Linda Ostovitz: Hello everyone and welcome to Real Talk Real Growth.
I'm Linda Ostovitz and I am very pleased to have as my guest today Kelly
Mitchell, who is the owner of Impact HR.
And Kelly and I, I think, first crossed paths in connection
with our respective roles of the Howard County Chamber of Commerce.
Kelly Mitchell: Yes.
Linda Ostovitz: And we were board members together for a number
of years and have bounced off of each other in various capacities.
I've asked Kelly to speak to my Rotary Club of Columbia Patoxin on several
occasions in connection with her role at Impact and her expertise in HR.
We have a small business committee, or we call it Business Round Table, where some
of the Rotary Club members gather, and Kelly has graciously come to join us on
a couple of occasions to help educate us on what to her is her expertise that we
all need, and we know it and we need it.
And Kelly, thank you for joining me today in sharing some insight.
Kelly Mitchell: Yes.
Hi everyone.
And Linda, thank you so much for the invite.
Looking forward to having this conversation.
I'm always excited when I have an opportunity to chat with you.
Linda Ostovitz: Well, good . I was looking forward to it myself and here we are.
So Kelly you have been in business, I think, for yourself for about 20
years now, but you've been in the HR field for double that amount of time.
Is that right?
Kelly Mitchell: That is, and now you're just kind of showing
everybody my age, I guess.
But yes, I've been in HR for quite some time.
I started in corporate HR obviously, and various different companies,
various different industries.
And I guess the last six years or so, being in corporate HR,
I had an opportunity to go into the consulting field.
And so I've been in consulting since then.
So in consulting, I would say probably closer to 26, 27 years.
Linda Ostovitz: Now look, we'll show your age.
If you'll show yours, I'll share mine.
Okay.
So I've been practicing for 44 years.
I'm not gonna leave you hanging out there, my friend.
You know, we have experts in these conversations and, to be an
expert, you've been around a while.
Kelly Mitchell: Yes.
Yes.
Linda Ostovitz: That's how we're gonna measure that, right?
Kelly Mitchell: That's right.
That is right.
Linda Ostovitz: So you've been in the industry for 40 years.
What has changed over the course of those 40 years?
We use the term HR now, but I remember a day when it was personnel
Kelly Mitchell: my goodness.
Yes.
Linda Ostovitz: had other names associated with us.
What have you seen in terms of the transition?
What does HR become over 40 years?
Kelly Mitchell: Right.
So you're absolutely correct.
When I first started in the world of hr, it was not called hr.
It was personnel department.
And the mindset back then was very administrative, right?
It was ensuring that people got all of their benefits
and payroll set up properly.
Very, very administrative.
That still continues.
The world of hr, you can't get away from the administrative tasks, but I have
seen over the years as we transition into providing more value to the
companies and so it then transitioned into human resources management, right?
And the assets being called human resources.
Now I'm seeing the trend that it's more people and culture.
Because again, that shift of understanding that it's not just
about the administrative function, but really understanding the organizational
culture and how do you keep people motivated and productive and having
the culture that really sets people, the companies apart from each other.
And encouraging to having those cultures that make sense for them.
Linda Ostovitz: Sounds like it's a much more strategic role nowadays.
And I would assume knowing you and knowing your industry a little bit,
that the more involved you are in the culture and the future and strategic
planning and so forth, the more benefit you can provide to your clients.
Would that be true?
Kelly Mitchell: Yeah, absolutely true.
I still think there's still this, misunderstanding in some ways that
business owners or companies still view HR as still kind of part
of the administrative function.
And I think as I mentioned, the world of hr, we're never
gonna get away from all of that.
Because we do manage benefits.
And we work closely with payroll, so we need to make sure all of
the taxes and deductions and all of those things are correct.
But again, the shift I'm seeing is the true value that HR professionals can
provide is being able to strategize, work with the leadership team to
understand workforce planning.
Companies go through different phases, of organizational development and
HR needs to be a big part of that.
Because we are managing human resources for those companies.
