Allisha Elliott | Sensata Technologies Holding N.V., senior vice president, chief human resources officer
Allisha Elliott is calm in the face of chaos.
In just 3 1/2 years as chief human resources officer of Sensata Technologies Holding N.V., a leading supplier of sensors and controls, she’s seen the company grow from 10,000 to more than 20,000 employees. The Attleboro-based business acquired four sizable companies over that time period, and now operates in 13 countries.
Elliott took the staff expansion in stride, creating a human resources department that is modern, effective and strategic.
“Allisha has ushered in a new style of HR leadership since she came to Sensata,” said Peter Vassilev, senior human resources director of global operations. “The teams worldwide became more connected, and there is much more practice-sharing happening in real time.”
When she took the helm of Sensata’s human resources department in 2013, her first order of business was to reorganize the team. The company’s human resources staff all had been generalists, where “every HR person was responsible for everything,” Elliott said. She divided the team into centers of excellence, with staff devoted solely to core functions, includingglobal talent acquisition, compensation and benefits, shared services and more.
She also created the company’s HR Business Partners program, in which human resources staff partner with Sensata’s leadership, establishing a firm bridge between the department and senior management.
“We’ve got a much more systemized approach, and we’ve staffed it with the right talent,” Elliott said.
She also set out early on to establish enough managers to support Sensata’s rapidly growing staff. The company’s Rising Leaders program, created three years ago, selects 20 promising employees each year to receive leadership training. Participants meet with a coach, get assigned a mentor, attend off-site trainings, receive assessments and more.
“Most of those folks over the last two years have been promoted or are in stretch assignments,” Elliott said. “We’re trying to create a leadership engine.”
Part of modernizing Sensata’s HR department also meant bringing the technologies it uses up to date. Prior to Elliott’s arrival at the company, Sensata lacked an automated platform for human resources services and information.
“We didn’t have the self-service you normally have,” Elliott said. “So my HR people were spending all their time answering questions.”
Elliott put in place a human resources information system called Workday, which organizes all of the company’s HR data – things such as personnel files, salary histories, staff performance assessments and more – into a centralized platform. Instead of tracking down files or asking HR staff for information in a piecemeal fashion, employees can get what they need directly from the database.
“It’s allowed our managers greater visibility into their teams, and has empowered them with greater people-management capabilities,” Vassilev said. “For HR, the new platform has freed up time and allowed us to be more strategic.”
Part of that strategy involves adopting a more-global mindset to match the company’s expanding reach internationally. It’s a philosophy Elliott understands well. During her more than 20 years of experience in the HR field, she’s lived and worked in the United States, China and Europe. She’s found this experience to be invaluable in executing the company’s “One Sensata” approach. Rather than rolling out programs such as Rising Leaders first in the United States and then slowly to other countries’ offices, Elliott believes in all offices adopting the same policies at the same time.
“We’re one team with one mission,” Elliott said. “Everything rolls out Day One to everywhere – doesn’t matter if it’s China or Mexico or Bulgaria or here.”
Elliott’s global expertise has also helped the company attract the best possible staff at home and abroad.
“Each time we need a talent upgrade in some part of the world, it turns out that she knows somebody who could be suitable,” Vassilev said. “And in most of the cases, it turns out that this person is really a good choice.”
