This month’s Front of House features Angela Murphy, our People & Culture Coordinator. Motivated by a passion for supporting people and solving problems, she focuses on developing and refining tools and processes to enhance staff workflow, aiming to understand employee experiences better and improve client service from the People and Culture lens.
You recently joined CMRRA as our People & Culture Coordinator, can you tell us about your role and what your day-to-day looks like?
I think of my role as customer service to the staff of CMRRA. I’m committed to confidentiality, equity, and providing thoughtful employee and administrative support to ensure that CMRRA employees can fulfill their mission of providing exceptional service to our publisher clients. On a day-to-day basis, I am responsible for a variety of tasks related to People & Culture and office administration. My primary focus includes payroll, benefits, supporting the recruitment process, record keeping and office administration. I look for ways to improve processes and tools that will enhance the employee experience and contribute to a positive company culture. The best way I can do my job effectively is to understand the experiences and perceptions of CMRRA’s employees, who I am actively engaged with on a daily basis.
What inspired your transition from a retail department manager role People & Culture, and how did you learn about the opportunity at CMRRA?
As a manager, I’ve learned that being good at tasks or the job itself does not make for a good manager. Being a good manager requires understanding what improvements need to be made (both operationally and interpersonally) as well as the ability to lead a team to a goal that is understood and accepted by the entire team. To do this you must carve out time for these “softer” skills. These are principles that I am very passionate about, but as a retail department manager, I found that I had very limited time to focus on them. A People & Culture role is focussed on creating a positive work culture that optimizes employee satisfaction and performance. I knew that is the field I wanted to be in. Getting paid to support people’s ability to do their work in a positive environment by investigating and problem solving is the dream job for me.
I learned about the People and Culture role at CMRRA through my friend Karin Visser, who works at CMRRA. Before we became friends, Karin was one of the first people I interviewed and hired during my retail days as a new manager. She knew I was in the market for work in the Human Resources field and told me about the opportunity. She referred me to Janet MacLean (Senior Director of People & Culture), I applied, and I got the gig. Thank you, Karin!
What’s your favorite podcast right now, and why do you love it?
That is a hard question, but if I had to pick one it would be Where Should We Begin? With Esther Perel. I really love learning about how people relate to themselves, others, and society at large. I enjoy listening from the perspective of different experts (psychologists, sociologists, writers/journalists) as well as from those who don’t study people i.e. regular people. With this podcast I get to learn how people think and relate by essentially being a fly on the wall of therapy sessions. The sessions could come from an individual seeking guidance on a barrier in their lives, or from a romantic couple, friends, family or business partners experiencing barriers in their relationship with each other and/or a community or society. There is always something I learn about myself and how different perspectives affect how we show up in the world. I get to exercise my empathy muscle and better understand how our individual experiences affect society at large and vice versa.
Who is your all-time favorite band or artist, and how did you discover them?
That is an unfair question, lol 😊 If I had to choose, I would have to say Lauryn Hill. Most of my music tastes come from my older siblings. With Lauryn Hill, it was my big sister who introduced me to her. I really appreciate her range and how versatile she is. I am a sucker for R&B, conscious Rap, Hip Hop and Soul music, and Lauryn Hill covers ALL those genres. There is an underlying tone of poetry I see in her work, and I love that! Her music brings out all types of feelings for me and there is always at least one song that aligns with any mood I find myself in. I really appreciate her work.
Thinking about becoming a client of CMRRA? Already a client but have questions? Email us at [email protected] and we’ll get you the answers you need.
