MY HR 112223

MyHRFirm is a human resources consulting firm that helps small businesses with HR processes and compliance issues. They assist with talent acquisition, creating playbooks for different roles, and staying updated on HR laws. They collaborate with other professionals, such as insurance brokers, to provide comprehensive solutions. Some challenges they've seen include communication issues when promoting hourly employees to salaried positions and the need for training and development programs. Overall, having an HR professional at the table for workforce decisions is crucial. Contact MyHRFirm for assistance with HR issues. Hello, and welcome to the Infiniti's 101 Podcast. I'm Ron Bird, Vice President of Sales and Marketing with Infiniti's Group, and today with us we have Celine with MyHRFirm. Say hello. Hi, everybody. Hi, Ron. Thank you for having me. Good. So, we would like for our brokers to know that we have a source for them if they have HR questions with their groups or their groups are looking for HR administration. So, this is why today we wanted to introduce you to Celine. That way we can explain what she has to offer to your clients, and hopefully you'll be able to use her services. So, with that, please tell us about MyHRFirm. Hi. So, yes. So, I own MyHRFirm. I am a human resources consultant. I work with small businesses, and I find that I work or the clients that are seeking me are the ones that are growing at a really fast pace. So, for instance, I'm working with somebody that two years ago they had eight employees, and today they're at 30. Awesome. So, that's incredible, but what happens when you have a lot of growth like that is that you realize that there are some gaps in your operation, in your HR processes. So, I go in and I help them close those gaps, and it could mean, you know, helping the HR department or the HR person that very many times has been voluntold, like, this is what you're going to do, but they don't necessarily have the training, you know, or the skill set to carry out the HR function. So, one of my favorite things to do is to go in and teach them about HR and some of the compliance issues. Those are huge because HR's number one responsibility is to protect the company, and so, when we're able to do that, you know, we're able to, the business is able to grow, right? And so, a lot of times we don't know what we don't know, right? So, you know, when they're asking me, you know, I'm asking these questions when I interview. Can I do that? And sometimes it's no, but other times it's yes, but so, there's little, you know, tricks and tips, and you just have to get in the habit of doing it. So, many times we can just, we draft a list of questions that are to be asked at every interview just to make sure that you're hiring for right fit, right culture, because it matters. You know, like, all your employees need to be on the same level when it comes to character. You want your high character individuals, and so, when you're able to craft, whether it's crafting questions or learning how to identify the right person for that role, it's important that you have some sort of, like, a guide, and so, that's one of the things that I go in and I do, but. So, you're, basically, on talent and acquisition and recruitment, you're helping the HR people find the right people. Yes, yes, and more importantly than that is to create the process, because, you know, in any one organization, you can have 10 different roles, you know, so, what we do, what I love to do is create playbooks, so, if you have either the role of a carpenter or the role of an insurance agent or, you know, any of your roles, they each have to have different metrics from which, so that you're able to say, you know what, you're thriving in this position or you're, maybe, are underperforming, and we have to understand and identify how we're doing that. So, the more information and it's communication. Absolutely, perfect there. What about the laws for HR, I mean, how can you help HR administrators to stay on top of the laws? I love that question, I tell everybody, I'm not an attorney, but I have a network of attorneys that I love to refer to if my client, my prospective client, does not have one that they currently work with. So, that being said, although I'm not an attorney, I am well versed in a lot of the laws that are coming up. For instance, one of the big ones is that, recently, the Department of Labor, also referred to as the DOL, did you hear that? Yep. The DOL has made some changes or has proposed some changes for increasing the salary threshold for a salaried employer, employee, okay. So, in the past, you know, if you made $35,000 and change, I'm just using figures, that could be a salaried employee. Now, what they're proposing is that they're increasing that threshold to, I believe, it's $55,000. I've heard that, yes. So, that's a pretty substantial difference for the employers and their bottom line. So, yes. So, I'd love to help them stay abreast of what is going on in terms of the laws. Again, a couple of months ago, I think it was in August, they did the I-9, the I-9 form change. Yes, yep. So, you know, unless you're following or tracking that, most people don't really know because they don't, it's not that they don't enjoy the HR part of their roles or the