HOYA Vision Care

Lori Davis

Lori Davis is the Director of Talent Acquisition and Employee Engagement for North America at HOYA Vision Care. With 30+ years of experience spanning call centers, global operations, automation and manufacturing, she brings a blend of operational insight and people-focused leadership. Her background in account management, quality and operations allows her to align hiring and engagement strategies with real business outcomes. At HOYA, she collaborates cross-functionally to build a workplace where people feel connected to both purpose and performance.

Through this article, Davis reminds us that HR is most powerful when a human connection is present at every step of the talent journey. She believes in using technology to simplify the process and not replace the people involved, so there’s more time for real conversations and thoughtful connections.

HR Rooted in Business Functionality

I approach talent acquisition and employee engagement not as HR functions, but as integral parts of the business. My foundation in operations has shaped the way I lead. I come in with an operator’s mindset, always focused on how talent impacts performance, delivery and revenue. Whether I’m supporting hiring managers or guiding candidates, I prioritize clarity, behavioral alignment and a deep understanding of the role’s day-to-day realities.

Over the years, I’ve made it a point to really get to know every function I support, whether that’s sales, operations, supply chain, marketing or finance. I’ve found that the best recruitment and engagement strategies always begin with a solid understanding of how the business actually works. I love being in rooms where leaders from different departments come together to talk through the numbers, share what they’re seeing and make smart decisions as a team. That kind of crossfunctional alignment doesn’t just help us hire better, but it helps the whole business move forward.

Creating Hiring Journeys That Reflect Real People

One of the biggest challenges I’ve seen in recent years is how AI has changed the way people apply for jobs. Today, someone can take a job posting, run it through ChatGPT and get a perfectly tailored resume, even if it doesn’t reflect their actual experience. That’s made it a lot harder to rely on resumes as a true reflection of someone’s background or capabilities.

We’ve made our hiring approach more personal by doing all prescreens live and using video interviews early on to hear candidates’ stories in their own words. This helps hiring managers connect sooner and spot genuine interest. We also ask tough, role-specific questions upfront and go beyond the job description, ensuring candidates understand how their role connects to our customers, revenue and the bigger picture.

Smarter Hiring Starts with Simpler Systems

Looking ahead, I believe the future of talent acquisition lies in smart automation. We’re heading toward a world where the hard-coded, administrative pieces, things like interview scheduling, data entry and document processing, will be fully automated and centralized. That means recruiters and hiring managers will have more time to focus on the human connection. When the process runs smoothly behind the scenes, it frees us to focus on meaningful conversations that help both sides quickly assess fit, across skills, culture, goals and values.

“We’re heading toward a world where the hard-coded, administrative pieces, things like interview scheduling, data entry and document processing, will be fully automated and centralized.”

Another exciting shift is how technology is helping us build dynamic success profiles. These allow us to define what excellence looks like at different levels of experience and from there, create job descriptions that are more consistent and strategic across the organization. What makes it powerful is that it goes beyond the job post; it shapes interviews, onboarding and long-term career conversations. When employees have a clear framework, they know where they’re headed. That kind of visibility boosts retention by helping people feel valued, supported and motivated to grow.

Bringing Clarity with Digital Simplicity

One of the projects I’m really proud of this past year was led through our “One Vision” team, which focuses on workplace, community and environment. As part of that, we looked at how to make onboarding better for new employees and more eco-friendly. We used our hiring technology to automate all the paperwork, like policy reviews and signatures. Now, instead of spending their first day signing forms, new hires can complete everything online, either from their phone or at a kiosk.

What I love most about this change is that it gives us more time to talk about what really matters, like who we are as a company, what we believe in and how each person plays a part in bringing a better vision to the world. From tackling childhood myopia to giving back to our communities, these are the things that get our teams excited.

Making Engagement More Inclusive

As we evolve our talent strategies, the focus is shifting toward building real connections right from the start. In our manufacturing environments, where many employees don’t have access to email or traditional communication tools, we saw a real opportunity to strengthen connections and introduced a mobile app designed specifically for our lab workers. One of the features I’m especially excited about is its ability to make peer recognition more accessible. Employees can acknowledge each other for things like service anniversaries, and using AI helps generate kind, thoughtful messages that managers can share in response.

For those who may not always know how to express recognition, this offers a helpful starting point. And of course, there’s always the option to personalize it further. What matters most is that we’re giving people an easy, natural way to celebrate each other and help us be more human. We’re using it to bring more people into the conversation and create a strong foundation for lasting engagement, reaching every individual across the organization.

Hiring Begins with Trust

Curiosity has shaped the way I work and lead. I’ve always been drawn to learning more about people, processes and the possibilities. Over time, I’ve seen how impactful it is to build relationships well before there’s a formal need.

When you take the time to get to know someone without a deadline or agenda, it creates space for trust to build. Then, when the right role does come along, it feels less like recruiting and more like welcoming someone in. Those kinds of relationships make the work more meaningful for me, for the candidate and for the team they’re stepping into.