Jeffrey Launay Has Us Sold On the Evolution of HR

Jason McRobbie

Welcome back to this week's P | A | C | T news, your bi-weekly newsletter by Tech Talent North.

People strategy is evolving, but not every organization is keeping pace. In this issue, we sit down with Jeffrey Launay, VP & Chief of Staff, HR at Apotex, to explore how talent leaders must embrace their role as strategic partners, balance people and business needs, leverage technology and data, and take cues from finance and sales to build trust with the C-suite.

Key takeaways on how talent leaders can evolve their approach and drive meaningful impact include:

  • Recognize their role as strategic partners, enablers, and drivers of performance.
  • The HR function should balance both people and business needs.
  • Teams must fully leverage available technologies to quantify their value with data and free up time for strategic work.
  • Look to finance and sales for valuable strategies to build trust and foster ongoing C-suite engagement

HR had never been on Jeffrey Launay’s radar—until he was sold on it by a pro.

With a Master’s in Biotechnology and a BSc in Biology, Jeffrey built a successful career in pharmaceutical sales and marketing. When the traditional pathways for growth evolved, he decided to change streams entirely—and has been changing others’ perceptions of HR since.

Now Vice President and Chief of Staff, HR at Apotex, the Canadian-based global health company, Jeffrey has become an HR evangelist in his own right—calling on others outside the profession to step in and for those in HR to step up to their potential.

A Catalytic Conversation for Career Change

“I actually worked in a number of roles across sales and marketing—started as a pharma sales rep, carried the bag, moved through progressive roles—always in the commercial space. I had a chance to go the US, worked in the UK and lots of different career and growth opportunities, so HR was never something I had considered,” said Jeffrey.

A conversation with Jeffrey’s new Head of HR during a Meet and Greet provided the spark. As head of marketing at the time, Jeffrey had not expected, “Do you ever think about working HR?” to be part of her introductory pitch.

“In the moment, I just said, ‘No, I’ve never, ever thought of that,” Jeffrey recalled. She went on to describe what she saw as HR, her vision for HR being a strategic partner to the business—aan enabler of performance and success of the business through its people. “It was a totally different view to HR than what I had ever considered.”

What began with expectations of cycling back into commercial after a year or two has since evolved to a role with greater passion and purpose than ever.

“I really took a liking to it. I'd never been in the HR space before, exposed to a totally different part of the business,” said Jeffrey, whose role grew from commercial business partner in the Canadian operation to HR partner across all functions in Canada before evolving into a global responsibility. “I am always learning from the folks who are in the HR space, people who come from the more traditional backgrounds—and even ones like myself who may be more untraditional, but bring different tools and perspectives to the challenges we share.”

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HR is About People (Because of Business)

As for those in HR, still balancing the traditional administrative burden and bringing their best to the C-suite, Jeffrey brings an assist that speaks as directly to his years in sales as to the ears of executives.

“I’ll put it very simply. It’s all about success of the business. What can our people do to drive success of the business, to help to deliver on our on our promise and what we're trying to to achieve as an organization?” said Jeffrey. “There's a great quote from a podcast with Dave Ulrich where he said, ‘HR is not about HR. It's about success in the marketplace. Because if there's no success in the marketplace, then there is no HR because we have no need for people.’”

He admits the flip might be uncomfortable at first for some in HR who have been groomed on the language of people-first.

“It's about flipping the model on its head to say that HR is here to serve the people and the business is here to serve the market,” said Jeffrey. “People are here to be a part of that—to have fulfilling careers and to be properly compensated, to have a fair and equitable, diverse workforce, to have the right benefits, to have plans for retirement and so on and so forth, to have the highest level of engagement to deliver what we need them to deliver in their role.”

Evolving Technology and the Use of Data are Key to Elevate HR

“One of the key things for HR right now are all the advancements in technology and the use of that technology to complement those efforts.” said Jeffrey.

From garnering meaningful metrics and models to drafting job descriptions, surveys and a wealth of other administrative regalia, Jeffrey looks to the tech at HR fingertips as an untapped super power for too many in the profession.

Jeffrey recounts a demonstration of the possibilities at the recent Tech Talent North Conference in Toronto. “There was a live demonstration of someone building a job description while we were talking and it wasn’t perfect, but it was a great starting point—and far better than if you had to start from scratch with a blank piece of paper. So I think data, AI and the technology advances in general are going to continue to be critically important for focusing efforts and freeing up HR’s evolution.”

One HR business partner that many HR functions can learn from is Finance, specifically as it relates to date. We can learn from our colleagues in the finance side,” said Jeffrey, “who focus almost exclusively on numbers and not to the same extent around people. But i reminds us in HR that it’s not just about people. It's also about the numbers—numbers of the business—but also understanding data and how to use data to drive decisions, gain insights and take actions on the basis of fact-based situations.”

What HR Can Learn From Sales and Marketing

Jeffrey similarly sends HR to another department—one he knows well—for a pro tip on presentation.

“One of the things I am always shocked by is how little HR promotes the great work they do,” said Jeffrey. “I come from sales and marketing, where if we do something and it's okay, we make it sound like it's a heck of a lot better, and if something wasn't that great, we say, ‘Oh well, but here's the reason why.”

Owning the losses as well as the victories with an eye on future action may be Sales 101, but Jeffrey knows the true value goes beyond the moment and towards building stronger bonds within for HR.

“It’s not just about promoting yourself and the work you do, but leaning into the business to be part of those tough conversations. That’s how to build credibility and trust and truly be a strategic partner,” said Jeffrey. “It's easy to be a partner when everything's smooth and breezy. It's tougher to do when things aren't going according to plan. So I think that HR can really lean into those situations and take them as opportunities to build stronger partnership.”

Love What You Do (and Do Good Business)

There is an energy and earnestness to Jeffrey’s words that is undeniable, refreshing and a tangible example to follow for those looking bring HR home for any organization.

“I love what I do now because I think that it’s absolutely essential. These are the conversations that we need to be having,” said Jeffrey. “We will always be focused around people, but those people are linked to the business and HR is not about one or the other—it’s bringing out the best in both.”

He also encourages bringing even further diversity into the fold.

“I think the more diverse backgrounds the better in HR. Now I ask people all the time, have you ever thought about working in the business of HR? They kind of look at me like it's crazy,” said Jeffrey. “And then I talk to people already working in HR and some of them look at me like I'm crazy too, but that's okay, because I looked that way the first time I had that conversation.”

Fortunately, more than a few of those HR peers and potentials have returned to Jeffrey in subsequent conversations with eyes opened to his passion and process.

“HR has just been a great world for me to have a chance to jump in, to learn and interact with great minds—building on ideas and helping them to advance,” said Jeffrey. “And now, I’m having people come back from some of those conversations and saying, ‘Wow, that’s how you do it. That’s how you build a whole new relationship around HR.”

And take one final tip from that ties it all together and points the way forward.

 “Keep the easy stuff easy, automate it the heck out of it wherever you can and then, with the really tough stuff, let's lean in together, figure it out and make it happen,” said Jeffrey.



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