So yeah the shift is existing and it's continuing to grow that way.
And the true value is providing that strategic level of support.
Linda Ostovitz: And I would think that, with the world becoming more complicated
with covid, with remote work and, we could list the million things I guess, that are
battering business owners right now and affecting and challenging their ability to
have a strategy and implement a strategy that the role of an HR professional
becomes even more significant.
Kelly Mitchell: Oh, absolutely.
And especially in times of uncertainty.
Like HR people based on our education and all of our trainings, it is tied primarily
to the compliance piece of things.
We need to understand what is it that we need to do to minimize risks
and liability for the employers.
But in times of uncertainty that's where truly HR professionals need to do more.
They need to step up more to provide some level of certainty for the
employers and for the organizations.
And yeah.
During all of, throughout covid.
Even now with changes in some regulations under the new administration,
it's just times of uncertainty is when HR needs to step up.
And they need to provide and step into that strategic role so that they can be
ahead of the game and be able to advise and consult and guide the leadership team.
Linda Ostovitz: Being a lawyer, I get to say this, in this litigious society
that we're in, I would imagine employers are always looking over their shoulder,
especially when it comes to firing somebody or cutting a benefit or changing
a policy, or always looking over their shoulder with, do I have liability?
Am I gonna get sued?
And I would imagine you're the first phone call when somebody's considering that.
Kelly Mitchell: Yeah, absolutely.
Now, granted there are some companies out there that.
Do it anyway without any advice or guidance.
And unfortunately for those employers that what happens is that
then something comes back, right?
And it hurts them because they didn't get that advice upfront to ensure
that whatever decisions they wanna make or policies they wanna implement,
they didn't get that insight and to do it right right outta the gate.
Linda Ostovitz: So let's talk about that in a minute.
I know I have found in my 44 years of business being in the business
of practicing law that as businesses grow, there's always a moment in
time and maybe more than one moment in time where a business owner says.
Gee, is it time for me to hire someone?
Is it time for me to bring in the HR expert?
Oh my goodness, it's gonna cost me money to do that.
And there's this real balancing act that goes on with a business owner to
know when it's time to spend that money on the professional that they need.
Which first of all, moves them out of a space where they don't
have the business being, 'cause they don't have the skillset.
But secondly, frees them up to go do what they're really good at and let the
HR professional do his job or her job.
So my question to you, Kelly, is, for our listeners out there who are
saying, gee I'm a one person shop or I'm a 10 person shop, is it time
for me to engage an HR professional?
What advice would you give to those individuals?
Kelly Mitchell: Yeah.
When an employer hires their very first employee they, there's
obligations and requirements for them.
Because they're now an employer of an employee.
So, it starts from the time that they hire that first person at understanding
what they need to be in compliance with.
But as they grow, certainly there's that time when they go,
okay, it's just too much for me.
I can't wear this HR hat, right?
Because there's too many people, there's too many laws, there's too many things
that I just don't know what I don't know.
To answer your question, in the HR profession we've grown
up under this premise that you know, every 100 employees, you
should have an HR professional, knowledgeable, HR professional.
I personally think, my opinion only that has changed over the years.
And I really think it dependent upon the size of the organization.
Where they are in their business cycle, what industry that they're
in, because based on that industry, there's other requirements and other
regulations that apply to them and not just from a E-E-O-C basis, if you will.
I always like to tell employers that when they're going through this question
about when is that right time for us to either consider hiring someone or even
outsourcing this, I always share with them to really look at, not just in
the moment of their business, but where do they wanna go with their business.
What does that growth look like for them?
Certainly, yes.
You can have an HR person write a handbook for you if you've
never had one or update it.
And those are easy enough things to do that you can outsource.
You can get attorneys like yourself, right?
Or someone from your firm to do that, but that ongoing advice and consulting and
developing and implementing and executing the necessary policies and procedures, it
really is to say, okay where do we wanna go if our strategic goal or objective is
to double the size of our organization in the next 12 months, well, you know what?
