Human Resources For Small Business

In this episode of the Transform Your Workplace podcast, host Brandon Laws interviews David Dodson, an accomplished author and successful entrepreneur. David shares insights from his book, The Manager's Handbook, which provides a comprehensive blueprint for effective management, offering practical and data-driven strategies for hiring, onboarding, and day-to-day leadership. The episode provides valuable insights for managers seeking to optimize team performance and achieve business success.   TAKEAWAYS Managers must move away from hiring based on gut feelings and move toward hiring based on outcomes. In the first one hundred days, the connective tissue is built between the employee and the company, so proper leadership during this initial time is critical to retention. Instant performance management with radical candor is essential in developing your people and building trust. The exit interview is a secret weapon for greater understanding and development of the manager’s strengths and weaknesses, and

Sit down with the Chief Inspirational Officer of Pacific Perks, Natalie Fairchild, in this fun and fresh episode of Transform Your Workplace. Natalie’s unique business, Pacific Perks, is an espresso bar catering business with an emphasis on workplace flexibility, allowing employees to have autonomy over their roles and schedules. Natalie shares stories of employees with diverse backgrounds who have found success and fulfillment at Pacific Perks and talks about the challenges and victories of making the business work despite such unorthodox methods. Listen in and get inspired by this unique and thriving business.   A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

In this episode, guest host Lacey Partipilo is joined by Emily Etherington, the recipient of the Xenium Volunteer Award, to delve into the importance of volunteer programs in the workplace. Emily, who spearheaded the development of the volunteer program at Xenium, shares her insights and experiences in coordinating community service and volunteer events for the organization and its clients. Discover the significant impact volunteering can have on employee engagement, mental well-being, and overall workplace satisfaction.    Interested in learning more? Connect with Emily on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-etherington-31013328/   A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

Struggling to keep top talent in today’s modern workplace? It’s not as complicated as you might think. According to recent guest Joe Mull, author of Employalty, employers must make a commitment to three essential aspects of a “destination” workplace: providing the ideal job, prioritizing meaningful work, and being a great boss. Simple yet powerful, these focus areas are the key to lasting retention. Listen in and learn how you can take real steps to ignite commitment and loyalty among your people.   TAKEAWAYS Employalty is a portmanteau of the words “employer,” “loyalty,” and “humanity.” Social science research shows that organizations can attract and retain dedicated employees by focusing on three key areas: “ideal job,” “meaningful work,” and “great boss.” Today’s employees are recalibrating the type of work they want to do and how that work fits into their lives. Business owners and leaders need to embrace a mindset shift — that there is no staffing shortage, but rather that there is a “great jobs”

This podcast episode discusses "radical candor," a framework for giving direct and empathetic feedback to build trust and foster a positive work environment. It emphasizes giving feedback frequently, rather than waiting for annual reviews and promotes personal and professional growth in feedback-giving. The hosts share personal experiences and stress the importance of context, questions, and co-creating solutions in feedback conversations.   A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

Sit down with Malorie Nicole, a transformational executive coach, as she discusses the challenges that today’s leaders face in achieving personal business alignment. Malorie highlights the importance of scaling a company by keeping the development and well-being of your people at the forefront. And when it comes to boosting team performance, she talks about how CEOs must start with themselves. If you’re a leader of people, you don’t want to miss this conversation on how to create real and lasting change for your team.   TAKEAWAYS A significant challenge facing today’s leaders is achieving personal business alignment, or the harmony between an individual's personal values, passions, and goals and the goals and direction of their business.  Scaling a business is largely dependent on the development of people. Post-pandemic, people don't just want a place to work but rather a place where they feel connection and autonomy. When you’re feeling “stuck,” it usually means you forgot to give yourself permissio

Sit down with recent guest Phil Simon, technology and collaboration expert and author of The Nine: The Tectonic Forces Shaping the Workplace, for a discussion relevant to virtually every business leader in today’s changing workplace. Get insight into worker engagement and productivity, burnout, the labor market imbalance, the power of AI, and the role of blockchain in creating boundaries amidst chaos. This is one eye-opening conversation that you don’t want to miss.   TAKEAWAYS The workplace is undergoing significant transformation and won't revert to its pre-pandemic state. Nine transformative forces are shaping the modern workplace. One hypothesis about a drop in workplace productivity is its correlation with a forced return to work. A leading cause of burnout is technology and collaboration overload. Management shouldn’t dismiss new tools, like Generative AI, just because of their disadvantages, but they should also be wary of leaning too heavily upon them. Blockchain seems to be the best safeg

