Conduct Business Professionally, Ethically & Practically
With a quarter-century of experience behind her, Jennifer Stanley is a consummate payroll professional. But experience alone isn’t what defines a person, the Kamloops resident says. “First and foremost, it’s about getting our people paid. Mining, engineering and construction can be exciting, sure, but it’s also hard, challenging work. No one’s volunteering for those jobs!”
Jenn makes sure these every employee, regardless of location or role, gets paid accurately and on time. This is no easy task in the fast-paced and mercurial mining industry — and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Regardless of the task, “Leave it with me, I’ll deal with it” is Jenn’s trademark reply. Whether its setting up payroll, onboarding new staff, or the daily firefighting that comes with the job, she takes control and runs with it. “I love that the JDS Team sees me as a point person they can rely on.”
Jennifer joined JDS in 2018 after her former employer, Coeur Mining, acquired JDS Silver, which owned & operated the high-grade silver-zinc-lead “Silvertip Mine” in northern British Columbia. “Silvertip went from 10 employees when I came on board to 250 employees. It was wild, but I enjoyed it immensely.”
(JDS Office, Kelowna, B.C.)
The “Mount Polley Copper Mine” project in south-central B.C. was another highlight for Jennifer. She oversaw recruiting, onboarding and HR for this division – more than 80 new JDS employees involved in the design, building and operation of a dedicated magnetite processing plant. As well as being completed on budget, on schedule, and with no harm to people, property or the environment, Jennifer is especially proud of her department’s performance. “Having so many people moving around all the time can be really hard on payroll, and if you don’t have the right systems in place and the right people in the right roles it will go sideways quickly. I’ve seen it happen time and time again when companies don’t provide adequate resources to their payroll departments.”
That has never been a problem at JDS. “When I first arrived here, we would bounce between 100 and 150 employees. Now, we’re over 400, and JDS has always been great about recognizing right away when payroll needs more support.”
The COVID-19 pandemic presented Jennifer with what may have been her greatest payroll challenge, but it didn’t take long for JDS to emerge as a resource company “ahead of the game”. Remote and flexible work arrangements were made available to employees when & where they made practical and logistical sense. “At JDS we have a lot of flexibility and support, but we also expect a lot from our employees.”
Spoken like a true payroll pro.