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“Kathi's services and advice have hit the spot with us when we have been searching for the right people, at the right time, with the right experience at the right cost. She has great network connections and is a real spark plug in the Houston business community ... can't beat that! She has been a pleasure to work with ... and is only going to get better!”
Winford E (Dutch) Holland, Chairman, Holland & Davis LLC, hired Kathi as a Business Consultant
“As HR manager, Kathi offered leadership, enthusiasm and encouragement. She was particularly astute in identifying details that could have turned personnel issues into disasters. Her leadership and knowledge of human resource processes and procedures enabled our division to be revered among the "best in class" during her tenure.”
Charles Nash, Sr. Director, Engineering Staffing, worked with Kathi
“Kathi is a strategic thinker who is always looking for ways to make an impact on the business.”
Donna Lane, Human Resources Director, Aerospace Staffing Division, worked as a peer with Kathi
“Kathi was a star in my organization. She's bright, creative, thinks strategically and drives for results. Excellent balance of strategic and ability to execute. Her interpersonal skills were outstanding and she had the respect of all of her business partners, including some tough clients. I'd highly recommend her and would re-hire her in a heartbeat.”
Barrie Dubois, VP, Human Resources, managed Kathi
“Kathi is a fantastic business partner and colleague. Very dedicated and focused to the field of HR - truly someone you can count on to support the client, customer and employee.”
Cheryl Row, Senior Recruitment Director, worked for Kathi
“I found Kathi to be an extremely well rounded and capable HR Professional. She has the clear ability to be both tactical as well as strategic and to function as a strong business partner to line leadership. She was well regarded both within the HR function as well as by the client groups that she supported at the company. I would fully endorse her as a great candidate for any organization she chooses to align herself with.
David Kahn, VP, Human Resources, worked with Kathi
“While Kathi and I worked together at the company, she partnered very well with our recruitment efforts. She is a very talented HR professional, she very much is a business partner. She not only takes the time and puts forth the effort to understand and know the business, she makes contributions to that business through the relationships and partnerships that she builds.
Jim Parker, Director, Talent Acquisition, worked with Kathi
TOP OF PAGE
Case Studies
BASKiNS
Taking a family retail business and ramping it up for expansion means having a team of qualified and committed people. Personnel needs for retail businesses pose a specific and ongoing challenge for management. Getting the right people in the right position and productive quickly is the key to sustained growth and profitability.
Company – BASKiNS
In 1972, the Baskin family opened their first store in Trinity, Texas. For working families in Texas, BASKiNS has become the place they count on for exceptional value and a friendly hometown environment. The Company’s service philosophy continues to be — “neighbors serving neighbors.” From the first store in Trinity, the Company has grown to 19 stores all across East Texas with over 250 employees and revenues in excess of $30 million. In 2004 the Baskin family sold the Company to an investment firm who kept things exactly as they were. In 2009, new ownership took over with exciting plans for the future. Addressing the human resources needs of the Company was CEO, Jack Gunion’s first task.
Challenge – HR Compliance and Employee Management
With 250 employees and no formal HR procedures, the Company had several critical issues to address. Additionally, employees had not been formally managed so there was frequent miscommunication and inconsistencies, which led to... MORE>
Catering by George
Staff turnover in catering, as any industry, is high and has been for many years. Given the competitive pressures from other types of work opportunities, the difficulty in the catering industry isn't just one of finding people for the job - it is finding the right people and placing them in the right job. This was an area that Kim George, President of Catering by George, wanted to improve in her business.
Company – Catering By George
Catering by George is a catering company located in Houston, Texas that creates both classic and innovative menus for their clients and has done so for more than 20 years. While the business employs a small number of employees, the company often handles large catering events. It is imperative that the team works as one cohesive unit.
Challenge – Employee Recruitment and Retention
As Catering by George continued to grow and Kim wanted to focus her efforts in more strategic areas of the business, employee issues would often arise, mitigating progress. It was extremely challenging to find the perfect fit. If they had the qualifications, their personality often didn’t mesh well with the rest of the team. Or, if they were a good fit personality-wise, they were not always able to perform their duties. Kim was quickly becoming an HR manager, rather than the strategic business partner she desired to be.
Solution – People Possibilities
Effective recruitment and retention within the fast-paced catering industry is one of the key management challenges that determine whether business objectives are achieved or not. Using their unique and proprietary Employee Lifecycle Model along with many years of coaching and helping entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs feel more comfortable and confident in the employer-employee process, People Possibilities developed...MORE>
Over a two year period, integrated the teams from three diverse corporate cultures to achieve stated goals of the acquisition. These goals were part of this Fortune 500 Company’s vision to become the world leader in managed services. They encompassed year after year 6-8% organic growth, building the best team, working together across business lines as one team and creating stronger, deeper, more enduring unlimited partnerships with customers. The acquisition added $1.2B in sales, 18,000 employees and 70,000 managed employees at 2,000 client locations. The region was formed at $90M in sales with 90 locations across seven states with 1,200 employees and 69% of the accounts in the region led by new regional managers.
