Episode Details

Onsite-First HR: Fortis Fire & Safety’s CPO on Transparency, Incentives, and Practical AI

Summary

How do you build trust and clarity for a largely frontline, onsite workforce amid inflation pressures and AI-fueled change?

Stephanie Roseman, Chief People Officer at Fortis Fire & Safety—a national provider of fire suppression, alarms, and integrated security—shares a practical playbook.

She breaks down what her latest employee survey surfaced (financial squeeze, job security, career growth, and communication) and how Fortis turns data into action: branch-level insights, manager enablement, and company-wide town halls.

Stephanie details her transparency mantra—“I’ll tell you everything I can as soon as I can”—and how she handled benefits changes with in-person roadshows and red/green clarity on employee impact.

She’s also simplifying complexity, shrinking the handbook to a 40-page core, and building transparent incentive programs that reward productivity and safety behaviors. Finally, Stephanie dives into practical AI: scaling personalization in performance and development, boosting recruiting capacity, and cross-referencing HR and operations data for analyst-level insights—plus AI coaching tools that help managers practice tough conversations.

Expect concrete, repeatable tactics for any people leader supporting onsite teams.

Timestamps

[00:45] – What Fortis does and why HR in fire/safety mirrors “background” risk prevention

[01:53] – Employee survey findings: financial squeeze, job security, growth, and comms; onsite-first culture

[03:59] – From data to action: branch-level insights, manager enablement, and upcoming town halls

[06:26] – Benefits changes done right: face-to-face roadshows and red/green impact clarity

[10:05] – Simplification: 40-page core handbook and building transparent, behavior-based incentives

[13:01] – Personalizing development at scale with AI: clearer paths to the next level

[14:03] – Practical AI in ops and recruiting: cross-system analytics and capacity for high-touch hiring

[17:33] – AI coaching for managers and why “safe practice” improves tough conversations

Takeaways

- Turn survey data into local action: equip frontline managers with branch-specific insights and clear follow-ups.

- Practice radical transparency with boundaries: “Tell everything you can as soon as you can” to build trust.

- Make benefits changes unmistakably clear: meet people in person and label positive/negative impacts directly.

- Simplify to strengthen understanding: distill policies into a short, usable core and treat employees like adults.

- Tie incentives to observable behaviors (e.g., productivity, driver safety) with criteria everyone can see.

- Use AI to scale, not replace: automate sourcing and analysis, and support managers with coaching tools.

Sponsor

AllVoices brings all your employee relations work together in one place. No more jumping between spreadsheets, emails, and legacy systems just one place to document and manage reports, cases, investigations, and performance conversations. It helps you run a more consistent process, takes busywork off your plate with AI, and makes it easier to spot trends early, so you can work proactively, not just put out fires.

See a demo at ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.allvoices.co/