For Tammie Neal, chief human resources officer at Signature Bank of Arkansas in Fayetteville, being successful in any role boils down to one thing: hard work.
Neal, who celebrated 19 years at the bank in December, has a background in farming, and she graduated from Oklahoma State University with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics. Prior to joining Signature Bank, she worked for the University of Arkansas in secretarial and administrative assistant positions. In her time with the bank, Neal has served in several positions, including as executive vice president of human resources and executive services.
Though she has learned many lessons both in and outside of HR, she said the most important lesson she learned was how to be a hard worker.
“I was raised by my parents to be a hard worker. I learned that if you work hard, you will be successful. I was also taught to find something you love to do and something that makes you happy,” Neal said.
In her professional life, Neal has been able to build a career based on serving employees, which she looks forward to doing every day.
“For me, being a CHRO is about helping people and seeing people grow in their careers with us. We have had several people come into the bank in the teller line and watch them work their way up. About four of our folks that came in and started primarily at the bottom are now in our C-suite,” Neal said. “Seeing people grow and work in various positions throughout the years and learn all about banking is rewarding.”
While watching individuals succeed in their career is a big part of what Neal loves about working for Signature Bank, a close second is the work environment.
“We truly are a family around here. We take care of each other, we look out for each other, and we understand when employees have things to take care of outside of the job they have. When an employee needs to take leave, we jump in and help take care of the duties they have,” Neal said. “We have several people that have been here for as long as I have, and I think a major reason for that is because of the way we take care of each other.”
Neal said CEO Gary Head often tells new employees that Signature Bank only has one rule: We get along, or we get along.
“We are all a team together, and we all work together. We also make our environment a fun place to work. We do not want our employees to dread coming to work,” Neal said.
Though the CHRO role entails many duties, from employee benefits to raises and payroll, Neal rarely has a typical day in the office. Neal encouraged employees to get to know their HR departments because HR professionals are meant to serve as an open door for employees.
“There really aren’t any typical days. There are so many things that my team and I do throughout the week. Sometimes it is answering questions about benefits or retirement plans, and sometimes it is counseling an employee,” Neal said. “This past Friday, it was all about passing out goodies to all of our offices to celebrate Employee Appreciation Day.”
Job duties in human resources careers are vast, and because of this, there are a lot of necessary skills HR professionals should possess. Neal said the biggest soft skill boils down to having empathy for others.
“You have to be able to sit back and see where that person is coming from. If they are asking you for a raise or if they need additional time off, you just need to be able to connect with others,” Neal said. “Having a good judge of character and having patience are two other soft skills that are helpful.”
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