We wanna be ahead of that eight ball.
So it's really in my personal opinion, I don't think that
there's a magic number for that.
I think that it really depends on the organization and where they are.
Linda Ostovitz: So we come back to, again, this is my word, strategic.
Kelly Mitchell: Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Linda Ostovitz: You gotta look at the organization and all the
things that you've mentioned to figure out where they wanna go.
And it's a plan.
It's not an action.
It's a plan.
Kelly Mitchell: Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely and that plan is, all around when is it the right
time to start hiring people.
I mean, looking at that process to say, are we doing all the right things to
identify and hire the right people?
And of course, how we're actually onboarding them to engage them from
day one and really focusing on that new employee experience from day one because
we wanna engage them from day one.
So it's, it is the planning aspect of all of that.
Again, the administrative part of HR is really okay.
Now we wanna develop.
We wanna implement, and that comes with some of the, administrative
tasks to get that done.
Linda Ostovitz: You made reference a few minutes ago to one of the functions
of an HR professional is to be up on the laws and obviously the legislature
is a constant hotbed of activity.
Sometimes well thought out, sometimes not so well thought out.
But what is the obligation?
What is your handling of as an HR professional knowledge of what's coming
down the road in terms of legislation, what employers can expect to see and
how do you help them plan, strategize for what's coming down the pike?
Kelly Mitchell: I think that every HR professional, whether there are
consultants like us or in-house HR professional, they should always be
staying current with what's happening.
And I would say, and I would bet that all HR professionals are doing that.
The challenge is there's so much of it, right, Linda?
You just get bombarded with what might be happening.
And then to top that off, it's not just at the federal level.
We also need to understand state level.
We all need to understand local.
And so it does get challenging, but every HR professional needs
to stay current to your point.
And the way to do that is, especially if we're certified.
My team and I, we're all certified HR professionals and what that means,
just like CPAs and other professions out there that we need to keep up
with our continuing education credits.
And through that, we are able to stay current.
We're able to know what we need to know so that we're advising our clients to be
prepared for anything that's happening.
And then for us, what we appreciate the most are our relationships with what
I like to call our strategic partners.
Employment attorneys, other firms that need to also stay current like
benefit brokers, insurance companies.
And so we're able to share information with these strategic partners
because as soon as they know of something that affects them in their
industry, they're allowing us and their clients to know about it.
We know something, we're sharing that out with everyone, our partners,
our alliances, our clients as well.
So it is staying current, finding ways to stay current, finding those relationships
to stay current, and then being able to use that information for the employers
so that they can do the right thing.
I always tell my team that our goal is always to help our clients
be ahead of the eight ball and not chasing it all the time.
And I think what happens, generally speaking in my experience is that
especially for HR professionals that are internal, like they're part of
an HR department, they're so bogged down in the day to day that it does
become challenging for them to stay current, and or to find out what is
down the pipe to know what might be coming and when it's gonna be coming.
And so our job as consultants is to advise them and try to get them
to be ahead of that eight ball.
So that going back to being strategic, to know what to plan
for, as those things are happening.
And in our crazy, crazy world.
We get laws that are, or bills that are executive orders that
come out and then all of a sudden we're told, well, wait a minute.
I don't think it's gonna happen.
So it may change or it may not even go through or not be agreed upon.
And so it's all of that uncertainty.
But yet, the law comes out, or this executive order comes out and it says,
okay, it's gonna be effective July 1st.
So now all HR professionals are scrambling to say, okay,
we wanna be ahead of the game.
We wanna start doing all of these things.
And then all of a sudden, a month before July 1st, like June
1st, we're told, oh, nevermind.
Hold off on doing anything right now.
So it's just that chasing all the time.
It's also important being at ahead of the game and knowing
what is coming down the pipeline.
I know it's kinda long-winded to answer your question.
Linda Ostovitz: But you know, it's interesting because of being an
attorney, it is not uncommon to see that legislation has passed.
