Leddy Group and its sister company Work Opportunities Unlimited (WOU) are dedicated to creating new opportunities for success in the workplace every day. Team members are “real people helping real people,” and some have referred other like-minded individuals to support this mission. That power of connectivity is exemplified in the successful referrals among three team members, Amber Payne, Gayle O’Connor, and Amanda Ouellette, who contribute to three vital functions at Leddy Group and WOU!
Amber Payne helps job seekers find new roles and assists employers with their staffing needs. One of the employers Amber supported first while at Staff Hunters (a staffing company acquired by Leddy Group in 2015) and then at Leddy Group was a nonprofit organization, where Gayle O’Connor served as a Human Resources leader for nearly 25 years. The two also knew each other from attending Seacoast Human Resources Association events. In 2020, Gayle left her long-time employer and moved into a full-time consulting role with a local firm. When the owner of the consulting firm changed careers and closed the doors, Gayle sought Amber’s career advice. “I looked on the Leddy Group website and saw that they offered HR consulting services, so I asked Amber if this was something I could help with,” she recalls. Leddy Group wanted to market their services more robustly, and Amber knew Gayle was an excellent candidate to assist with this. “I was so pleased to hear from Gayle,” says Amber. “She has the knowledge and experience, communicates well, and is very passionate about what she does.” Amber referred Gayle to Leddy Group Owner Mary Leddy and Susannah Chance, SVP of HR, and she helped Gayle prepare for her interviews. Gayle was grateful for Amber’s support, sharing, “She was rooting for me the entire time.”
In April of 2023, Gayle joined Leddy Group as a full-time HR consultant. Gayle and other HR consulting team members lend their expertise to a variety of employers, such as smaller companies without dedicated HR resources. Leddy Group can also play the role of an HR VP at companies with internal HR staff to support projects like compensation analysis, updating the employee handbook, or management training. The team offers an “HR audit” for clients, examining their current practices and policies and identifying gaps that Leddy Group can help fill. If the client’s needs are better served by a coworker, Gayle will refer them; for example, if they need safety guidance, she connects them with Amy Heuer, the HR and Risk Manager for WOU. “I really like that at Leddy Group, a client is not my client, they are our client. How ever we can best fulfill their needs, that’s what we are going to do.” One of Gayle’s outreach projects is sharing best practices with nonprofit clients. She says, “On a monthly basis, we invite all our nonprofit contacts to come and learn more about different topics that are of value to their sector. Many are HR-related, but some aren’t. It’s a nice way to get to know people and support the nonprofit sector, which fits Leddy Group’s culture.” Gayle is delighted with her role. She shares, “I knew Leddy Group from the client side, and I liked what I knew very much – that they’re supportive of your needs and are just great people. What they put out into the world is really who they are, so I feel very fortunate to be part of the team.”
While at her previous employer, Gayle was supported for over 6 years by a stellar Administrative Assistant in her HR department, Amanda Ouellette. Amanda says, “Gayle was a wonderful manager, and she became a very dear friend. I think the world of Gayle, both personally and professionally.” When the organization experienced a merger, altering the company culture that Amanda had grown to love, she took another administrative position in 2019. “I worked with wonderful people and I learned a lot. While there were benefits, I realized that this was not going to be my long-term professional ‘home.’ I only wanted to leave for a position and organization where I believed I could spend the rest of my career.” Gayle advised her to reach out to Amber, offering a glowing referral of Amanda. Both Amber and Gayle knew Amanda would excel in Leddy Group/WOU’s nurturing culture, but there wasn’t an internal opening at the time. For over a year, Amber kept in touch with Amanda until an opportunity arose in May of 2022, when Amanda joined WOU’s IT team. Each day, she provides crucial behind-the-scenes support to both WOU and Leddy Group, managing IT inventory, tracking expenses, creating and managing forms, flows, and lists, managing WOU’s online business profiles, providing backup for Marketing, helping to administer the company intranet, and creating and hosting fun internal activities like trivia and contests. Amanda is thrilled with her job, sharing, “I’m grateful to be part of a wonderful organization that does such amazing work each and every day. My job is engaging and rewarding, and my colleagues are resourceful and collaborative. In my opinion, Leddy Group/WOU is the epitome of a wonderful place to work!”
Even though the three women are on different teams, their paths occasionally cross at work. For instance, Amber refers staffing clients to Gayle when they need HR consulting, and Amanda is happy to offer Gayle and Amber IT assistance as required. They also love to connect in their personal lives. Amber and Gayle like to take walks during their time off and participate in community organizations together. Gayle enjoys cooking and often shares meals with Amanda. During the summer, Gayle and Amber cheered on Amanda’s son at his baseball game. Amber, Gayle, and Amanda also share a commitment to positively impacting people’s lives. As the most seasoned employee, Amber is glad to have helped Gayle and Amanda find their dream jobs as well. She says, “Gayle and Amanda are very skilled, and also really have that warmth that they bring to the company. They really complement the organization and what we represent, which is, we care about what we do, and we want to do the right thing for the client and the candidate.”