Our latest bonus episode of Transform Your Workplace with Nicole Blevins, where we discuss mentorships. Nicole shares her experience with formal and informal mentor relationships and how to make the most of them. Listen in as we discuss the importance of being prepared as a mentee and how to drive the relationship forward. Don't miss out on this insightful conversation!   A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

SHOW NOTES In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, Eli Blackman, the Co-Founder and CEO of Field Day, discusses his career journey and the importance of community engagement in the workplace. He shares how his experience at Elemental, a small startup later acquired by Amazon, inspired him to start Field Day, a program that connects employees with volunteering opportunities at local nonprofits. Give this episode a listen, and learn how volunteering can have a positive impact on your team’s morale, job satisfaction, and company culture.   TAKEAWAYS Creating a culture of giving back to local nonprofits boosts employee morale, job satisfaction, and retention. Recognizing the value of this outlet for employees, Eli Blackman co-founded Field Day, aiming to fill the gap in the market for tools that empower companies and employees to participate in volunteer activities together. Volunteering shouldn’t be forced; instead, once employees participate of their own accord, they make connections that inspire and

In this episode, we talk to Michelle about career pathing and how employees can own their career growth. Michelle shares her journey from customer service to HR and how she landed her current role as an HR business partner. We also discuss the benefits of career pathing programs for employers and metrics to measure success. Tune in to learn more about career pathing and how to empower your employees to take control of their career growth.   A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

According to recent guest, Shane Kovalsky, Co-Founder and CEO of Glue, meaningful relationships are the lynchpin for authentic employee engagement. In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, we take a closer look at the challenges of connecting with others when it comes to the “distributed” workplace. Learn how to gain insight into employee sentiment and make data-informed decisions regarding connection.    TAKEAWAYS If you’re not intentional about fostering a sense of belonging — if you leave it to chance — it won’t happen. Employee surveys have significant limitations as employees’ sentiments change quickly and the surveys offer only a glimpse at one “point in time.” The big difference between using observability and input data versus survey data is it allows leaders to see early indicators of disengagement and be proactive about solutions. Making meaningful connection is about converting similarity into familiarity.   A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

Sit down with Hareta McMullin, founder of Third Space People, and dive into a discussion on the misconceptions and challenges facing HR and what it takes to transform the employee experience. It’s time to reject outdated approaches to HR and take real steps toward building trust with the people you lead.   TAKEAWAYS Employees often see HR professionals as rule-loving and unapproachable people who are disconnected from the workforce. By managing the perception gap and addressing employee needs, HR professionals can create an environment where people willingly share concerns, enabling them to address challenges and retain valuable talent. Policies and procedures are important, but if we're leading the employee experience with that, we're telling our people that we don't trust them from the outset. We need to take a serious look at how HR policies and procedures are embedded in and support the culture. When we trust, involve, and empower leaders, changes can be rolled out successfully. To understand

This week's podcast guest host Lacey Partipilo sits down with Xenium employee Annie Oxenfeld to discuss the topic of workplace flexibility and its importance in retaining employees. They touch on workplace flexibility, from shift schedules to fully remote work or a four-day workweek. This episode also addresses common concerns and misconceptions employers may have about implementing flexible work arrangements, such as productivity, logistics, availability, and fairness. They agree the key ingredient to workplace flexibility is building a culture of trust.    A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

In this episode, renowned performance psychologist Jim Loehr delves into the crucial topic of decision-making, a unique capability of our species that allows us to shape the direction of our lives. His book, Wise Decisions, offers a research-based approach to intentional decision-making, empowering readers to enhance their own abilities and teach others. Tune in to gain valuable insights and strategies for making wise decisions that can positively impact your future.   TAKEAWAYS Decision-making is a unique feature of our species, as humans have the ability to pause between stimulus and response and consciously choose the direction of their lives.  Most of our daily decisions are made without any intentional thought. Oftentimes, small decisions often become the greatest levers for the big decisions that will change the trajectory of our lives. Your inner voice, not your public voice, reflects your true perspective and approach on all decisions. The pause between the stimulus and response is the most sa

