HR practitioners typically arrive to the sphere by way of winding roads that take them from job to job, topic to topic and group to group. Alternatives seem on the proper place and on the proper time, resulting in an sudden, people-centric profession.
For Ashley Braband, that street started at ESPN. Braband spent greater than a decade producing all method of content material for TV, podcasts and on-line codecs. Then, in 2021, she acquired a name from fellow ESPN veteran and former mentor Jamie Horowitz, who requested Braband to affix a brand new firm he deliberate to launch with former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning.
Ashley Braband
Permission granted by Omaha Productions
“It was just about an organization in title solely,” Braband informed HR Dive in an interview, and the supply represented a stark distinction in comparison with her then-current position at ESPN, a longtime title within the sports activities media world. However she was excited on the prospect of working for Horowitz once more; “I’d stroll by hearth for that man, so I mentioned, ‘Let’s go,’” Braband mentioned.
‘Constructing the aircraft as we have been flying it’
Some 4 years later, the corporate now often known as Omaha Productions has taken off in a giant method thanks partially to its flagship program, “Manningcast,” another reside broadcast of ESPN’s “Monday Evening Soccer.” Braband, Omaha’s first worker, has performed a central half in that progress.
“It was me form of determining every little thing,” Braband mentioned of her first days at Omaha, throughout which she made selections on topics starting from buying insurance coverage insurance policies to constructing the corporate’s web site to creating its mission assertion.
To high it off, Braband was additionally the corporate’s lead recruiter, which she described as a problem partially as a result of it meant convincing different sports activities media professionals to go away their jobs at extra established corporations for Omaha.
“It was intellectually stimulating and difficult, but it surely was so enjoyable,” Braband mentioned. “We have been form of constructing the aircraft as we have been flying it.”
Ultimately, the questions Braband was requested to reply drifted into what might sound acquainted to the common HR individual: Would Omaha give day without work for holidays? Which advantages plans wouldn’t it supply? What number of workers would every division require?
Horowitz started to take discover of the organizational hole that Braband was filling, she mentioned, and that led him to formally ask Braband to turn into Omaha’s head of individuals and tradition.
“There was this gap the place I used to be all people’s reply to questions that got here up on a regular basis,” she mentioned. “As a result of I had all this expertise at the start being in contact with each division, I had these solutions or may determine them out.”
‘Keep in mind that you’re an worker’
Braband’s early profession at Omaha could seem acquainted to those that have operated as an HR division of 1. Over time, she mentioned she has been in a position to work with third-party administration consultants and now works with Omaha’s head of HR to construct out the division.
The corporate has additionally formalized a number of of its insurance policies since its early days. Braband gave the instance of Omaha’s parental depart coverage, which grants all new dad and mom 15 weeks of paid depart. It’s a private matter for Braband, who mentioned she drew from her personal expertise as a father or mother in media manufacturing — a discipline by which it may be troublesome for workers to take depart — when advocating for Omaha’s coverage.
“We attempt as a lot as attainable to take that weight off of your shoulders as a result of it’s such a life-changing second,” Braband mentioned.
Equally, Omaha maintains an open paid day without work coverage, which Braband mentioned could be a difficult proposition for a manufacturing firm with tight schedules. To make it simpler for workers to seek out time, Omaha schedules “mild weeks,” by which all nonessential inner conferences are canceled, in order that workers know that there are slower intervals when taking PTO is extra possible. And new for 2025, Omaha additionally has begun a minimal trip requirement of two weeks per yr to additional encourage workers to step away, Braband added.
Braband mentioned she credit Manning and Horowitz with making a tradition that enables for the creation of such insurance policies and, by extension, helps individuals. She additionally suggested HR professionals, particularly these new to the sphere, to keep up an employee-centric perspective as a information for his or her work.
“Keep in mind that you’re an worker,” Braband mentioned. “You know the way workers wish to be handled […] I encourage individuals on the market to maintain that in thoughts.”
