On April 16, 2014, the BC Human Resources Management Association (BC HRMA) announced the recipients of its annual awards – the HR Professional of the Year, Innovation, Rising Star and BC HRMA Honorary Life Member. BC HRMA’s Professional Awards are sponsored by The Vancouver Sun and The Province.

Christine Maassen, CHRP
Sr. VP, HR
SilverBirch Hotels & Resorts,
Vancouver

Where others might have only seen the obvious perils, when approached by SilverBirch Hotels & Resorts in 2010, Christine Maassen, CHRP saw only the potential to put to practice the experience of a lifetime—her own.

Maassen has served as a strategic partner to senior leaders from the start—always keeping people impact at the forefront of decision-making. From day one at SilverBirch she articulated the need for a performance-driven culture through the definition of values, improved communication and investment in employees.

As a business partner first and an HR practitioner second, Christine Maassen, CHRP provides a study in affecting change from within. Her goal is “to create corporate cultures that foster high levels of employee engagement, bringing about strong results and ROIs” and stems most directly from her years of experience in the hospitality industry—both operationally and later as executive director of human resources for the Canadian Tourism Commission.

Decades later, she remains compelled by the need to shift today’s workplace into one that respects and values its employees as people. Moreover, Maassen has proven a propensity for being able to affect that shift by balancing a solid bottom line focus with the bigger picture of “bringing humanity back to the workplace” in a culture of listening, empathy and respect, above all, for each individual.

Developing the tools to affect that change, Maassen gained her CHRP designation in 2006, a certification in executive coaching in 2008 and a Master of Arts in Leadership in 2011. Along the way, she developed a passion for scouting talent that has served countless individuals and particular organizations, tremendously well since.

When Maassen joined SilverBirch Hotels & Resorts as senior VP, HR with an employee base of 3000+, it was at a time of full-steam growth and resultant organizational change. From a transition to institutional ownership to a fundamental shift in brand strategy and 100 per cent turnover in senior leadership, the past three years have witnessed no small amount of challenge.

More telling are Maassen’s accomplishments over the same span of time. She has since successfully rolled out a corporate values program, enhanced collaboration and re-negotiated insurance plans, while creating a salary structure and developing bargaining tools and processes for dealing with nine separate bargaining agents—all in the last three years. She also successfully renewed 11 collective agreements across seven provinces.

Increasing employee engagement from 82.9 per cent in 2010 to 86.5 per cent in 2013, Maassen not only maintained the esprit de corps, she contributed to the organization earning five prestigious international award, being named one of the Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces™, as well as an Employer of Choice at four locations.

A portion of this success can be attributed to a campaign Maassen initiated in 2012 to keep collaboration top of mind. Collaboration scores increased by over nine per cent in a single year.

What underpins and continues to make possible such successes is the creation of a values-based culture. With strong support from company president, in 2011 Maassen spearheaded a collaborative, company-wide campaign to write, roll out and live the values of SilverBirch.

Transforming the reactive energies of a strategic core of general managers, corporate directors and HR practitioners into a high performance team, while drawing upon external agencies as required in development and delivery, Maassen brought a values-based culture home at SilverBirch. As of the 2013, more than 87 per cent of the employees believe the company to be living by its values—the company’s highest measure of approval to date.

In a separate, though not unrelated, initiative, Maassen improved the existing benefit plan offerings, beginning by trimming their number. With input from the HR Committee of the Board and tactical assist, that initiative alone has gained the company an annual savings of $130K and improved benefits offerings across the board.

All of these efforts are testament to Maassen’s overarching goal and ongoing mission to create effective workplaces and top line results.

Maassen serves as a pro-bono coach through pm-volunteers.orgTM, where she focuses her coaching on developing leaders at turning points in their careers. She also shares as a “knowledge philanthropist” through Vantage Point, facilitating workshops to help leaders define their organization’s strategic needs.

In keeping with the full spectrum of her experience, Maassen has also served as a director on the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council since 2012, providing her support during a period of transition for the national body.

(PeopleTalk Summer 2014)