Posted Monday, October 31, 2022 - 11:17am by keckler@wbcsou…
Have you been struggling to come up with creative ideas to engage and reward your employees? Want to know what other companies are doing to fight this war on talent? During this round table, Daris Frencha will share with you 11 of the most creative, budget-friendly and easy-to-implement employee benefit and perks that will help you attract and retain top talent. These are ideas that she has collected over the past few years from other small business owners. These ideas are proven to work!
Daris Frencha is CEO and President of The Benefit Boutique - a full-service, WBENC certified Employee Benefits Brokerage. She entered the employee benefit industry in 2012, specializing in legal and identity theft protection as voluntary benefits. She loved these benefits, because they were unique and helped a lot of families out then, and still do today. Daris also loves helping small businesses enhance their benefit package so they can compete with the bigger companies with bigger budgets.
Fast forward to 2021, after enduring so many things personally and professionally, she re-evaluated her purpose and her business. Words like total wellness, holistic approach, corporate culture, mental wellness, work-from-home, flex hours, etc. became a part of the employee benefits strategy. Daris realized that she wanted to do MORE to help small businesses, and The Benefit Boutique was born.
They partner with several companies and Perk Partners to help small businesses create a truly unique employee benefits package that stands heads and shoulders against their competition.
They help you win the game of, “which company should I work for?”
Learn the top 3 reasons why small and medium sized business owners offer a 401(k): attract and retain quality employees, save for retirement, and shelter taxes. Calling all solopreneurs to join the discussion too as there are flexible solo 401(k) offerings allowing you to contribute as an employer and employee. In addition, for those 50 and older, there is a catch-up option.
Kathleen Hunt Bio
Kathleen Hunt founded her company, Personalized Payroll Services, Inc., in 2011 with the goal to help women-owned businesses thrive and prosper. Personalized Payroll partners with small to mid-sized businesses to customize and streamline their payroll processing and HR services. As a certified women's business enterprise (WBE) through the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), and an active member of the Women’s Business Council - Southwest and Women’s Business Enterprise Council South, Kathleen is passionate about connecting WBEs to one another. She is an advocate for WBEs and frequently makes introductions, referrals, and recommendations for others.
Kathleen has more than 30 years of experience in human resources, staffing, and sourcing services across various industries. She is an operations and process controls expert putting those skills to work for her clients on a daily basis. Personalized Payroll helps clients avoid costly penalties and accrued interest with timely and accurate local, state, and federal tax deposits and filings. The company provides real time payroll solutions offering clients the ability to process payroll anytime from anywhere. Personalized Payroll provides a fully integrated HCM system with applicant tracking, on boarding, benefit enrollment, employee career development, and management of employee HR portal for employees to review their paycheck history online, request PTO, etc. Smart phone technology and unlimited document storage round out the services offered. Also offered is HR On Demand which provides a dedicated HR Professional to assist her clients and their HR Professional. Personalized Payroll partners with other WBEs, such as Lone Star Benefits, to provide health insurance services.
Kathleen is an active leader in the business community serving on many boards and committees that support women business owners. She is a member of the WBENC Forum and has served on the Engagement committee since 2017. Kathleen is a recipient of the WBE Volunteer of the Year Award in 2017 by the Women’s Business Council -Southwest and Volunteer of the Year Award in 2014 by the Women’s Business Enterprise Council South. Personalized Payroll sponsors business events throughout the year including WBEC South WE Summit & Awards Gala and Connections to Contracts hosted by the Women’s Business Council - Southwest. The company is a Champion Circle Sponsor for Women’s Business Council Southwest and a Champions Circle Sponsor for WBEC South.
Kathleen was selected to participate in and successfully completed the WBENC Robert Half Accelerated Leadership Development Program and the Energy Executive Program presented by the University of Texas at Austin in 2019. She earned an Associate’s degree in Business Administration and Management at Fox College, Inc.
Le'yandria Ratomski Bio
Le’yandria Ratomski is a Partner Account Manager at Human Interest. She is passionate about helping small to medium sized businesses have access to affordable 401(k) so that everyone has an option to retire with dignity. Human Interest, is a full-service 401(k) provider. Their solution-based approach offers small and medium-sized businesses the opportunity to compete with larger companies to attract and retain talent by offering low-cost, high-quality retirement plans.
