The Real Harris: Meet Brenda Devlin

Tell us about your background. What led you to this Industry?

“My background includes talent acquisition, management and development, benefits and succession planning, mergers and acquisition due diligence and integration, strategy development and execution, and marketing communications. I hold a master’s in Business Administration and a BA in French & Spanish, with a concentration in Russian. My start in construction began 11 years ago when my husband and I general contracted our house. We have since built a three-season porch, a workshop and garden shed. I believe I have a true appreciation and respect for what it takes to manage construction projects.”

What drew you to Harris, what makes it a unique place to work and why do you stay?

“I was drawn to Harris for the opportunity to help build a Destination Workplace. I work with employees across the organization to improve our culture, leading us to attract and retain top talent across the country. I appreciate and enjoy the fact that our Executive Leadership Team understands the importance of organizational culture and that we have their full support as we continue our cultural journey – being honored with a Top Workplaces USA award proves it’s working!

“I stay for the people! I truly enjoy working with the Harris team members. It’s a pleasure working with good, honest, high integrity people who have fun while working hard in a safe environment.”

What are your main responsibilities and what is the best part of your position?

“I lead the Human Capital, Corporate Services and Marketing + Communications teams at Harris. I focus on aligning business initiatives with strategy and culture to ensure business results while fostering employee and leader engagement and development. Some past and current initiatives include leading our Talent + Culture Focus Group, implementing UltiPro at Harris (cloud human capital management system), government contract compliance and ethics work, compensation philosophy and practices, acquisitions and communications. I really enjoyed overseeing the creation of our Harris HUB and our OneHarris branding initiative.

Hands down, the best part of my position is helping people. I truly love and enjoy helping to make a difference in someone’s day by either removing an obstacle, helping to get them an answer, figuring out how best to resolve an issue or just getting something done for them so they can continue doing their job.”

What traits are important to be successful in your position?

“A strong work ethic, transparent and open communication, empathy, a drive for results, resourcefulness, a willingness to make time for others, being approachable – and the ability to connect the dots.”

What are you passionate about at work? What are you most proud of at Harris?

“I’m passionate about creating a positive work experience, culture and environment for all Harris employees – where we respect and care for each other while working hard, having fun in a safe environment. I’m so proud that with our continued cultural initiatives and efforts, we were recognized as a 2020 Top Workplaces USA. The honor validates the work we’ve done and that we’re definitely moving in the right direction!”

What keeps you up at night?

“Right now, it’s about how to best keep our employees safe while balancing the ever-changing COVID-19-related policies and practices. We work on projects around the country and guidelines are different in every state, as well as on jobsites. Long term, it’s about building Harris’ talent pipeline to support and drive our strategic initiatives.”

How do you recharge? What motivates you?

“As far as recharging, it depends. Sometimes, I just need a down day – being at home with my family, having an all-day pajama day on the weekend – we call it ‘jammy day’ at our house. Truth be told, we’re not really wearing jammies – it’s all about T-shirts, sweats and stocking feet (often I can be found wearing socks with Birkenstocks). Other times, just some good old manual labor in the garden is what helps me recharge. Working in the garden can be truly therapeutic.

I’m motivated by making a positive impact in the world each day – and helping others to do the same.”

What is something Harris employees may not know about you?

“With my undergraduate degree in French and Spanish and concentration in Russian – this was a great reason (excuse) to travel and study overseas during my college years. I believe the impetus for my career in Human Resources/Human Capital is because of that travel and study experience around the world as I have a true appreciation and love for all cultures.”

What do you wish the public knew about the company?

“I wish the public knew about our Talent + Culture Focus Group and how that group of employees has made such a difference over the past 4.5 years to improve our company culture and create a Destination Workplace – or what we like to call employment envy.”