Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: There has to be some sort of.
[00:00:01] Speaker B: Balance and I and very important, regardless of employee or independent contractor, when you are reading in thorough and everything, do not sign it until you understand it 100%. So if you have questions, you have concerns, you need to address that before signing that document.
[00:00:16] Speaker C: Welcome to skin deep. I'm Dr. Ana Chacon and today we have a very special guest joining us. Get ready for some expert insights you won't want to miss.
So tell me a little bit about, if you don't mind introducing yourselves, Specialty hr.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: I'm Elizabeth. I am the founder and owner of Specialty HR Consulting. We've been in business, it's going to come up to three years now. We love what we do. We work with small to medium sized businesses that don't necessarily want HR in house. So we're able to offer that support to them and we pretty much adapt to what their needs are. We don't do cookie cutter packages. We do exactly what you need. So if you just need recruitment efforts, that that's what we'll offer and help you with. If you just need employee engagement, employee relations services, that's what we'll do for you.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: And I'm Vanessa Garcia. I'm the director of operations and senior consultant. And just like she said to piggyback off her, we've been in business for three years. I started with the company a little bit. I'm actually making my year next month. So excited on that venture. We don't specialize in any industry and as we like to say, if you have employees, you need hr. And then our motto is we don't just put the human in hr, we put the heart in human.
[00:01:25] Speaker C: And then how did you guys meet?
[00:01:28] Speaker B: I love telling the story.
So it was actually February 19, 2019 and I had got into a car accident that morning on my way to work and so I called the HR director. I was an HR administrative assistant at the time and I let her know, listen, I got into car accident, okay, but I'm going to be late. And then the owner of the company called me shortly. I had just finished with the, with the police officers and everything like that. And they were like, oh look, the HR director decided to go another way. The new HR director comes in at four. You guys are going to be two peas in a pod. Elizabeth was that HR director that came in at four.
[00:01:59] Speaker A: And they weren't kidding. We really were two peas in a pod. So we started working together. It was just two, the two of us. And we were able to grow that organization within two years. By I mean over. We started with about 50 employees and by the time we left, we had grown the organization to almost 300 employees, just the two of us. And we did everything for them, from recruiting to onboarding, employee engagement, employee relations.
And we traveled. We traveled a lot. We traveled so much to Boynton beach from Miami, which is almost like a two hour commute daily, trying to grow and expand the South Florida market. And we did it. We did it with great success. So we worked really, really well together. After that we. I ventured off to work for a big global organization with over 20,000 employees. And she followed suit. Right.
We split up for a little bit. I went my separate way, she went her separate way. And when the opportunity presented itself, once I had started my business to hire someone, she was on speed dial. She. I knew that she was going to be my first person to call.
[00:03:05] Speaker C: And you were part of bni. I know. That's how I met you guys, through bni. How long have you been a part of that?
[00:03:11] Speaker A: So I started with BNI about a year and a half ago. I ran into it through my local gym. Has a lot of entrepreneurs. And as they knew that I was going into this venture, they recommended I join bni. So I went for a visit. I picked a random chapter and said, okay, let's see how this goes. I went in for my first visit. I loved it. I loved the energy, I love the people that I was working with, the professionals I was surrounding myself with. So I did that for a whole year. And then when I renewed, I had Vanessa do it because I felt that not only had we grown our network and we've, we've been able to expand that, but it helped us in other ways. It helped us with public speaking, it helped us with really getting our pitch down. And that's something that she's now learning. She's been in it for six months now. Yep. Yeah, for about six months now.
[00:03:59] Speaker C: And what was the company that you guys were together in? Are you able to say that?
[00:04:03] Speaker A: Yeah, sure. It's on our LinkedIn.
So we, we met when we started working at Behavioral Family Solutions.
And then once I left the global organization I went to work for was REEF Technology and she followed suit. And then after that we, we slipped. We didn't, we didn't work together for a while.
[00:04:22] Speaker B: I went into, I went after reef, I went into health care and then I got cultural.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: Yeah. And I jumped off to another global organization, which actually are one of my clients now.
[00:04:31] Speaker C: What is the worst thing that you've seen in HR or like, what are some of the worst things that you've seen that you're like, wow, you know, I really thought this could never happen.