A law is passed that is intended to accomplish some goal, but the law
passes and the regulations, which is how you actually carry it out.
Nobody's thought about.
We have a law, okay?
This is supposed to happen.
And as we know, in the last several years, there have been a lot of things
that have hit employers, in terms of hours and, minimum wage and a whole
lot of things that have hit employers.
But the meat of how you're supposed to carry it out doesn't get addressed
by the legislature in the form of recommendations until long after the
effective date of the statute, right?
Which I guess then puts everybody in a posture to rely on you, all
the experts for how you think the best way exists to effectuate and to
carry out the goal of the statute.
This is not a word I use in my normal parlance, but I feel like
you are part of an ecosystem.
Again, not a word I use regularly.
I probably shouldn't even use it.
But that you're part of something so much bigger than Impact HR because you do have
these other experts and professionals that you interact with on a regular
basis, and you share information so that you together have the collective
benefit of all of you, like you say, to put your customers in the best
position to be able to plan for things.
Kelly Mitchell: So I wanted to go back to what you mentioned about the
regulations part of it, and these laws and not really understanding the
regulatory requirements behind that law.
And I was just in a meeting yesterday and that's exactly what I had said.
I said, the problem and the challenge is that these laws get passed, but no one's
thought about how is it gonna be executed?
And so then that creates all of this additional burden for small businesses
to try to figure it out so that they can be in compliance because no one's really
thought about the impact of the execution.
And the regulations and how to comply with those regulations, and when just
recently with a lot of these changes to your point about us being that resource
and allowing our clients to know what is happening and how are they gonna execute?
Because these laws have come into play.
We do get, as soon as it hits, we're just getting bombarded because again,
there was no clear definition about how businesses move forward with that new law.
So I just wanted to make that comment.
Linda Ostovitz: And you go back to that word, compliance, which
was a word we started with early on in this conversation.
And I'm sure there is a fear.
Okay, wait a minute, I've gotta do this, but you haven't told me how.
Kelly Mitchell: Right.
Linda Ostovitz: So we turn to Kelly Mitchell and Impact HR.
We say, okay, give me your best advice based on your extensive experience
for how I should work to be compliant.
How long has your company been in existence, Kelly?
Kelly Mitchell: So I launched Impact HR in 2006, and when I launched
it, I had a business partner.
So she and I grew it.
Then in 2012, I believe it was, she decided she wanted to retire and go live
her personal vision and good for her.
So since then I've been a sole member and I have a team of, right
now there's a total of 11 of us.
And then I have a team of wonderful, wonderful partners
with some independent contractors, senior level HR professionals.
So we are coming up to our 19th year in June.
Linda Ostovitz: Congratulations.
Kelly Mitchell: Thank you.
Thank you.
I have a wonderful team.
They're just incredible and knock on wood, we've been very fortunate
to have the clients that we have and being able to do what we do.
Linda Ostovitz: And I would imagine, again, as we hinted at previously,
there may be people who can hire you full-time, hire you for a project,
hire you for particular advice.
What are the types of services that you offer to your clients?
Kelly Mitchell: Yeah.
Thank you for that.
So there's kind of three primary ways that we get engaged by our clients.
And when I say clients, our clients are in every industry you could possibly
think of at every size and location.
And I think that's one of our strengths is that we are able to do that.
We're not limited to industry, we're not limited to the particular size.
We're not limited to just Maryland based employers.
But there's three primary ways that we get engaged.
The first is, as you mentioned, projects.
So they have a specific project, they need extra hands to get that
project completed and delivered.
So some examples of projects.
We do a lot of compensation work.
We do a lot of training and development.
We do HR assessments, audits, employee surveys.
So they're very specific.
It meet a specific need that the client might have.
And then the second way that we can engage is what most people might refer to as this
outsourced model or this fractional model.
Like fractional CFOs and fractional, CTOs.
We are fractional hr, so we go in and help our clients on an ongoing basis.
To help them to look at what is happening in the HR world.
We do the strategic part of it, and then we also roll up our sleeves and
we get some of the transactional work done as well for them.
