This week's People Management Superhero is John Yu, Payroll & Benefits Administrator at YMCA Hamilton/Burlington/Brantford.
About John
John is an experienced people management professional and has received his certification as a Payroll Compliance Practitioner from the Canadian Payroll Association.
John is a people person in every sense and he makes a positive impact on the people around him on a daily basis, John knows the value of networking and he's a big believer in finding collaborative ways to help solve a problem.
Q: What makes you a People Management Superhero?
Editor's note: Our Superhero was too modest to answer so this is what his colleagues had to say:
He is able to answer questions in a single bound! Everyone in the organization goes to John for answers – whether it’s employees with questions about something Payroll related, a colleague who needs to know how something works in Avanti or a Manager who needs a report or information for analysis – they all go to John and he always has the answer.
Q: How does Avanti help you take care of your employees?
It saves me and my team time. Our Payroll cycle has gone from 1 week down to 2 or 3 days. We no longer use manual time sheets. This not only reduces the risk of data entry error, it also saves the HR team a lot of time that would otherwise be spent on administrative tasks such as manually entering time data. This is especially important because our organization is unique where one employee can work multiple positions at multiple locations in any given pay period.
Q: As you look ahead to the next year do you have any new initiatives that involve Avanti?
I’m looking at ways to show how Payroll contributes to our bottom line. As a not-for-profit organization, volunteers are very important to our organization. So I’m looking to quantify the value that volunteer programs bring to our YMCA through some Payroll analysis in Avanti. By applying the pay rate of a paid position to a comparable volunteer position and calculating the volunteer hours worked, I can determine the ‘cost’ of a volunteer if they were an hourly employee.
I would like to see us using Avanti’s Self Service Platform later this year. All in effort to improve communication and save even more time, not just for my team, but for employees and managers as well.
Q: What tip would you give to others who struggle with employee management?
Grow your professional network. It’s such an invaluable tool. Sometimes we’re limited in our way of thinking or tackling a problem. Having that outside input from a networked colleague can help you take a different approach that you might not have considered before, and sometimes they’re better than what you came up with ‘Why not give it a try’.
One example was when YMCA of Western Ontario was implementing Avanti, Because of my experience with Avanti, I was able to provide additional support so that they could make their implementation as successful as possible.
Q: What is at the heart of making YMCA Hamilton/Burlington/Brantford a great place to work?
We have a lot of longtime employees here who always look to go above and beyond their job description. That’s really inspiring and helps make it such a rewarding place to work every day.
Q: How do you make your people feel engaged, appreciated and help them thrive at your company?
I always try to be there for my employees and team members. I love to laugh and I always try to use laughter as a way to brighten someone’s day if they’re having a hard time. I’ve been told that the room brightens up when I enter it.
Look at John's super transformation in The Little Book of People Management Superheroes.
Are You a People Management Superhero?
Do you make a difference in your organization through your people management solution? We would love to hear how.
Visit avanti.ca/superherobook
