Milestone Moments: Opportunity Keeps Knocking For This 25-Year PG&E Coworker

Milestone Moments is a series of profiles about coworkers celebrating significant service anniversaries for PG&E.

Over her quarter-century at PG&E, Michele Martello has lived many lives.

The principal program manager started in HR (now People), went to Electric Operations, led grassroots office-safety campaigns in Gas Operations, and now oversees the Gas Operations and Engineering waste elimination program aimed at saving almost $100 million this year.

Variety has been the proverbial spice of PG&E life for this former Walnut Creek elementary school teacher. “I felt I was meant to be a teacher,” said Martello. “I didn’t expect to be here at all.”

It started online

Martello’s partner knew she was frustrated working for the Walnut Creek School District. She kept getting pulled from her classroom and spending time writing grant applications.

So he posted her resume on a job listing website. “Literally the next day,” said Martello, “my phone rang. I guess PG&E’s HR department loved what they saw about my teaching background and the fact that I worked parttime for HR departments while I was in high school and college.”

Martello said she started at the “lowest level that was possible” in HR. “I think it was like an entry-level associate HR rep.” 

Within five years, Martello was a lead supervisor over HR advisors (now known as People Partners) supporting PG&E’s functional areas. But then, an HR reorganization eliminated her advisor role.  

Fortunately, one of Marello’s functional area clients, Electric Transmission Operations, took her into their department. She supported development and introduction of engineering processes and procedures. She also managed their industry award-winning Substation Engineering Technology Roadmap program.

“A lot of my coworkers were saved by our clients,” said Martello.

From there, she eventually moved to Gas Operations. Martello led the Gas Operations Grassroots Office Safety Team that supported nearly 2,500 coworkers.

In the beginning, a big focus was on office ergonomics. “It’s big for office-based coworkers,” said Martello. “It’s a huge area of safety where we have a lot of risk that should be mitigated.”

Martello said it’s more than just sitting correctly in front of your computer. “Office-based folks drive to job sites. We drive to meetings at different locations,” she said. “Driving is an area where we can educate and raise awareness for coworkers.”

It’s safe to say Martello has a passion for safety.

“When people ask why I’m still at PG&E,” she said, “I tell them I stay for the people. I think safety is a piece of it. I do feel humans are our most important assets. I always want to take care of them.”

A waste elimination champion

Currently, Martello’s the waste elimination governance lead for Gas Operations and Engineering, keeping these teams focused on Lean Play 5, Waste Elimination. “It’s a big responsibility,” she said.

Martello said Gas Operations and Engineering worked on 25 initiatives last year. They saved more than $143 million, surpassing a target of $97 million. This year, there are 42 initiatives. She said nearly $96 million has already been saved against a year-end target of almost $99 million. If all goes well, the year-end number should be about $140 million.

“We partner with leaders and those closest to the work to help them identify waste elimination opportunities using the TIMWOODS approach,” said Martello. “We support them as they execute and document their waste elimination efforts.”

(NOTE: “TIMWOODS” is the mnemonic device used to remember the eight types of waste—Travel and Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Over Processing, Over Production, Defects, Skills.)

“Michele’s passion for leading waste elimination translates into meaningful customer impact,” said Martin Martinelli, director of performance and process improvement and Martello’s direct supervisor. “She has a deep understanding of our operations, systems and historical challenges, which enable her to spot process inefficiencies.

“Michele’s constantly scanning for areas of improvement, which is a mindset coworkers can adopt to drive continuous improvement,” he added.

As for her future, Martello just wants to “continue working hard, adding value, contributing and learning. I want to continue to do the things I feel are helping.

“I love to be challenged,” added Martello. “I’ve seen new parts of the company. There’s so much to learn. There’s still departments I haven’t had much exposure to. There’s huge functional areas I haven’t been a part of.”

But Martello has entertained finishing her PG&E time right where it all began: in People.

“There’s something that stands out to me about ending my career back where I started,” she said. “Wouldn’t that be kind of a cool way to bring it to closure?”