After 11 years at Staples, chief HR and privacy officer saw greater purpose with EHN Canada
Tammy Sergie’s impressive career in HR was largely influenced by family.
That’s because when she was in university — “having the best time of my life” — her curiosity was piqued in watching her older sister look for a job and the response from HR.
“I wanted to understand how someone who doesn't do the job is able to assess you as an individual on your ability to do it… Today they might be hiring an accountant, tomorrow a salesperson, and they've never done those jobs,” says Sergie.
“And then the second piece: how do they find the right individual from a soft skills perspective, a personality perspective, a cultural perspective — having met sometimes a hundred or more people through that process?”
Sergie — who is now the chief HR and privacy officer at EHN Canada — then came across the HRPA and, given her love for interacting with people, decided recruitment was the path for her.
“But the more I looked at it, I realized HR is a very multidimensional, multifaceted profession. There are very technical parts like payroll and compensation design, there are quasi-medical areas like disability and benefits management, there are marketing components in recruitment, and there are teaching elements in learning and development. It's a very versatile profession.”
In pursuing her Honours BA in Business Administration and International Relations at the University of Toronto, Sergie also pursued the CHRP designation and came to have a solid understanding of HR organizational structure and the jobs within it.
“I felt it was a really good match for me — I wanted to be part of that architecture, the building out of organizational structure, organizational behaviour and design, and the ability to help a business execute on its mandate through structure and infrastructure, which I believe is really what HR is about.”
Ups and downs in HR at Staples
Sergie’s first HR role was at Office Depot for four years, before she moved on to Staples where she worked for 11 years in increasingly senior HR roles.
She arrived when Staples was entering the Canadian market with a big-box retail concept that hadn't yet taken hold here, competing against established Canadian names such as Grand & Toy and Costco.
The company moved fast, expanded aggressively into Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Europe through acquisition, and at one point in the early 2000s, ranked as the second-largest e-retailer in the world, behind only Amazon, says Sergie.
“I was part of the business at a very interesting phase, right at the moment of market entry, and then through a massive global expansion,” she says.
“And then we plateaued. We saw very different business behaviour — difficult decisions had to be made, markets were retracted from, and the focus shifted to North America only.”
The transition made Sergie feel like she was working for a entirely different business, she says.
“Supporting a growing business comes with very different people and human capital activity than supporting a business that's retracting into a narrower market strategy. And, of course, supporting a business through an acquisition looks very different than supporting one through a disposition.”
Helping others at EHN
In January 2022, Sergie entered a new chapter of her HR career, signing on with EHN Canada as vice-president of people and culture and becoming chief HR and privacy officer in 2024. The organization provides mental health and addiction treatment at facilities across Canada.
Again, it was a personal experience that heavily influenced her professional goals. In going through the hardships of the pandemic and appreciating the challenges faced by many in the healthcare sphere, Sergie wanted to be more involved in helping people.
“Our healthcare system is not keeping up with demographic and economic changes in the country. The funding isn't there, the severity of illnesses is much higher today, and we have very experienced physicians, nurses and medical staff either retiring or leaving the field altogether. The talent marketplace is very depleted.
“I wanted to be part of a solution.”
With mental health being a particularly challenging space, Sergie says EHN helps bridge the gaps in the public healthcare system: “I'm proud to be part of an organization working to help more Canadians get healthier and back to work and back to their loved ones.”
Meshing HR with privacy
When it comes to her job title combining HR and privacy, Sergie says she’s passionate about privacy.
“In healthcare, especially, privacy is the meat and potatoes of what we work with. There's a higher level of due diligence required — from a cybersecurity perspective, from a privacy breach perspective. The patient information handled by employees needs to be safeguarded, and that requires a structure and framework that employees can follow, along with training to ensure compliance and understanding of why protecting that information matters.”
Given the legalities, it’s a natural territory for an HR executive, she says, “because we carry a compliance hat throughout our careers.”
And while healthcare professionals may have good intentions, private conversations with patients need to be protected, according to Sergie.
“Educating our healthcare professionals around privacy requirements has been very interesting and very much needed.”
Motivated about mental health
Of course, mental health is often in the headlines but it can be challenging to ensure the topic stays relevant and impactful.
Awareness is important, according to Sergie: “Being persistent with it and continuing to find new ways to present the data. To some, the numbers matter more than the storytelling; to others, the storytelling matters more than the numbers.”
Being able to discuss the systemic challenges that impact productivity, retention and employers’ ability contribute to the Canadian economy is important, she says.
“We're collectively chipping away at the problem from multiple angles. It's not a hot topic of the day; it's a persistent reality that requires persistent, factual engagement. And it's about educating HR professionals on the role they play in helping solve it.”