I hope it didn't happen to anybody else.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: So from an employer perspective, one of the things being in HR that we encountered, both of us, that was really detrimental to, I think, the people surrounding us. The organization was hiring frantically. So we were out there, the recruiters were getting the folks to start working. We'd onboard them, and then the person was supposed to start, let's say, Monday, today's Wednesday.
And then the organization would be like, oh, no, we can't hire them. So. And these people were uplifting their lives. So she had one that was in California, and he was moving from California to Miami to work for this organization, and she had to call him and say, hey, we're not going to hire you. And he was already in transit to Miami to move here for that job. That was probably one of the. The worst experiences of both our careers.
[00:05:34] Speaker C: So that's. That's insane. So you work with companies on a national level as well, right?
[00:05:41] Speaker A: Yes, we have clients in different states and international clients as well.
[00:05:45] Speaker C: What did you do to resolve that situation? So in this case, it was the employer's fault.
[00:05:50] Speaker B: I tried to look for transfers and everything like that, but there was no success on that one. There was another one where similar situation, and they were on a visa. And with that one I was able to find a transfer. So within the organization. Within the organization. And that way they didn't have to go back to their country because if they lost their sponsorship visa, they would have to go back.
[00:06:10] Speaker C: So you work with a.
Is it a labor attorney as well to make sure that everything is just kind of crystal clear and legally sound? When you basically do consulting services, how did you find that person? Why is it important to make sure? Have you ever been aware of or involved in some sort of lawsuit with employer employee, which I know other dermatologists that have been involved in that, and it is not a pleasant experience.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: So when I first started my business, going back to my local gym is filled with entrepreneurs. So I was referred to this employment attorney and I was able to connect with her, network with her, go out to lunch, get to know her and her. And I spoke and I said, listen, I offer HR services.
There are times that, for example, we're having some sort of termination and I need clarification or guidance or confirmation of my decision.
Do you have some sort of package that can work with me? And we came up with a Solution. And ever since then, whenever I have someone come up, let's say we have a termination with one of our clients. We have our ducks in a row, documentation is key. We have everything set. We still give her a call and say, hey, this is what we have. This is the termination reason. This is the documentation we have on file. This is our decision.
What are your thoughts on it? And she'll say, she'll ask questions, she'll ask follow up questions and then she'll tell us, yes, Liz, go ahead, you're good. In the clear or no, Liz, let's, you know, let's try and do this instead for the time being and then we'll revisit that termination. Since I've been in business, knock on wood, ever since my HR career started, which was almost 15 years ago, I've never been involved in an employee employer conflict. I'm a lot of, of my, of my clients. One of the things that they point out is how empathetic I am. And I am, I do care about the employees, I do care about their well being. And so I treat them that way. No matter what the situation may be, whether they're being terminated for cause or without cause, at the end of the day, they're still human. And I think that that's why I've been able to resolve a lot of these issues before they get to a certain extent.
[00:08:24] Speaker C: What feedback would you provide to someone starting out their business who's maybe scared to have employees? What feedback would you say or advice in terms of making a great boss would you give somebody? Like, how can you be the best boss? Like, what qualities do people have? And same with employees. What qualities do you think would make them like the ideal employee to have, whether it be a medical office?
[00:08:52] Speaker A: So from a leadership perspective, I think that when I've led teams and now that I run my own organization, one of the biggest pieces of advice that I can give anyone is you need to treat your employees as human beings. Right? We all go through things and you have to lead with heart. So if you're able to paint that vision for them, that's your role as a leader. You have to paint that vision like, this is my organization and this is where we're headed. And you have to paint them in that vision like, this is where I see you and this is where we can be in the next five years, where we can be in 10 years. And then they see themselves as part of that organization because they're involved. I'm very transparent with my team as I'm making moves as I'm gearing up to hire someone I'm very, very transparent with. These are financials, this is the goal, this is what we're targeting. If we hire this person, this is what we're going to do. And, and I look to them for advice as well. Not advice, but feedback. Like these are my thoughts. What do you think? And it's been, it's been up to this point, it's made me successful. And then from an employee perspective.
