Coaching builds skills and confidence at ADP Canada

Early in her career at ADP Canada, Michelle Pop approached her manager for advice on how to move up in the company. The advice she received stuck with her.

“My manager said, ‘Technical knowledge can be taught, but attitude and perseverance can’t and that’s what we look for in people,’” recalls Pop, now a senior client experience advisor. “I’ve seen that ring true during my time at ADP. We look for people with great attitudes.”

ADP can put attitude first and technical knowledge second due to the strength of its innovative onboarding and training programs. “It’s exciting to play a small part in an associate’s success and watch their career and skills grow over time,” says ADP Canada president Holger Kormann.

ADP continues to grow in the Canadian market, hiring over 500 associates within the last 18 months. And in standard ADP fashion, each associate is welcomed with a robust onboarding plan including virtual New Associate Networking and Onboarding (NANO).

Over the course of three days, new hires meet the executive team, department leaders and colleagues from different parts of the business. They are also provided with an overview of the corporate culture, values, business resource groups and ADP’s diversity and inclusion framework.

“NANO gives associates a view beyond the scope of their core responsibilities and creates an open door to our leadership team by meeting them first-hand,” says Kormann. “It’s very important to make people feel welcomed and empower them.”

The latter – empowerment – comes through training, which takes anywhere from two weeks to six months, depending on the role. “We want our associates to be as confident as possible,” says Kormann.

Apart from internal training, ADP provides tuition subsidies to employees working on professional certifications. Pop adds that the company not only supports, but actively encourages employees to pursue accreditations. She has completed two programs offered through the Canadian Payroll Association and recently finished the course work to be certified as a project management professional.

“Whether I’m acting in the role of ADP associate, payroll professional, student or anything in between, ADP has always been very flexible,“ she says. “You can alter your schedule if you need to take an exam or when there’s a project due.”

Pre-pandemic, ADP was an office-based organization, says Kormann. Nevertheless, the company was well prepared to transition to working remotely. And ADP is equally well positioned for a post-pandemic future.

“We were ahead of the curve,” says Kormann. “Having a culture that embraces technology and collaboration, with a flexible workplace already in place, has allowed our leaders to focus on ensuring our associates feel engaged, challenged and supported to succeed in whatever comes next.”

Pop says working from home was trying at first. “I’m a face-to-face person,” she says. “I like to be around people, but I have so many video chats with team members. We have a huge online knowledge centre – kind of like a Google for ADP – that makes it incredibly easy to find the person or information you need. It’s been shockingly seamless to work remotely.”

This article appeared in the magazine announcing this year's Greater Toronto's Top Employers winners, published December 3, 2021 in The Globe and Mail. This article was prepared with the financial support of the employer, which reviewed but did not write its contents.