Do you often wonder how you might feel better and be more energetic? Do you frequently wake up wishing you could stay in bed for more sleep? If you answered yes to either question (or both!), you’ll enjoy an interactive discussion centered on making simple choices that will help you look and feel better quickly. Building health reserves is the goal for the long game - improving digestion, decreasing allergies, enhancing your immunity, and handling stress better are great short-term results.
Dr. Mary Warren, owner of Road Warrior Wellness™ and Vital Force Wellness, has been practicing, studying, and researching in the field of wholistic health care for 29 years. She specializes in the cumulative effects on our health and wellness from how we shop, cook, and eat. She has authored Road Warrior Wellness™ Handbooks; The Good, The Bad and The Bankrupt, Get Yourself Out of Nutritional Deficit and shares her passion about good health through speaking/ consulting, workshops, and writing. Dr. Warren is a member of National Speakers Association, Women’s Business Council -Southwest, and Women in Aviation International. Based in Dallas, Texas she obtained her Doctor of Chiropractic at Parker University in January of 2000 and is licensed in both the United States and Canada.
Delivering a consistently exceptional customer experience starts with your company culture and is reinforced by who and how you hire and opportunities for training, to name a few. In this post pandemic era where companies continue to face workforce challenges, growing your brand and delivering on customer expectations takes bold leadership, regardless of industry.
During this roundtable, we will discuss key factors that contribute to your company’s customer journey, including strategies to build exceptional service into the fabric of your culture. We want to help you deliver an exceptional customer experience and drive a lifetime of customer loyalty.
Lenetra King is founder of Watch Me EXCEL™, a boutique leadership development firm based in Fort Worth that works in a pioneering way with organizations to deeply engage, empower and retain exceptional leaders. She is especially passionate about working with companies who have a commitment to advancing women and leaders from underrepresented populations.
After more than 15 years as a hospital C Suite executive where she led significant people, culture and operational turnarounds, improvements in patient and consumer experience, and multi-million dollar margin impact initiatives in competitive markets around the country, she used her expertise to create LeadAmplifyEXCEL™, a proprietary framework that helps executives amplify their personal brand and maximize leadership performance. Lenetra is a certified practitioner of several leadership assessment instruments including Hogan and Everything DiSC.
In addition to her entrepreneurial pursuits, she is passionate about healthcare equity, education, and economic and youth development. Earlier this year, she was appointed Executive In Residence at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Department of Health Services Administration.
Lenetra received a B.S. degree from Florida A&M University, a Master of Science in Health Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and a Master of Business Administration from Rockhurst University. She is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Are you afraid to share your greatness with the world? The world doesn’t need clones; we need disruptors. Learn how being a unicorn can lead to great success.
Chanel Christoff Davis is a founding partner of the award-winning firm Davis Davis & Harmon LLC – Sales Tax Experts (DDH). Established in 2001, DDH is the largest woman and minority-owned sales tax advisory practice in the country. As CEO, Ms. Davis manages the business development efforts of the firm and spearheaded a plan which resulted in explosive growth. The DFW Minority Supplier Development Council awarded DDH Supplier of the Year. DDH was also awarded the prestigious Lillie Knox Investment Award by the Women’s Business Council – Southwest.
Latinos come from a strong and proud culture that informs every aspect of their life, including their work and workplace relationships. Building your cultural competence will empower you to support the success of the Latinos you lead and work with to support your organization to attract, develop, and retain Latino talent.
As CEO and majority owner of Career Management Partners (CMP), Maryanne is responsible for overall direction and all operations of the firm. Based in Dallas, CMP also has offices in Chicago and Kansas City, with partner offices across the Americas, Asia, and Europe. CMP has been recognized as a North Texas Fast Growth Company averaging over 24% annualized growth over the last 4 years. CMP has the distinction of being the only woman and minority owned business that supports the full talent life cycle with a national footprint, and services many notable clients such as John Deere, Fujitsu, Anthem Insurance, Raising Cane's, and nonprofit organizations. Behind Maryanne’s success in business is a deep commitment to clients, candidates, and the communities CMP serves. This is at the core of Maryanne’s values and CMP’s success. Maryanne was awarded the 2019 Young Entrepreneur award from AEM - Association of Mexican Entrepreneurs, 2020 Women's Business Council - Southwest Rising Star Award, 2021 Dallas 40 Under 40, and Top 100 Latinas in the U.S by Latino Leaders Magazine.