function, they're just too busy. Gotcha. One of the things that we see a lot, especially when we're doing employee benefits, a lot of the HR administrators don't know a lot about the RISA documents and the 5500 forms of things they have to do. Can you help them with those things? I do. I can help them. But the beauty of what I do as a consultant is that I try to work with, let's just say they have a medical insurance and they have a broker, they're already working with you, Ron. We try to collaborate and to bring that person that, call it me, subject matter expert into so that we're able to learn from one another because I, you know, like to work with my team and, you know, teach me because this is the thing is that we're always learning. I tell my clients, I don't know everything, but I do know where or who I can call and where I need to go online to find because you would not believe some of the situations that come up at work. I could imagine. And they're sticky and sometimes scary and, you know, it's, so I do, I have my system for learning what, how to find the right answer or the right solution. It reminds me of when one of the, one of the grandpa Fords, when he was starting his company and they were complaining, the press was, you know, well you don't know how this engine works and you don't know how to do this. He goes, no, I don't, but I know which button to press to get to somebody that knows how to do that. So it's not like you, your would be a lot of expertise to help people get, find what they got to need and that's what most HR people need to keep them out of trouble there also. So. Absolutely. I think the HR department is critical to the organization because that you work, we work with operations, right? Whatever, whatever the goal of the business is, right? And then there's all of the, our partners, right? So who provides my insurance and who helps me with bonding and who helps me? So, so it's like that, what I found and when I've been, my most successful has been I'm working with everybody and we're all on the same page in terms of what is the situation? What is our goal? What are our next steps? What are we doing right now to get us to that? Perfect. Perfect there also. Talk about some of the challenging situations you've seen in the past. Oh my gosh. So, you know, we know what pops up a lot is, especially now, we tend to want to promote people. That's a great thing, right? To promote from within. So sometimes, so what I've seen here recently and locally too is, is that we're wanting to promote, let's say an hourly individual to a salaried position. Okay. So, you know, when that, when we do that, that means that there's no overtime, right? You're right. They're working, they're working, they're getting more than likely it's higher than a salary. Their compensation is more than an hourly, their hourly one. But what's happening is that what I'm seeing is that there's not that communication to fully explain what does it mean to go from hourly to salary? There's issues that come up. You know what? I worked on Saturday, so on Monday, I don't have to come in, right? And it's like, wait, hold on. You're on salary. Like, that's what that means. And so pretty, in the last, you know, what, six weeks, I've run into situations with my clients that they're like, well, can I just go back to hourly? You know what I mean? So it's very much, if that is what we're used to, that's what we're accustomed to, that's what we know. Why do I want, you know what I mean? Like, they're seeing the loss of the opportunity to make an overtime amount. So yeah, so that's kind of, that's popped up here recently. The other thing is training. I was going to ask about training and development programs, what do you have, yeah. Yeah. So again, it depends on the industry. I come from a construction background. I was an HR director for a local general contractor. Incredible company. Wonderful, wonderful opportunity. We went from 40 employees from where I started to right before I left, we were like over 90. And now they're over 100, and I believe they got an award for, like, great place to work. Nice. Kind of a really cool designation. Absolutely. So we were able to do all, we were able to, I say we, the management team did an excellent job of including HR into their executive sessions, and so, executive meetings. And so I tell all my clients, I'm like, you know what, it's really critical that you have that HR professional that is there at the table with you, helping to make your workforce decisions. And so that's my background, I worked with a super amazing team, and so what, in terms of talent and leadership, it depends very much on the industry, you know, but I helped to find a program, or even it's just having crucial conversations, which is one of my favorite topics, which I love to train on that. Awesome. I appreciate it. Well, that's our 10-minute podcast, where we'll get back another time with Selene to cover more in details on the HR, but if you're looking, your group's having any HR issues, where they're currently at, we would encourage you to reach out to Selene, you can reach her at 956-650-4097, again, 956-650-4097, selene at myhrfirm.com. I appreciate having you, and we will get back with another discussion on a future podcast. Thank you so much, this was so much fun. Thank you.