Renée Lanteigne is associate director of employee services at Lynn University. Lanteigne joined the university as a student nearly 15 years ago and has worked in Employee Services for over 10 years. Lanteigne’s experience spans all areas of human resources including payroll, benefits and operations.
Favorite Quote: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou
Fun Fact: I am an introvert in an extrovert profession.
How do you unwind after a long day of work? By disconnecting and spending time with loved ones.
What challenges have you faced in your career, and how did you overcome them? Knowledge gaps and resource limitations have been two of the biggest challenges in my career. On countless occasions, I have been thrown into situations where I did not have experience, expertise, or resources to best handle the task at hand. With hard work and a knack for problem solving, I have been able to overcome great challenges that at times seemed impossible.
What has been the most monumental moment of your career thus far? Implementing a new enterprise management system for human resource and payroll functions during a pandemic on an intensive 10-month timeline.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten? Treat others the way you would like to be treated, and always be kind. Something so simple, yet so profound. Especially important to remember this when others are not following in the same sentiment.
What qualities make for an outstanding HR professional? Effective communication, organization, agile, ability to problem solve, strong ethics, approachable, neutrality, balanced transparency and discretion, and ability to deal with grey area.
How have you adapted your HR skills to COVID? Aside from transitioning to working for home as so many did, the biggest way I have adapted my HR skills has been through patience and understanding of others. COVID put an unprecedented strain on society in countless ways. So much so that many are suffering in ways they may not under ordinary circumstances, whether that is physically, mentally, emotionally, financially or otherwise. As an HR professional, it is important to understand what others may be dealing personally or professionally.
What are some misconceptions about HR and how do you combat them? One of the biggest misconceptions about HR is perception. I have heard many times throughout my career questions about what HR actually does and inaccurate perceptions – HR is only in the business to hire and fire people, or solely focused on enforcing policy. In order to combat perceptions, it is important to have leaders that support HR practices and initiates, and partner with constituents throughout the organization to articulate the purpose and demonstrate the functions of HR. Helping employees better understand what HR does is key.
What do you like most about working in HR? The variety of the work I perform, and the people I work with—no two days are alike.