Prior to CMP, Maryanne served ten years in public education and higher education - developing content and innovative solutions for students, educators, and the community. Maryanne is a doctoral candidate at Texas A&M University–Commerce with a focus in educational leadership. She co-authored the book Don’t Dread Monday: Your Guide to Career Success. Her certifications include CMAT––Curriculum Management Audit Training—Curriculum Assessment, Design, and Delivery. She is also certified in Leadership Temperament Index (LTI), MBTI, and Brain Based Leadership Assessment.
Maryanne serves as an advisory board member for SMU Cox - Latino Leadership Initiative. Board member of Carl B. and Florence King Foundation, The Concilio, and President of Hispanic 100. She is also a member of the Women’s President’s Organization (WPO), member of the Women's Business Council - Southwest, AEM (Association of Mexican Entrepreneurs), and Advocate of the National Alliance of Mental Health.
There's something getting in your way of finding and hiring the best talent. (Spoiler alert -- it's not this challenging job market.) In this roundtable discussion, we’ll discuss the unconscious biases we all bring into the hiring process -- and how they limit us in our search for the best talent. We’ll also discuss the importance of becoming aware of our unconscious bias and share tools and techniques to recruit the best talent for your organization.
Jolene leverages her 25 years of experience in human resources to lead a national retained search firm. Risch Results helps companies hire top-performing executives and key talent, aligned to each company’s culture and values.
Jolene leads Risch Results with these key beliefs:
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Great teams blend diverse ideas, backgrounds, and experiences.
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Each search should be customized.
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Finding extraordinary candidates requires thorough research and assessments.
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Leave no stone unturned in a search–from passive, employed candidates to talent that extends far beyond our personal connections.
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Meaningful relationships with clients help us deliver better results.
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Our communities cannot be inclusive and equitable unless our organizations are.
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The workforce is ever-changing. Our knowledge and approach should evolve, too.
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Our clients have missions to fulfill. Efficient, quality searches are non-negotiable.
Most of us lead very differently under normal circumstances than when we are overwhelmed by stress. In today’s world, this means we are usually showing up in ways that do not represent our ideal leadership presence. Join this discussion to gain a better understanding of ways to redirect stress to work for us. We will have a fun-filled discussion that will provide leadership tips and strategies for stress management.
Prior to starting her company, Deborah “Deb” Degner spent over twenty years as a specialist in communications and stakeholder relations in the public and private sectors. She started her company, The Leadership Bridge, in 2016 and specializes in group leadership programs. As a certified professional coach, she works with a variety of clients including executives, managers, medical professionals, academic leaders, business owners and emerging leaders. Deb creates unique, energizing, and engaging training experiences. She values connection, fun, and wisdom and approaches all aspects of her business with this approach. Deb lives in Fort Worth with her husband Dennis, their Goldendoodle Gus and is enjoying empty nesting while their daughter Madeline is off to college.
Deb is a Professional Certified Coach through the International Coach Federation and is certified in the following programs:
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Emotional Intelligence EQi 2.0
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The Five Behaviors of a Cohesive Team®
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Everything DISC®
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Energy Leadership™
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Conversational Intelligence® Enhanced Skills Practitioner
After implementing Open Book Management at AMP Creative, she learned the power of inclusive strategic planning. Including all employees in strategic planning can boost engagement and provide leadership with valuable insights. Join Lisa to get a roadmap for inclusive strategic planning. It all starts with asking questions and getting honest feedback that can guide leadership in making the best organizational decisions.
Lisa lives to make meaningful connections. Whether it is connecting people, resources, or ideas, she brings them together with intention and meaning. For over a decade she has been tending to the growth of a dynamic digital learning company, leading with creativity, strategy, and mindfulness. Lisa is currently the HR Business Partner for AMP Creative.
What do Clydesdales, billboard-building cows, and Ubers have in common?
Telling a story isn’t always about you, and it’s not always complicated. Brands that know how to use innovative storytelling to create and nurture relationships know that stories that connect with people are authentic, real, and invoke emotion.
Stories are what make businesses more human, and the numbers don’t lie. Eighty-one percent (81%) of your customers are researching your products/services and company online before making a decision to give you their business. For high-value or high-cost purchases, those customers are typically going to take 79 days for research time before making that final decision. While the numbers are mind blowing, don’t be misled on the interpretation. Statisticians may call it “research” but it’s really “authenticating.”
So, what do horses, cows, and cars have in common? Customers want to build relationships with brands they know are trustworthy, and trust is built through consistent and authentic storytelling. In this session, we’re going to discuss how brands of any size can leverage stories to make lasting connections.