[00:09:58] Speaker B: So I think from an employee perspective, I think being open to criticism is one to be sponges. Right. We're always learning, we're always evolving and our leaders are there to, you know.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: Help, help guide us.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: You know, they obviously have more experience normally so they know, you know, the do's and the don'ts. So learning from other people experiences, whether it's examples to follow or examples not to follow, I think is a big one.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: When I'm looking for employees, one of the biggest things I'm looking for, a lot of people are so gung ho on but they need experience. They need experience. To me, I personality, you can't teach someone personality. You can't if they're going to be Debbie Downers. You can't teach them to be positive if that's the culture you're trying to build. So I always try to make sure that there are good quality cultural fit and during the interview process see if they are able to, if they have transferable skills. Because let's say they may have not directly had medical experience but they've been front desk for their whole entire lives. And we're looking for someone for front desk or medical office. If they have the personality, they have that bedside manner. Everything else can be taught and it's been very successful when hiring in my case.
[00:11:05] Speaker C: Okay, so you mentioned that case that happened and that's, that's pretty, pretty wild. I can't imagine moving, you know, especially as a physician for a job uprooting and then not having deposition.
What about an employee case? What is.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: Please don't use me as an example.
[00:11:28] Speaker C: Some things I've had were pretty horrible. But name an employee case that you were like, wow, you know, I can't believe this happened. This is unfair.
Poor company for having this sort of situation happen.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: So I had an employee that was hired and this employee was wonderful. What they came in to do, they were rock stars and top notch level of service, level of professionalism.
And as they, their career progressed with or their tenure progressed within the organization, we started to see a Completely different side of that person. And it started to become more individualized, more about themselves and not about the organization. And it ended up leading to this individual us finding out that they were trying to spin off their own business within the same industry, which was a huge direct conflict of interest with our, with the organization that we were supporting. And it ended up just blowing up like this perfect individual that we thought was such a great asset to the organization and professional ended up using this from the inside to build their own organization and not really do what they were supposed to be doing.
[00:12:46] Speaker C: How can you avoid that? Because I know in a lot of physician jobs, unfortunately one of the things that you see in jobs everywhere here is an enormous non compete which is illegal in California, although some people weasel it in into the contracts there.
And I think it's very unfair that you spend half a million dollars on your education or more. My education actually I think costs 1 million in general. Be a doctor. And then you have these contracts. Okay, well you can't work elsewhere. You know, like I remember in residency we were just not allowed to work elsewhere, you know, and I was just like, well, how difficult is this? You're making chicken scratch, you know, and living in expensive cities. You have this huge, enormous, long education, long hours, life is expensive. I was in Los Angeles. How are they able to get away with that? And what can you say to physicians trying to negotiate like a, just a more reasonable, fairer life? Because yes, I do think it's unfair that you spend a decade or more studying, you know, hundreds of thousands or even a million dollars plus to be there and then you're limited by how much you can earn.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: I'm not a big fan of non competes myself. I do think that restrictive covenants are needed to protect the business in certain aspects from like proprietary information and things that you may be working on as an employee. When you work for an organization, you are committing to that organization 100%. But as a contractor, you have a little bit more of leeway and you should be signing an agreement that doesn't restrict you to just that individual. Because you're a contractor, you're working for different avenues, you're working for different employers. So, so there is verbiage within a contract that would protect those organization or those clients that you're working with to make sure that you're protecting the proprietary information and things like that. So I think it's just a matter of really reading through the fine print. What are you getting yourself into?
If you're getting yourself into an employment, you are committing to that organization 100%. You really should not be going out elsewhere now if it's not completely related.
There are organizations that allow and say, hey, if you want a side gig, you know, on the weekends you're doing, you know, I don't know, DJing, that's completely fine because you're not directly conflicting with, with, with what you do here in the organization.
So making sure that you read through the fine print, speak to your employer from an employee perspective and then as an independent contractor, reading through that fine print as well, making sure an attorney reads it and gives you those specifics and, and working so that you're not completely restricted. Like a non compete.
[00:15:38] Speaker C: Right?