And then the third way that we get engaged, primarily geared for our
smaller clients is that unlimited access to somebody that they can
just pick up the phone and call.
And just serving as that sounding board.
So you, I think you just mentioned it.
The ability for someone to say, I just need some advice.
I just need someone to tell me am I on the right path or am I gonna get in
trouble for doing something that I want to do, but not quite sure if I should do.
So that is our HR Express model.
Linda Ostovitz: And that's interesting because we had the discussion
about when is the right time.
And perhaps some people struggling with when is the right time don't recognize
that there are a number of different levels at which an HR professional,
such as Impact HR can be engaged.
Kelly Mitchell: And just to add to that, when is the right time?
And unfortunately hr, especially for us in the consulting world, we tend to
be a response to it's very reactive.
Something is going on in an organization or something's happening in that
company and they're like, oh my gosh, we need to talk to an HR professional.
Which is, it's a great way 'cause they do need that advice
and they need that support.
Ideally companies that are looking at it, not necessarily as a reactionary
way to engage HR services, but really looking at it from being proactive.
To say, going back to my point earlier is when they're looking at their
entire infrastructure and saying, okay.
We want to get to X where we need to build our workforce, or we need to
be looking at succession planning.
Or career development opportunities.
That is for me, a good trigger sign that they might need to have someone
more than just being able to come in and fill out benefit paperwork.
They need that, but they also need to be looking ahead, down the road.
Linda Ostovitz: The more we talk Kelly, the more it is apparent to me that, just
like any business person needs, I don't know, pick any industry, an IT person, a
banker, again, we could list a whole lot of different disciplines and occupations
that are part of a good collective whole.
And hr, it's so interesting because again I was around in the days when
personnel was the word that was used, and that meant time sheets and
paychecks and benefits and all that.
Nothing strategic like what you're talking about.
You're talking about engagement, retention, the employee experience,
which is so much broader than what you know personnel used to be.
Can you tell us a little about your clients?
Kelly Mitchell: Well, as I mentioned they're in every industry, right?
Different sizes.
We work with clients that are startups and helping them actually hire their
first employee to some pretty larger organizations where they might have a
really good HR infrastructure in place.
They just need some additional support and maybe primarily on that project side.
Our ideal clients if you will are companies that are probably around
that 50 employees to a couple hundred.
It's not to say we wouldn't support clients less than that, but the
reason I say that is because in our experience, they're the
companies that are looking at both.
It's time to be looking at on that, some of that strategy side.
And so we're able to bring both the value of making sure things are getting done
on a day-to-day basis, but really being able to work with the leadership team and
identifying other ways to keep people from that recruitment, retention, productivity,
engagement, all of those things that's gonna be important for the companies.
Linda Ostovitz: So you've been around a while in terms of this industry,
and you've described how it's changed in the last 40 ish years.
What do you see for your industry going forward?
Kelly Mitchell: It's a good question.
In my opinion, I do think that more and more companies will
consider this outsourced model.
And I'm not saying that because I'm in it.
But I was just doing a presentation and I was doing some research for
that presentation and I found that between now and 2030 that outsource
HR is expected to grow by another 72% or so across the country.
And I think it, it's a good way just like, companies that
outsource their IT services.
Or they might be outsourcing their finance or CFO function.
I see the trend of hr, especially on that strategic level, maybe
being outsourced more because it's giving them that option to utilize
those services or that knowledge.
On an intermittent or maybe times that they really need to start
developing and implementing a certain things across the organization.
So again, my experience of just being in this industry and then of course just some
of the trends that I've seen I do think that it'll, it will continue to grow.
Linda Ostovitz: Look, I asked you to look in your crystal ball, and
that's what you've done for me.
So I thank you for that.
Kelly Mitchell: Yeah, I just, I don't want my peers that are and there's
some great HR professionals out there.
I don't want to scare them with my comment.
I, yes, I do think outsourcing is gonna continue and it may, it's gonna grow,
but I strongly believe that companies cannot be successful without having the
right HR professionals to support them.
