Making progress through an SHRM partnership - Society for Human Resource Management

HR Magazine, Jan, 1994 by Bill Leonard

Gail E. Parker, SPHR, is 1994 chair of the Society for Human Resource Management and vice president of Human/Administrative Resources, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, California.

The human resource staff of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) was celebrating "Boss's Day" a few days early and surprised their boss, Gail E. Parker, when she returned from a strategic planning meeting. Parker was late for her interview with HRMagazine but joined the impromptu office party with friendliness and openness rarely seen in a boss.

"We started without you," one employee kidded Parker. "The cake had your name on it, but we've cut a big hunk out of it. You can still see the 'G,' though." "I'm touched," Parker said with a big laugh.

She joked with her staff for several minutes and brought two large pieces of cake into her office. As she offered me the cake with a warm and engaging smile, it was easy to see why she is a success in the human resource profession. You cannot help but like her.

The EPRI headquarters resembles a college campus, with academic-looking buildings spread across the western edge of Palo Alto, Calif. Parker's office is in Building Six, just uphill from the institute's original office building. Her office is bright and open with glass along two walls.

Large, framed pictures of flowers hang on her office walls, and embroidered gingham "In" and "Out" boxes sit on her desk. One wall is lined with plaques of recognition and appreciation from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), which she will serve as 1994 chairman of the board. Her office windows look out across the EPRI parking lot to the sun-dappled gold and green of the California Coast Range.

"I never get tired of looking at that view," Parker said as she nibbled on her cake.

It also appears that Parker hasn't tired of working for EPRI. She began working for the institute 19 years ago, when she and her husband, Rob, moved to Northern California from Michigan.

"I moved here in 1974. I came to work at EPRI, and I've been here ever since, which is unheard of nowadays--that you would be with the same employer for 19 years," she said.

Parker started her career in human resource management in the late 1960s as she worked her way through college. She had dreams of being an English teacher, but quickly saw that an English major wouldn't automatically translate into a teaching career.

While attending school, she worked for the University of Michigan administrative offices. The university assigned her to the personnel office. Parker quickly discovered that she "really liked this personnel work."

She asked her boss if switching to a business minor (to go along with her English major) could lead to a professional job and career with the university. They placed her in a compensation analyst position after she switched her credits to business administration.

"It was an exciting time because the University of Michigan was the first major university to have funds withheld by HEW (the now-defunct Department of Health, Education and Welfare) because it didn't have a good affirmative action plan," Parker said. "So, the university needed women in professional roles, and I was one of the first female compensation analysts that they had ever had." Parker then got married. Her husband landed a job in HR management with Stanford University and they moved to Palo Alto. Parker began working for EPRI, a not-for-profit membership organization. EPRI works with electric utilities throughout the country, managing research and development projects.

"EPRI's mission is to discover, develop and deliver advances in science and technology for the benefit of the electric utility industry and its customers," said Parker. "EPRI does this through contractors. We don't actually perform collaborative research and development, we manage it."

Parker began working for EPRI when the institute was a year old and employed about 100 people. The number of employees has grown to nearly 1,000, and Parker's job has grown with the institute.

"The job has really changed over the last 15 years from a sort of 'smile and file' focus administrator to one where I'm viewed as a major strategic partner," Parker said. "You still have to do your record keeping and your form-filling and your good interview processes, but that isn't enough. You really have to be part of the strategy of the company. You have to be part of the solution in terms of solving the problems for the business."

One of the major issues that Parker has tackled is cutting health-care costs at EPRI. She views the current healthcare reform debate as an excellent opportunity for the HR profession to take a leadership role and show senior-level executives the strategic value of HR management.

"At EPRI, we had been dealing with the health-care issue for a number of years. It was the first issue that got me in front of the EPRI board of directors to make a presentation," Parker said. "About three or four years ago we decided that we weren't going to put up with 20 percent increases per year in health-care costs."