Action:| • | Used change management techniques (communication, team building, collaboration, executive coaching and employee interventions), as well as knowledge of the company’s business model, to communicate and reinforce the company’s vision. |
| • | Facilitated teamwork and collaboration among leadership teams at regional and district meetings, as well as through one-on-one interactions; built a partnership with front line managers to achieve performance goals for their clients, themselves and their employees. |
| • | Identified region specific goals for all managers to achieve as part of their performance review. These goals were tied to the company’s core four goals (customer retention, base business growth, new business and one best team) as a way to change to a performance culture. |
| • | Facilitated a train-the-trainer session for District Managers to learn and apply the “Partnership Success Plan” process to focus front line managers on a continuous improvement plan for their accounts aligned with the goals and outcomes of the client. |
| • | Co-Chair for Education and Recognition Committee to identify and implement ways to increase cross line of business sales opportunities. Developed a process to deliver a quarterly newsletter as a communication tool to educate each line of business on services provided. Facilitated team building sessions within geographic locations to increase lead sharing and integration of products to customers across lines of business. |
| • | Achieved Customer Retention above 95% and Employee Retention at 87.3% for the region. |
| • | Sold the first account to a healthcare provider for cross line of business services with annual estimated sales at $25 million, adding 500 employees to the company’s payroll. |
| • | 100% on time completion of the Partnership Success Plan by front line managers in the region. |
| • | Recognized for the development of initiatives to increase cross line of business sales opportunities through employee recognition and communication strategies with the “Rising Star” Award. |
For this Fortune 500 Company’s healthcare facility services division, led the talent management analysis to transfer client employees at existing and new accounts to the company’s payroll in order to increase control of labor costs thereby resulting in greater earnings. Completed a benefit gap analysis to compare client benefits to the company’s benefits in order to determine whether employees would have a positive or negative gap, then identified possible solutions to accommodate the change.
Action:| • | Built in rigor and discipline with a team who had come from a stodgy, non-action oriented culture; reinforced expectations of a comprehensive sale; brought in business line with separate reporting structure critical to selling a comprehensive package. Facilitated knowledge sharing and a team approach to developing the proposal. |
| • | Developed a template to compare the benefits packages and develop a gap analysis for senior leadership. Identified alternative solutions to address the benefit gaps. Once the overall proposal was agreed upon, created the presentation materials and handouts for employee communication meetings. |
| • | Led activities to transition client employees to contract services payroll, including benefit and payroll setup, communication of the transition timeline and new benefit plans to employees and utilization of change management techniques to ensure a successful integration. |
| • | Resulted in the addition of 900 employees over a one-year period (at six existing and new accounts), with no turnover of employees upon transition. |
| • | Included the company’s first comprehensive sale to a major healthcare provider in the Texas market with a ten year agreement with annual estimated sales at $25 million, adding 500 employees to the company’s payroll. |
A talent recruiting and retention challenge existed due to continued growth of this division through acquisition. Leaders from the acquired company were expected to quickly adapt from a traditional, command and control culture to an entrepreneurial, performance culture. With this transition, some leaders left the company. A ready talent pool was not available due to the specialization of technical skills needed for these roles.
Action:| • | Completed a workforce planning analysis to identify the roles needed for success. |
| • | Evaluated internal and external talent pools and developed a strategy to fill resource gaps. |
| • | Delivered “Targeted Selection” training to all hiring managers to teach behavioral interviewing techniques with application through on site interviews. |
| • | Led the talent sourcing effort to fill positions and worked with business leaders to select top talent. |
| • | Completed staffing of key positions within thirty days, including one external hire, one internal transfer and three promotions. |
| • | Filled all key positions by the start date for this key account despite the challenge of a limited talent pool of internal high potentials and a rural location. |
| • | Over the course of the fiscal year achieved 57% female and minority hires and seven promotions. |
In order to attract and retain talent, a career brand was needed for this division of a Fortune 500 Managed Services Company. While the career brand was needed to specifically focus on careers in the division, it also needed to differentiate itself from its competitors. The brand needed to be packaged in different forms so it would become a part of the culture. In order to ensure employee retention, there needed to be significant improvements in identifying career paths for employees and communicating to them how to accomplish their goals to move along this career path. The career brand process and communication materials helped managers to promote the company to the best candidates and to existing employees. The campaign encompassed these values:
| • | An entrepreneurial culture in a stable company that is the world leader in managed services. |
| • | Highly focused customer service and sales environment. |
| • | Diversity of products, customers, employees and career opportunities. |
| • | The opportunity for personal and professional growth in a business experiencing phenomenal success and recognized as a market leader. |
| • | Performance based pay and the opportunity for ownership in the company. |
These values were the reason people came to work for the Company and why they stayed.
Deliverables included development of website content for external communication and the creation of marketing and training tools for front line managers and the leadership team.