Amy has spent the last 22 years growing brands and helping business leaders define and refine their brand stories. A Fort Worth native, Amy’s years of study at UTA and SMU primed her for a lifelong pursuit of personal and professional excellence through continuous learning. She’s been recognized as a Cox Distinguished Business Leader, is certified in Customer Service Excellence by the Disney Institute, and was recently named among Women’s Business Enterprises’ Outstanding WBE CEOs of 2022. Since 2007, Amy has brought her growth mindset and love of client collaboration to Cowtown Creative clients, still managing to make time for family, reading, running, camping, and fishing. Married with four children ages 13, 11, 6, and 2, Amy finds that work-life balance is a mental health imperative, and has made it part of her company’s structure for herself and her team.
Burnout doesn’t always show up as a struggle; in many cases, it’s characterized by OVER-productivity and shows of strength, particularly in high achievers. Until it doesn’t. Well beyond exhaustion, never-ending to- do lists, and feeling overwhelmed, burnout threatens leaders and companies like nothing else. And, it’s getting worse. In this tabletop discussion, we'll unpack the phenomenon of burnout, its causes and risks, how it affects high performers (especially women and minorities), and what the research shows leaders and individuals can do about it.
Known for her insightfulness and candor, Jennifer Carter specializes in building better leaders who can face tomorrow’s challenges. She’s a proven expert in transformation and leadership development, which is a fancy way of saying that she’s an expert at helping people do things that are new, hard, and scary. Jennifer leads EWF International, a Dallas-based leadership development company dedicated to increasing the number of women in business leadership and helping companies change the face of leadership for the next three generations, creating more emotionally intelligent, inclusive, and high-trust pipelines. Jennifer is a writer and frequent speaker on building trust in teams, overcoming burnout as leaders and within teams, emotional intelligence, inclusive leadership, women in business, career navigation, and business culture transformation. She’s an alumnus of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program and writes for the Dallas Business Journal’s Leadership Trust.
While no amount of prevention is 100 percent effective, every little bit helps. Learn how ransomware works and discover easy to implement strategies to prevent an attack and ways to recover from an attack that is successful.
Billie Bryant Schultz Bio
Billie Bryant Schultz is a long-time visionary for women entrepreneurs. She is a founding board member of the Women’s Business Council - Southwest (formerly the North Texas Women’s Business Council) and continues to be an active member of their Board of Directors. Billie helped to establish the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and served on its board for more than 10 years. She continues to make her mark by supporting the role of women in business. She is currently the Chair Emeritus of the Women’s Leadership Forum of WBENC. She is also a member of the WBENC named Women of Distinction. Billie is also involved in a very successful mentoring program for young girls with two other women’s organizations for STEM and STEAM.
Billie continues to serve on several boards and committees that are dedicated to improving women’s certification and procurement opportunities for private and government contracts. Although Billie and her company have received many accolades over the years, her most treasured awards are the WBENC Applause Award and the Pioneering Choice Award. These awards specifically recognized Billie for helping in breaking down the barriers with the creation of a creditable certification process for women business owners that was preventing women from being accepted into mainstream markets. This valuable certification documentation continues to assist many women in growing their businesses today. The certification is the document that validates who you are as Women Owned and then it is up to you to prove your value in reaching small, medium and major markets.
Jen Schaumburg Bio
Jennifer Schaumburg is Fuse Solutions Inc’s CEO and Co-Founder. She brings 20 years of leadership experience and an unmatched capability to consistently deliver enterprise services in complex business operations. Jennifer wears her passion for supporting small business, women in business, anything technology and entrepreneurship on her sleeve. Jennifer’s dedication and business innovative acumen drives initiatives that support workforce development and fueling the expansion of entrepreneurship and creating jobs.
In addition, Jennifer is deeply immersed in philanthropic leadership. She takes an active role in corporate and social responsibility initiatives and is involved in supporting youth education initiatives and advocacy for small business. She contributes by sitting on academic technology boards and meeting with and speaking to today’s youth about careers in technology, and leadership. Jennifer partners within corporate enterprises and her community to support programs directed at increasing opportunity for future technology focused business leaders. In 2016, the Women’s Business Council - Southwest (WBCS) awarded Jennifer advocate of the year and recognized Fuse Solutions Inc for their commitment to providing WBE’s growth opportunities in today’s competitive marketplace. Jennifer is an active member of the WBCS board of directors and Fuse Solutions Inc is a Small Woman Business Enterprise (SWBE) that is privileged to be a WBENC Certified Women’s Business Enterprise since 2015. Jennifer was also named one of Dallas’s top 25 women in technology in 2020 by the Dallas Business Journal.
