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Ellen Lau
Senior Payroll Specialist at Salesforce
Professional Background
Ellen Lau is an accomplished professional with significant experience in payroll and human resources. With a robust foundation in sociology and American ethnic studies from the University of Washington, Ellen has fostered a diverse perspective that enhances her work in payroll management. Currently, Ellen serves as a Payroll Analyst at Stripe, where she applies her expertise to streamline payroll processes and ensure accurate disbursement of salaries to employees. Her role at Stripe allows her to combine her analytical skills and attention to detail, driving efficiencies in payroll systems.
Before her tenure at Stripe, Ellen made notable contributions as a Senior Payroll Specialist at Salesforce, where she was instrumental in managing payroll operations for one of the world’s leading customer relationship management companies. During her time at Salesforce, Ellen honed her skills in compliance, data analysis, and payroll processing, ensuring that employees were compensated accurately and on time.
Ellen also worked as a Senior Payroll Specialist at Tableau Software, another technology giant known for its data visualization solutions. Her experience at Tableau provided her with a deeper understanding of the technical aspects of payroll systems and allowed her to collaborate closely with HR and finance teams.
Earlier in her career, Ellen was a Payroll Specialist at Slalom, a consulting company that focuses on business transformation. Her role there enabled her to gain hands-on experience in day-to-day payroll operations, including data entry, payroll calculations, and addressing employee inquiries.
Ellen began her professional journey in human resources as an assistant at Amazon, where she was exposed to a fast-paced and dynamic work environment. This initial experience in HR laid the groundwork for her future roles in payroll and helped her develop a comprehensive understanding of employee systems.
Education and Achievements
Ellen's educational journey has been pivotal in shaping her career. She studied Sociology and American Ethnic Studies at the University of Washington, where she developed an understanding of social structures and the importance of diversity in the workplace. Her education has provided her with critical thinking skills and a sociological perspective, which she applies effectively within her professional roles.
Not only has Ellen achieved significant professional milestones, but she has also continuously sought to improve her skills and knowledge in the industry. Her pursuit of excellence is demonstrated by her commitment to staying updated with payroll legislations and technologies, ensuring that she brings the best practices to her current position. As she advances in her career, Ellen continues to demonstrate her dedication to the payroll field, making considerable contributions to the companies she has worked for.
Notable Skills and Expertise
Ellen possesses a wide range of skills that are vital for her success in payroll and human resources. These skills include:
- Payroll Management: Ellen has extensive experience managing payroll functions effectively, ensuring compliance with legal requirements and addressing any payroll discrepancies.
- Data Analysis: With her background in sociology, Ellen is adept at analyzing data related to payroll, employee attendance, and compensation, thus facilitating data-driven decision-making processes.
- Human Resources Knowledge: Ellen's early experience in HR provides her with a holistic understanding of employee management, which complements her technical payroll skills.
- Communication Skills: Ellen is an effective communicator, facilitating clear interactions with employees, finance teams, and management regarding payroll matters.
- Problem-Solving: Ellen’s ability to identify issues in payroll processes and develop efficient solutions is a cornerstone of her professional success.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
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Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
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Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
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Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
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