Nikki Raben has had a steadily progressing human resources career.
She graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a bachelor's degree in sociology and minors in criminal justice and psychology. She started as an HR generalist, supporting payroll, talent acquisition and benefits. Then, she moved into an assistant HR manager role, overseeing an HR admin and payroll specialist.
From there, she was promoted to an HR manager position on the site management team and led a team responsible for recruiting, payroll, training and development. This led her into her career at Sabic in Indiana.
Raben was interested in making the change to the plastics industry because of the opportunities that Sabic could offer. She began her career in chemical distribution and knew she wanted to get back to manufacturing.
"I have been the interim HR site leader for the previous 18 months. I have needed to coordinate with multiple SBUs [strategic business units] and their HR teams that are located on the Mount Vernon site as well as lead a team of new HR partners," she said.
Raben mentors other HR partners at her site as well as partners across the region. She is leading a regional cross-functional team on a project that is harmonizing and simplifying practices at six manufacturing sites.
"I'm leading a group of 30-plus volunteers working on four workstreams to improve employee satisfaction/morale focusing on strategic leadership, career development, well-being and belonging, and sense of urgency," Raben said.
"I am also leading efforts of improving our company brand in the community, leading Sabic volunteer events in the community and leading recruitment efforts for our future talent pipeline. In addition to these initiatives above, some of my daily activities include supporting employee relations concerns, partnering with EHS&S [environment, health, safety and sustainability] on incident investigations, driving career/growth opportunities, leading the DEIB [diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging] efforts, etc.," Raben added.
One of her proudest achievements has been co-leading the Allyship team at Sabic and helping to build a place where employees feel comfortable being themselves at work.
"We've started many firsts for Sabic (Black History Month, Juneteenth, Pride Month, culture celebrations, etc.). Seeing the joy and pride come from employees during these celebrations being able to openly share themselves with their co-workers has given me such appreciation," Raben said. "Knowing I had a hand in creating this environment for our employees provides me with greater satisfaction than any award ever could."