomplish next.”
As for new trends in HR, Boyle cited more analytics driving business insights, new artificial intelligence technologies that help with screening and recruiting, and a shift toward more employee engagement.
“For so long, HR practices have been structured, cyclical and rigid,” Boyle said. “As the workforce evolves and work changes, HR teams are realizing the value of enabling more frequent and informal manager/employee conversations that are focused on rapid, two-way communication and feedback. By encouraging leaders to focus on the employee as a whole and not just performance, employees feel more invested, engaged and ultimately become more productive. Finally, we’re seeing more flexibility in benefits and total compensation. This allows companies to provide packages that are more tailored to individual employee’s needs and preferences.”
