Human Resources Educational Workshop with Steve Browne of LaRosa's Family Pizzeria

We are thrilled to welcome Steve Browne, chief people officer at LaRosa’s Inc., for our Oct. 8 Human Resources Educational Workshop. Browne has been with LaRosa’s for 18 years and has worked hard to humanize the company’s HR processes by creating a people-first workplace. That means – among other things – focusing on what employees accomplish, rather than what they fail to accomplish, and centering their goals on strengths, rather than weaknesses.

We tend to spend 90% of our time on the 10% of people who create the most workplace problems, Browne says, rather than on the 90% of people who do well, and that often leads the good employees to leave while the problematic ones stay forever.

“If you’re always playing defense, you’re reacting to problems and … not focusing on the great people,” he says.

Paying attention to people, instead of just results, can be transformative for a company.

“HR people need to be human themselves,” Browne says. “The more open and approachable you are, the better you’ll be at HR.”