Jennifer is a mompreneur, married with a son, and enjoys each precious minute available to spend with her family. She is an avid traveler, health & wellness devotee, and home chef.
FUSE SOLUTIONS INC - Pushing past the boundaries of traditional consulting practices to offer enterprise customers the opportunity to expand their organizations’ expertise instantly through genuine collaboration. We bring it all together by providing our customers unrestricted access to our established network of experts, innovators, and tech leaders. www.fusesolutions.com
Unemployment is at record low levels. Great news for employees, but rough water for employers trying to hang onto their top talent, making retention a top priority. Talent retention planning is a challenge for several companies including small businesses. HR leaders leverage employee data and feedback to identify the key reasons for turnover and work with management to develop solutions to retain top talent. Finding good talent has always been a struggle, but the global pandemic has exacerbated the talent shortage especially in the IT market.
This is an open discussion on small businesses’ experience with challenges & solutions that worked for the company.
As the Founder and CEO of Software Professionals, Inc. (SPI), Reena has been the leader and visionary for the strategic growth of the company, collaborating on successful business partnerships, creating business models, and developing new software products. Reena brings 30+ years of experience in technology and services solutions, development, and delivery. She began her career selling first-generation personal computers at Mississippi Micros before joining IBM. After ten years with IBM, Batra founded SPI and has successfully grown the company to include Fortune 500 clients across multiple industries. Under her leadership, SPI has won a number of prestigious regional and national growth awards. Ms. Batra is also active in a number of business, civic, and community organizations.
Sales growth doesn’t happen by accident. Whether you are the sole salesperson, have a couple of salespeople, or an entire sales department, you must have the right systems to survive (or thrive) in the upcoming year and beyond. During the discussion rounds, you will learn the sales processes you must have if you want to streamline and scale.
Scott Johnson serves as the Managing Partner of USDR, a sales and operations consulting firm. Before being named Managing Partner of USDR, Scott served as a Sales Executive for both domestic and international sales organizations and has a legacy of turnaround in sales teams' performance, revenue growth, and profitability. His early professional development years started working for Fortune 500 companies and working with the best of the best. Throughout his career, Scott has achieved years of sales awards, been recognized by INC 500 landing #164, and was a case study standout for his work in operational management in the ISO 9001 arena.
Streamlining a business so it runs at its optimal potential is the ultimate goal of any business owner. But, how do you know if you’re maximizing your capacity and utilizing the best tools available? Learn from Monica London, an expert in econometrics and financial modeling, how to identify gaps in your business’s output, resources to standardize processes to accomplish efficient workflow, and increase productivity while keeping the money you already earned!
Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Strategist
Monica London is a top-performing economics and finance professional in corporate and manufacturing environments. She works closely with executive management and production management teams, analyzing business concepts and resolving complex operational issues to better meet consumers' needs while enhancing customer relationships, staff supervision, quality assurance, cost controls and report development.
She is skilled in econometrics and financial modeling to best strategize for business optimization and implementation to achieve profit maximization and is a subject matter expert in continuous improvement to accomplish efficient workflow, increase productivity rate, and perform cost control audits resulting in an increase to profit margins.
She established a successful 20 year career as a senior analyst and manager across various industries before founding London Power Innovations to serve small businesses and organizations to create proficiency through standardization and to keep money already earned.
Monica London is accredited by Butler Active Business Solutions.
Monica London is a graduate of Chapel Hill High School in Tyler, TX. She was the recipient of the Vivian Mauldin Business Award. In pursuit of higher education, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Finance at the University of Texas at Tyler, after she completed an Associate of Arts degree in Business at Collin County Community College in Plano, TX. She is the first in her family to graduate from a college and a university.
Highlights of this discussion include:
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Quick overview of how to find supplier portals and register
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Tools for managing multiple portals and opportunities available
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How to build a successful RFP or RFI once an opportunity becomes available (with examples)
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Creating a library of RFP templates to use for future bids
Andrea Rowe is a Brand Identity Expert working with Corporate America to advance brand compliance in print. As the Senior Vice President of Customer Relations at Marfield, Andrea has cracked the code of a successful Request for Proposal (RFP) and firmly believes these teachable skills can aid any business to succeed in the proposal process. With her proven record of winning new contracts for Marfield and renewing existing customers annually, Andrea is excited to share her tips to jump to the front of the line during the RFP process!