For sure.
Linda Ostovitz: That makes perfect sense to me.
As we've explored the depth of what an HR professional can do.
And again, I think a lot of people think of, like you say, the
compliance, I'm gonna fire somebody.
How do I handle this?
They look at those things rather than the strategy piece of it,
which we keep returning to.
Makes me wonder do you ever go into a business, Kelly and facilitate
the development of a strategic plan?
Do you ever perform in that function?
Kelly Mitchell: Not formally.
My consultants, my team and I, we have supported our clients with the
development of what that would look like.
And then maybe partnering or bringing someone else in that
is an expert in that space.
So we're a part of it, we participate in it, we help facilitate it, but
we would not actually develop that process for them, we would partner
with someone that is an expert.
And I think that's the other thing is that we just know.
Where, what our limits might be in some of the needs that our clients have.
And yes, we're all generalists by trade.
Meaning that over the 40 years of, we've all been in a senior HR
professional, we've had our hands in a lot of different things, but
we also know what our limits are.
And that's usually when we do reach out to our strategic partners, our
alliance partners, and then bring them in to support our clients
because we know that they're gonna be doing a better job than we would.
Linda Ostovitz: The sign of a true professional who knows her limitations.
Kelly Mitchell: Oh thank you.
Yeah.
And my team they certainly know that as well.
And we do collaborate as a team to say, Hmm, you know what, we could do that.
Certainly we're innovative enough to do that and resourceful enough to
be able to do that, but is it really the best for our clients to do that?
Or should we bring in someone that we know that could be doing such a better job?
Linda Ostovitz: A true professional knows how to say that.
Kelly Mitchell: It took some time, Linda, for sure.
When I first started it was like, oh God, does that fall under the HR umbrella?
Of course it does.
Let's figure it out and we're gonna get it done.
And truth be told.
Probably back then we might've been better off bringing in a partner 'cause
we spent a lot of time and energy to make sure that we were delivering
it at that level we wanted to.
But so it took us took me some time to get more comfortable in my own
skin to be able to say no, I don't think we're the right fit for that.
Linda Ostovitz: Look, we are both seasoned professionals and that is a
sign of maturity to be able to say, wait a minute, there's somebody who
can do it better, more cost effective.
It's their wheelhouse.
I'm not gonna lose my client because I've brought in somebody else
who's got a little better developed skillset in a particular area.
That's the sign of a professional, not somebody who says, yes, I can
do everything and anything, and they manage to get their way through it.
Kelly Mitchell: And our pitch to our clients is that, when you're looking
at your human resources which is the most expensive, outside of your salary,
our job, whether we're a consultant or whether we're an internal HR professional,
is ensuring that everything that touches across that employee lifecycle
is aligned with what the company wants to do, where they wanna go.
And so we're always looking at that entire process, and not just from
compliance standpoint, but the efficiency, the effectiveness, all of that.
And there may be areas along that way, along that process where we need to
raise their hand and say, you know what I, I think we, yes, we could probably
do this, but there's people out there that could do this better than us.
So those partnerships are very, very important.
Linda Ostovitz: Sure.
Kelly, you have always been so generous with your time and sharing your expertise
and trying to educate us oftentimes at my request for what we should be thinking
about and when we should be thinking about it, and today is no exception to that.
So thank you so much for sharing your time and your expertise with all of us.
To our audience, Kelly Mitchell, Impact HR.
She is a local Howard County business with a wonderful reputation.
And as I say, Kelly and I have been on the board of directors of the Chamber
together, and I don't invite anybody to come to my space who I don't respect.
Anyway.
So Kelly, thank you so much.
Appreciate you being with us today.
Follow, subscribe to Real Talk Real Growth.
Next month, we will have another conversation of interest
that'll get us all thinking.
Kelly Mitchell: Yeah.
Thank you so much.
It was a lot of fun.
Linda Ostovitz: It was a pleasure.
Thank you.