Our Consultant Spotlight series is an opportunity to meet our team at HRchitect. Every month we shine a spotlight on a consultant for you to learn more about. Get to know more about Diego Navez, in this month’s Consultant Spotlight.
Diego Navez joined the UKG Pro WFM (Dimensions) consulting team at HRchitect in 2021. Diego joined HRchitect as an HCM Consultant and has since been promoted to Implementation Manager. In the past five years Diego has developed his extensive experience around the configuration aspect of various workforce management platforms and developing solutions to meet complex client requirements. Diego has worked with dozens of clients across multiple industries and understands the needs and leading practices of even the most complex timekeeping configurations. Diego leverages his technical expertise to assist clients and lead his team in achieving their project goals throughout all phases of their client projects, from scope definition and requirements documentation, through configuration, testing, implementation, go-live support, and post go-live support.
Hometown:
I was born in Chula Vista, California, and then moved to Tijuana, Mexico at 6 years old. A few years later, my father received a job opportunity as an engineer to which required relocating our family back to the United States. We moved to Mesa, Arizona. I have since lived in several areas of Arizona and I now reside in Tempe.
Alma mater:
Northern Arizona University where I received my bachelor’s in business administration.
All-time favorite restaurant:
Taco Boys. It is authentic Mexican food which reminds me of home.
Last audiobook or podcast you listened to:
Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential.
What do you do when you’re not working?
I enjoy working out and riding my bike. Mountain biking helped motivate me to get fit and work out. I am very goal-oriented and like to challenge myself. The last two years I have had a lot of opportunities to try a lot of new things, set new goals, and continue to challenge myself. I recently bought a road bike and ride about 50 miles per week. I was proud to have completed a half marathon in January of 2023 as well as a 10k more recently.
How did you find out about HRchitect, and what made you join the company?
Matt Lafata reached out to me through LinkedIn and then I connected with Erica Niesse, who is so easy to talk with. I was considering taking an analyst role at another company at the same time but felt HRchitect would be a better fit for my skills. Plus, it would be an environment where I could make a big impact and learn a lot.
How has your background impacted your experience as a consultant?
I believe my education, previous work experience, and who I am, contribute to making me a strong consultant and Implementation Manager. I like to see how things work and I love automation.
In your own words, what do you do at HRchitect?
I spend half my day troubleshooting issues and the other half I am a block remover. In my role as an Implementation Manager, though I still work on troubleshooting systems for my own clients, I have the fun opportunity to help the consultants on my team find solutions to challenges and guide them through their projects. I enjoy helping my team and seeing them shine.
What’s a typical workday like for you?
I assist clients and teammates through emails, meetings, and calls. I also spend some of my day communicating and seeing updates on Slack as well as working on troubleshooting for clients.
Tell me about a project you’ve worked on that you’re particularly proud of.
I have several projects I am proud of. One is a time & attendance implementation fora family-owned nursing facility. We built a strong relationship with the client and their whole family was involved in the process. I really enjoyed working with them and the project was very successful.
What’s been one of your favorite destinations to travel to for a client site visit?
I enjoyed traveling to Gloucester, Massachusetts this summer for a company meeting. Matt Lafata, our President & CEO is from that area. I enjoyed hearing the stories he shared about his childhood and spending time together with our team and our UKG partners.
As part of a team that works 100% virtually, what technology or collaboration tools do you use to make your work life easier?
Though I use Slack, Outlook, and Zoom for team and client collaboration, I am a notetaker and like to take notes on my communication and projects. It helps me to refer to anything I am working on.
What motivates you to wake up and go to work every day?
I am motivated by the goals of our team for the projects for our clients. There is a lot of work to get there, but to reach that milestone and go live is exciting for our team and our clients. I want my clients, projects, and team to be successful.
Which employee perk that HRchitect offers do you enjoy the most?
The perks I enjoy the most are the unlimited PTO and the Home Office Allowance. HRchitect is a very remote-friendly company and shows a lot of trust in us to get our jobs done.
Learn more about Diego on LinkedIn