It’s safe to say that Lesa Hummel is well-versed in all things Desert De Oro Foods (DDO). That’s because she’s celebrating an incredible 30 years with us: ten in DDO Taco Bells, and another 20 on DDO’s Payroll (PR) team.
Climbing The Career Ladder
Lesa’s an exemplary team member here at DDO, and her trajectory shows just how possible it is to climb the career ladder. After her decade of work in Taco Bells, she accepted a role at our Restaurant Support Center as a Payroll Manager. Later, she was promoted to Payroll Director — a title she still holds today.
As Payroll Director, Lesa brings her expertise to a variety of analytical work. She also collaborates with other DDO team members in the field, coming up with new ideas for existing processes and procedures. Last but certainly not least, Lesa oversees three other people on the payroll team. She’s recently been supporting her direct reports as they work to complete new payroll-specific certifications.
“My mind is never stagnant,” Lesa shares. Doing something different every day is what she finds exciting about her job.
Going Above And Beyond
Lesa loves her work, but admits that it comes with its fair share of challenges. For example, payroll is responsible for answering a lot of questions, and sometimes, those answers are not what people want to hear. However, Lesa strives to always respond to these inquiries from a resolution-focused perspective, and encourages her team to do the same. “Change their day — make it easier,” she often tells them.
Additionally, payroll laws are complicated and vary widely from state to state. For any company to succeed, it’s essential that their team stays up-to-date on changes to payroll governance. Lesa takes that responsibility seriously: to meet the challenge, she joined a professional organization that provides her with industry-related updates. The group also gives Lesa the opportunity to workshop payroll-specific problems with others, which has proven to be very helpful to her work here at DDO.
Lesa’s driven nature is just one of the many qualities that makes her so vital to the work we do here at DDO. We couldn’t be more grateful for her contributions, and want to wish her a very happy 30th work anniversary!