[00:15:39] Speaker A: I don't like non compete because like as you mentioned, you've gone to schooling for X amount of time, you've spent this much, this much amount of money and then all of a sudden someone saying, well if you work with us then you can't work in that industry or whatnot. You know, for the next three, four or five years. There has to be some sort of balance.
[00:15:55] Speaker B: And I, and very important, regardless of employee or independent contractor, when you are reading in thorough and everything, do not sign it until you understand it 100%. So if you have questions, you have concerns, you need to address that before signing that document.
[00:16:09] Speaker A: Yeah, once it's signed that a lot.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: Of people come to us after, not us, but you know, they go to the employers and they want to negotiate something after the, the, the contract or the offer letter, etc. Have been signed. And the time to negotiate is before you sign the documents.
[00:16:22] Speaker C: Can you negotiate those things after? Or you just feel like, you know, it's a said and done. This is almost impossible to do, you know what I mean? With a sit down conversation. And maybe a mediator like you guys, you know, nothing intimidating like an attorney to just kind of maybe reason whether it be financial.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: Yeah, the business.
I've had a client that after the agreement was signed, they came back with questions and concerns and the, the CEO sat down, listened and we made the modifications. And then I've had clients that they're like, no, they signed it. Too bad, they should have, they should have negotiated prior to signing it. So it just depends on the business.
[00:17:05] Speaker C: Yeah, and I think that's why it's important as a physician, you know, our contracts are lengthy, lengthy, lengthy and they're full of just all kinds of traps. You know, I say traps, I can't think of a better word. And some of them are so long you can't print Them. I remember the one at Cleveland Clinic was so long, it's not even printable. It's just a quick fix through sort of thing. And it'll take you hours to click through. And by the time, you know, you just click through it, because who's going to sit down and read, you know, those thousands of pages on that they have in there and they add addendums all the time and it just is like a constant. It's like the US Constitution, basically.
Yeah. In a digital hospital based format. I don't even think I read through mine, to be honest. You know, and then it came up after Covid, everybody started losing their jobs and people were just furloughed and some of these doctors were furloughed and they had these really restrictive contracts. They had these contracts that said you cannot work, you know, within a radius. They were not paid, I believe. So, you know, that was one thing that was new to me is this word furlough that happened to so many people in Covid. And I was like, what is that? I mean, you, you don't get paid, there's no work. But you, you're still. So can you explain what that means and what would you do? Because so many people were in this situation as doctors, if you were just sent home, your contract says you can't work elsewhere. You have all this debt mounting on you, you know, from, from school, and you feel like you can't work another job, but you don't have any money coming in. So what would you do in that situation? What does that even mean? Because furlough was something that I didn't know what it meant.
[00:18:52] Speaker A: You're restricted. Unfortunately, if you signed it, they can go after you. There are some people that risk it and they're like, well, I need to work and I need money coming in. I have bills to pay. And they go and risk it. And sometimes, yeah. And then sometimes some of those organizations won't go after that person. But we've had clients that they're like, no, we found out so and so is working for this organization and they'll go send demand letters and you know, all this crazy stuff because they don't want that person working within a certain radius or whatnot. So in order to avoid this, even if it's super lengthy, for example, in your case you said, oh, it was like through a click, you know, it was online. They didn't let me print it. I would reach out to them and say, I need a PDF format of that contract. I'm going to have My attorney review it, and they have to provide you a copy where you're able to go through it with your attorney and making sure that you negotiate what you want to negotiate so you don't end up in situations like that. Let's say that you have signed it, you're in that situation currently, one, you can risk it. Or two, which I don't recommend, or two is going back to the employer and trying to talk to them and saying, listen, you know, I was furloughed. I signed this contract. I am not allowed to work within a certain radius, but I need to work in order to make a living. Can we please come to some sort of agreement? And having that communication, and you might be surprised, they might be like, yes, you know, we completely understand. Let's review it. You might end up with a no, absolutely not. You know, it is what it is. And then at that point, third option is going to an attorney. But at that point, you don't have money. So, you know, it's. You have to kind of just weigh out your options and see what's best for you.
[00:20:39] Speaker C: I always hear about these scary cases. I've mentioned a couple to you guys that some friends are going through. Thankfully have not been through this myself.