Financial targets included:| • | Recruiting cost reduction of 10%. |
| • | Decrease in days to fill by five days (25%). |
| • | Increase in the number of pipeline candidates to 5-15 per region. |
| • | Reduction of sales consultant turnover to less than 30%. |
| • | Reduction of sales and service representative turnover to less than 40%. |
| • | Increase in the acceptance rate to 95% or better. |
| • | Developed the content for the external website to include a division specific careers section. |
| • | Created and developed a recruitment tool kit containing all of the materials a manager needs to execute the staffing process from initial contact through the first 90 days of employment, increasing their capability to attract and retain the best candidates. |
| • | Developed specific tactics using the recruitment tool kit to address each financial target. |
| • | Increase in number of hits to the external website. |
| • | Received national recognition for the development of the Recruitment Tool Kit for front line managers; won a first place award in the “HR Best Practice” category from SHRM Arkansas State Council for building an outstanding career brand. |
| • | The Recruitment Tool Kit was adapted beyond the division to all divisions within the company. |
This division of a Fortune 500 Company had an established Employee Referral Program where employees could be financially rewarded when they referred a candidate to the company who was ultimately hired. However, the employees were not aware of the program and/or did not take it seriously. As a result, few hires were made through employee referral. Also, there was a heavy reliance on outside recruiting firms to fill positions.
Action:| • | The division tied the Employee Referral Program to a quarterly promotion of its products to the premier of “The Grinch” movie in theatres, with the “Don’t let the Grinch steal your new hires” campaign for the recruiting drive. The promotion ran for one quarter. |
| • | The division teams used their talents and creativity to generate an increase in quality candidates during a period in which the unemployment rate was at an all time low. |
| • | Reduced overall cost of staffing. |
| • | The division had 61 hires out of 387 referrals. |
| • | The region led all regions with 23 hires out of 93 referrals. |
Sales consultant turnover was at an all time high (up to 125% at its worst) with loss in productivity. Needed to foster high growth, high performance sales culture.
Action:| • | Included retention targets in management’s bonus criteria and action plan. |
| • | Tracked and reported turnover statistics to leadership on a monthly basis. |
| • | Developed and implemented a new sales compensation program to better attract and retain outside sales professionals, by elevating the start up bonus program and adding a 52-week residual commission. |
| • | Identified “at risk” sales consultants and developed retention action plans. |
| • | Used bench position to reduce the number of days open and effectively train new Sales Consultants. |
| • | Reduced employee turnover in sales from 68% to 20% over the fiscal year. |
| • | Doubled Sales Consultant 13-week productivity two years from $1,322/SC to $2,568/SC with a minimal increase in headcount (150 to 170). |
Needed to support growth and stabilize operations, as well as provide career path opportunities for employees. A new product line was introduced to meet market demand and provide opportunities for Sales Consultants and Customer Sales and Service Representatives. This program was targeted to the small and medium sized office segment (75-250 employees) and combined office coffee service with vending machines.
Action:| • | Created three new positions within the region to allow growth from location responsibility to regional responsibility for operations and customer service. |
| • | Staffed a $1.8M client account to meet the specific needs of the customer in a market with a 2% unemployment rate. |
| • | Increased business in the new product line by 47% over the fiscal year. |
| • | The line of business grew from $331M to $380M in sales and $16M to $31M in EBIT, with the region at 13% growth in sales and 5% growth in EBIT year to year. |
Needed to identify gaps in succession plan and strategize replacement. General Management replacement took too long as a talent bench program was not in place. More than 50% of regional/location management had been in their position less than two years.
Action:| • | Used the Management Development Review as a tool to accomplish succession planning, performance management and career development goals of the team. |
| • | Developed and delivered leadership training for high potentials. |
| • | Completed a 360-degree evaluation for leaders, provided feedback, and coached leaders to improve skills and relationships. |
| • | Used a management pre-hire assessment test to improve selection. |
| • | Used bench positions to fill openings. |
| • | Rewarded high performance financially and through promotions. |
| • | Upgraded 30% of the region leadership team within the first year. |
| • | Filled top key positions with internally developed candidates over three years. |
Safety results were unacceptable at ten indemnity claims, 41 total claims, 16 lag time calls and 78 safety meetings. Goals were established at three safety meetings per quarter for each location, 90% lag time and no more than five indemnity claims.
Action:| • | Implemented an effective Return to Work Program to reduce indemnity claims. |
| • | Set vision and expectations for the Safety Champion Program (to include the goals identified above) and communicated to all leaders and employees in the region. |
| • | Delegated ongoing activity to a team member as a developmental opportunity for her. |
| • | Achieved a 60% reduction in lost time accidents and increased response time when accidents occurred. |
| • | Exceeded goals at year end by achieving four indemnity claims, 33 total claims, 92% lag time and 159 safety meetings. |
| • | 35% of all locations achieved 100% of all Safety Champion Program goals. |
| • | Development and coaching of the team leader resulted in her promotion to a role in Loss & Prevention. |
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| 1909 Branard, Suite E | Houston, TX 77098 | Phone 281-450-6316 | Fax 713-523-1474 contact@peoplepossibilities.com | www.peoplepossibilities.com |
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