In this episode, Nicole Blevins and Brandon Laws of Xenium HR dive into ChatGPT and AI and their potential impact on the HR profession. Together, they discuss various applications of the technology in HR, how to optimize its usage through prompt engineering and address potential problems, such as plagiarism, inaccuracies, bias, and non-critical thinking. In this episode, they cover: Exploring ChatGPT's use in HR tasks: Crafting job descriptions Composing and updating employee handbooks and policy manuals Drafting e-mails and offer letters to job candidates Checking HR laws and regulations Summarizing research and reports Generating employee surveys and sentiment analyses Streamlining administrative tasks (e.g. event and holiday reminders)

In this episode, host Brandon Laws sits down with Randeep Purewal, CEO and Founder of Divercial, an all-in-one B2B SaaS solution for building an inclusive workplace culture. Randeep believes that, unlike the subjective human perspective, technology can help remove bias and gather reliable data, with the ultimate goal of engaging employees and boosting productivity. Listen in and learn how to prioritize cognitive diversity and position your employees for success.   TAKEAWAYS Divercial is a B2B SaaS platform that specializes in building inclusive workplaces by placing a more diverse group of decision-makers in every aspect and dimension of business. Technology is less biased than humans and could be used to make more objective business decisions. Using a third-party company for collecting employee feedback protects anonymity as data collected is scrubbed and provided in aggregate form. Unlike traditional consulting work where recommendations are given and not always implemented, Divercial provides recom

It’s time to change the game when it comes to providing effective feedback in the workplace. In this podcast episode, Brandon Laws sits down with an executive coach, speaker, and author Jen Ostrich to discuss the importance of focusing on strengths, growth, and allyship when giving feedback to employees. It’s about moving beyond simply pointing out ineffective behaviors and painting a picture of what true growth and progress look like.   TAKEAWAYS Effective feedback should focus on strengths, growth, and allyship. Research shows that strength-based feedback improves well-being and engagement by making employees feel appreciated and seen. Be clear about desired behaviors instead of only focusing on the negative. Focusing solely on someone's weaknesses without providing guidance on how to improve is insufficient for change. Delivering feedback on what more effective behavior would look like provides specific guidance for improvement, which is less likely to trigger defensiveness. When leaders show v

SHOW NOTES In our latest episode, HR expert Keri Olrich discusses the misconceptions surrounding the HR profession. Despite popular perception, Keri talks about the significant impact that a skilled HR team can have on staff and business development. People are complex, so the HR field isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s about finding a balance between fighting for employees and meeting the needs of the business, all while prioritizing healthy company culture.    TAKEAWAYS HR is often seen as a necessary evil for compliance purposes and not as a valuable department that can accelerate business growth.  The HR profession is complex because people aren’t like machines, as arising personal and professional circumstances are impossible to predict. Pursuing a career in HR solely out of love for people can cause HR professionals to become jaded due to the excessive time spent with the “rule-breakers.”  There are so many things that HR professionals can do to fight for employees while, at the same time, balan

In this special 400th episode of the transform your workplace podcast, host Brandon Laws and guest Angela Perkins, VP of Sales and Marketing at Xenium HR, reflect on key moments throughout the last 400 episodes of the podcast. The two discuss past predictions about the future of work, leading with vulnerability, and more! Don't miss this milestone episode! A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST 

In this episode of Transform Your Workplace, host Brandon Laws sits down with workplace culture strategist Jessica Kriegel. The two discuss tech burnout, the downside of employee engagement initiatives, and the struggle to create authentic culture. Listen in and discover how to align on purpose and foster employee fulfillment in the world of remote work.   TAKEAWAYS “Collaboration overload” was the first instinct of most organizations that were moving into a remote environment in the early pandemic.”  Leaders’ attempts to “intentionally create culture” led to overwhelming tech burnout and increased levels of stress, both of which contributed in part to the Great Resignation. The Anti-Work Movement isn’t made up of people who don't want to work but rather people who want to work with intention and purpose. Replace the idea of employee engagement with employee fulfillment, which is the extent to which your character and abilities are being fully developed at work.  Every leader needs to be the Chief R