Of maybe just bad people within the organization, stirring up things, filing a lawsuit, threatening legal action, just really making life miserable. And this drags out years. Are these attorneys, they pick, they're just convinced that this person is right and they can win or they're doing this contingency thing or what can you do? As with hr, you know, I've learned over the years that documenting everything is very important to avoid these sorts of situations. And what can you do to just not end up in entrapped or embezzled by this sort of situation?
[00:21:28] Speaker B: So like you mentioned, documentation is key. We like to say if it wasn't documented, it didn't happen. So always make sure you document everything.
There's also a saying, hire slow fire fast.
So in the scenario where, you know, you have a bad apple, you have all your documentation, all your ducks in a row, don't put it up, you know, and again, with your documentation will go in. In the event where someone puts in a lawsuit, et cetera, that's your. Your leverage that you went through X, Y, Z. They did xyz. They were addressed xyz. And then you have probably you have probable cause for termination.
[00:22:01] Speaker A: Yeah. And we've had. We've had attorneys that will come to us and say, hey, I have a client. We need to do an internal investigation, so that because there's an ex employee that's trying to sue them, and we'll go in as a third party, conduct this investigation, provide the report.
And that also helps in cases like that where there is a disgruntled employee trying to go after the organization.
[00:22:26] Speaker C: The other thing that I found unusual is I guess just what's happening in the country with where five years after Covid, there were still a lot of people working from home in the government, which I didn't even know of. But, you know, now they're being asked to go back to work and then in some cases they're given this buyout.
I don't know if that's what you call it, a buyout or hey, we'll pay you eight months of work or whatever it is, six months or eight months of work. Just stay at home, don't even come to work if you just resign. Now, have you seen that before? And can that be. Is it always that they stick to their word? Or can it be like, oh, I'm sorry, we ran out of money halfway.
[00:23:06] Speaker B: We, we can't give you the full.
[00:23:09] Speaker C: Buyout, which some people I read online are afraid of. You know, I don't think I'm even going to get all this amount of money.
So have you heard of things like that? Is that a unique situation being offered to the workforce? Have you been involved with something like that before? Can people sometimes not stick to their word? And what will happen, we haven't experienced.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: It directly with any of our clients where there's like some sort of buyout, how the government's currently doing, I think in situations like that, making sure you have documentation, an agreement in place and where it says, okay, if by accepting this eight months, it's essentially severance. By accepting these eight months of severance, you know, I resigned from my position effective X date and this is what I'm going to receive. And making sure you have that signed because at least you have something that if in the event you don't receive payment, you can go back and protect yourself and say, no, no, no. I have an official document that states that this was my last date and this is how much I'm supposed to receive and they can take it to court. Now, if they're taking someone's word for it, you know, and someone says, hey, if you resign today, we'll pay you X amount and the person submits their resignation and two, two weeks from now, they're like, hey, where's my money? The person can turn around and say, hey, what money are you talking about? You resigned. So documentation is key, not only from an employer perspective, but from an employee perspective as well. Awesome.
[00:24:33] Speaker C: And then where can our viewers find you? Thank you guys so much for your work, for your time today. I was going to say we might end it a little bit early because I have patience.
[00:24:44] Speaker A: No, we appreciate you having us.
[00:24:47] Speaker C: But where can everybody find you online and where can everybody contact you?
[00:24:54] Speaker B: So our website is www.specialty HR consulting.com, which is the name of the organization. We are on LinkedIn. We are on Instagram, we are on Facebook. So you can find us on all the socials.
[00:25:04] Speaker A: And TikTok.
[00:25:05] Speaker B: And TikTok. That's right.
[00:25:06] Speaker A: I'm going to talk to you and our hand, specialty HR consulting.
[00:25:12] Speaker B: And then our phone number, 305-792-8009. You can call or text that number.
[00:25:19] Speaker A: Well, thank you guys.
[00:25:20] Speaker C: Thank you for your time today. Have a great rest of your day.
[00:25:22] Speaker A: Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
[00:25:24] Speaker B: Dr. Kong, you have a great rest of your day as well.
[00:25:25] Speaker A: Take care. Bye Bye.
[00:25:26] Speaker C: Thanks.
[00:25:35] Speaker B: Sam.
