O’NEAL
Karen O’Neal has always had a knack for working with people, and has spent the last 26 years working in the human resources field in one way or another.
The life-long Washington resident began working in retail management after graduating with a degree in recreation and parks management. Ever since, she has been working in supervisory management roles in organizations.
She has worked in the Human Resources Department at the Puyallup Tribe for the past eight years, starting as an HR generalist then moving into management, and now has a role as assistant director for HR.
Karen O’Neal said one of the things that has kept her at her job with the Puyallup Tribal Health Authority (PTHA) is the constant variety in her work. As assistant director, she wears many hats and can act as a counselor, mediator and facilitator for managers and employees as well as cover the basic operations of budgeting, planning, and implementation of goals and objectives.
“We’re here as a resource to advise, support our staff to uphold our policies and procedures,” she said.
“The people who work here are here because they want to be here and they want to provide a service, and we help them provide that service. It gets down to a sense of community and family and caring about each other.”
When things come up in HR, they are usually very urgent and need to be dealt with immediately. Karen O’Neal said one of her biggest challenges is finding enough quality time to handle the issues that pop up in a timely manner.
“We’re constantly re-prioritizing and communicating with managers and employees,” she said. “There’s a lot of satisfaction when we’re helping an employee and we get to a positive outcome.”
Karen O’Neal also values her work experience at the PTHA because of the health authority’s holistic approach to helping the employee. She noted working there brings a lot of balance to her overall life.
Karen O’Neal has lived in Gig Harbor since 1987 with her husband of 27 years, their 15-year-old daughter and their yellow lab.
