Testimonials

While working at Surpass-SV (formally LyChron), a medical device company, as a Controller, I had discovered a large serious variance in the Inventory report during the month end closing process. These huge variances cost the company a substantial amount of money. Initially, I just wanted to terminate the employee who was in charge of this department. I strongly felt she was incompetent for her assignments but I followed the labor rules by approaching Caroline, our HR director for a reasonable resolution and she suggested me to put the employee on a performance plan. PIP- this is something brand new to me – As I remembered vividly, we did not have one in place until Caroline joined us. Other than our yearly performance reviews our management staff were not accustomed to working with their staff when performance issues occurred.

Under Caroline’s guidelines, I used a template that she created for all executive managers. The PIP template included the description of the performance issue; how it affected the department/company; the plan to develop the employee’s performance; and time frame to monitor and follow-up if changes had been made. Each employee was provided with specific performance plans and they would rise above their challenges or they did not.

Thanks to Caroline’s brilliant ideas. The PIP not only corrected the initial inventory issues with this particular staff but enabled her to become an exemplary employee who also found ways to save the company thousands of dollars later on. Without the PIP, I could have lost an excellent employee and the other department could have a higher rate of employee turnover!

-Mag

I began working for Ad Astra in September of 2013. I was hired on as a support specialist within the company.  It was a lot of mail, daily entry, and spreadsheets. We handled all incoming and most outgoing mail for the company. We also processed all faxes, payments, and bankruptcies. All of the work had to be scanned into the system we worked.  Ad Astra didn’t have a very technical system in place that tracked everything that was Compliance. We had very basic policies and procedures but no online access that was available for every employee. Most of them were just printed out in a folder that housed them all in one place. Complaints were tracked but in a very basic manner. Training was all done through class, videos, and paperwork at the time. We were just starting to do online training for personal development throughout the company. Daily reports at the time were not well tracked or saved so we could learn from them and track errors within the company. As the company grew, laws and regulations changed, and the way in which we did things had to change dramatically to keep up with the times. We really didn’t have a compliance department and that had to change.

In 2015 we hired a new Compliance Manager, Caroline Hazen and new policies and procedures had to be rewritten. She took her time learning and developing and putting all the key components of what is compliance into a new system. A new system started to come together and the way Ad Astra did things had to change. Everything had to be monitored and tracked, from daily reports, to call monitoring, training, vendor management, and all of the complaints and lawsuits. All of this became what is known as our Compliance Management System aka CMS. Caroline was then able to hire me under her and help guide me in how Ad Astra’s Compliance Department was run and what Compliance was. She showed me how to process each complaint, report, and where everything was kept. Caroline taught me how to think outside the box and take the lead, as well as help build my confidence in myself and my work.  She is a great leader and teacher in all that she does. Because of her I was able to push myself harder than before and feel comfortable and confident in what I do in the Compliance industry. The stepping stones that she developed within the company are ones I fall back on every day and thankful to have worked with such a wonderful person who is smart, funny, and very knowledgeable person. Her skills she taught me has helped develop Ad Astra’s Compliance Department into what is today. As laws, and regulations change so does the way we do things. Everything is expanding and we are growing every day.

-Penny

During many years of acquaintanceship with Caroline Hazen, I have repeatedly contacted her with pointed detailed questions regarding both public sector employment and private-sector employment. She has always responded perspicaciously and rapidly. Her level of detailed knowledge of all things human resources has been a surprisingly refreshing and informative experience. Thumbs up for Caroline Hazen, HR professional.

-doc “AJ”