For most businesses, no matter how large or small, the term “HR audit” does not inspire happiness. Hiring the right people, training them to meet the objectives of the business, managing them in a way that unlocks their potential as individuals — all of that is only the beginning of a process that includes tracking the effectiveness of policies and procedures, controlling costs, identifying administrative efficiencies and responding proactively to issues and opportunities related to the people who make the success of the company possible.

Nobody enjoys that, right?

Well, Dr. Gia Wiggins does. In fact, the Mobile native is a self-described “HR nerd.”

“It might sound boring to you, but not to me,” laughed Wiggins. “It’s very rewarding work — and I just think it’s so much fun!”

Dr. Gia Wiggins, founder and CEO of Auditocity. (contributed)

To date, Wiggins has spent more than 25 years venturing happily into the ceaseless waves of human resources compliance and best practices monitoring. She has found joy in bringing an objective eye to the task of helping people and companies perform at their best.

Since launching her first HR-related entrepreneurial venture in 2016, followed by her current focus as a founder, Auditocity, in 2021, Wiggins also has become a frequent speaker and commentator on HR compliance, workforce strategy and organizational effectiveness. At all levels of business, she said, the same standards apply.

“You need to be aware of the things you are doing correctly as a business owner,” she said. “You also need to know the things that need your attention, that might need to be done better or differently. What are you doing and why? All of that is critical to the health of your organization.”

A graduate of Mobile’s Shaw High School, Wiggins earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and sociology from Grambling State University. Later, she added an MBA from California State University and completed her Ph.D. at the University of South Alabama, studying business administration with a concentration in management.

Wiggins’ HR career began soon after her graduation from Grambling in 1998. While at her first job, as an IT recruiter, she was hired by the telephone company known then as Southwestern Bell (now part of AT&T). Based in San Antonio, she was tasked with creating bilingual service centers, including recruitment and management of staff to serve the company’s growing Latino customer base. Through that experience, she found a career and a calling.

“As I learned more about HR and began to apply those lessons,” Wiggins recalled, “the thing that stood out to me was the opportunity to give people things they need to be successful. Things to help them be productive in their jobs, to have opportunities for advancement and to be able to provide for their families and enjoy a good life. Things that reflect the understanding that, for any business, people are the most valuable asset.”

After a time in California, working in HR while completing her MBA, Wiggins moved home to Mobile, where she married and began raising a family that eventually included three children. Meanwhile, she continued building her career. Beginning in 2004, she spent more than a decade in a succession of HR leadership positions with Cintas, Target and BAE Systems. With each company, Wiggins’ emphasis was on implementing what she termed a “people-centric” HR system, an approach that is scalable as well as being compliant with all applicable laws, regulations and guidelines relative to employees. Ultimately, sound HR practices and good employee relations are reflected in a company’s bottom line.

In 2015, Wiggins stepped away from her corporate career to pursue her doctorate at USA’s Mitchell College of Business, a decision that also allowed for more time with her family. But even as she began devoting attention to her studies, exploring the philosophical bases of people-centric leadership, she fielded a steady stream of calls from friends, associates and professionals seeking advice on HR matters. She came to a realization that set the course she continues to explore, that of business founder.

“I had spent a lot of time wrapped up in HR,” she reflected. “I’d accumulated knowledge and experience, as well as opinions, that had value to others. I started to think it would be a shame to give that up while I worked on my doctorate. And then I realized that I didn’t have to.”

Wiggins founded Morale Resource, a consulting firm to provide business owners with customized HR solutions. Working from the core principle that profitable businesses and happy employees are not mutually exclusive — that, in fact, they go hand-in-hand — she built the company while working to complete her Ph.D. By the time she earned her degree in 2018, she had accumulated a client base of companies and organizations that represented a broad range of sizes, business and industry sectors, and HR challenges and opportunities.

“Efficiencies in HR processes help make companies stronger,” she said. “Regardless of the size of the business, owners and HR professionals need to strike that balance between making the business profitable and successful and making sure that employees have a great place to work. I saw an opportunity to help accomplish that.”

The COVID pandemic affected everyone’s business, including their thinking about HR issues. But it also gave Wiggins some pause to reflect on the future of her own business. It had grown quickly, to the point of having an enviable waiting list of prospective clients for her highly individualized services. Like many growing small businesses in her position, she needed a solution to the challenge of scaling to meet expanding demand.

Ultimately, the search for a solution led to the founding of Auditocity. Wiggins saw that, to be able to scale her services and continue to build her client base, she had to develop her own platform using artificial intelligence to facilitate training, assessment and responses to HR-related matters. The “HR nerd” tasked herself with assembling a team of tech and software development experts who shared her vision for Auditocity’s potential impact on the field of HR management. A new company was born.

Within less than two years after its launch at the beginning of 2021, Fairhope-based Auditocity was featured by Entrepreneur magazine in an article headlined, “This Entrepreneur Has Solutions for HR Problems You Didn’t Know You Had.” In 2023, Inc. magazine included Wiggins and two other women founders in a panel discussion as part of the publication’s annual Black Tech Week in Cincinnati.

Early in 2025, Wiggins announced a new partnership with human capital management and payroll software firm Paycor, continuing a relationship that dates to Paycor’s active role in making the founding and development of Auditocity possible. And in March, investment/innovation group Techstars included Auditocity among the eight-member spring ’25 class of its Techstars Anywhere accelerator program.

“We have found encouragement and support at every step,” Wiggins said of her company’s growth to date. A critical influx of resources has come from Innovate Alabama, which she credits with a “significant” investment that helped Auditocity scale for sustained growth and accelerate the process of getting its software product to market.

“Innovate Alabama is invested in our success,” she said. “Getting the money we needed was fantastic, but I can’t put a dollar figure on what they continue to do for us.”

The Innovate Alabama investment is from state funds earmarked for that purpose, and Wiggins noted that state government’s financial commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship sends a powerful message to entrepreneurs and investors alike.

“When we tell people that one of our investors is the state of Alabama, it means something,” she said. “It’s a special feather in our cap, but it’s more than that. It’s more evidence that exciting things are happening in Alabama.

“Alabama is a growing innovation community, and it’s gratifying to be part of that.”