It was such a pleasure to be interviewed by Ingar Grev, a well-respected growth coach and contributing writer for the Washington Business Journal. Ingar was interested to hear about what has worked for me as an entrepreneur, contributing to the success of Helios, and what advice and counsel would I give my colleagues—basic lessons learned as a CEO. You can watch the full interview below.

Interviewing is a very important process in a company and defines the culture of the people who work there. In order to find the best, you need to interview for attitude and not accolades. Hiring managers need to look beyond the surface and grab their shovels to really dig deep. Did you know that 46% of new hires failed within the first 18 months? And that 89% of the time, these new hires failed because of attitude?

It’s budget time! Since labor is usually the highest expense an organization has, it is crucial to take the time to determine your pay budget. If planned properly, pay increases can be a tool to help engage, motivate, and retain top talent. Below are a few things to take into consideration when setting your pay budget:

We often get called in by organizations have experienced a lot of growth in a quick timeframe and the CEO or VP, Finance is ready to move HR off of their plate. They want to have a solid infrastructure built and someone who their employees can go to. And, they don't want to lose the great culture they've created. They're concerned that employees won't get taken care of in the same regards if they opted for a PEO, for instance, and they aren't quite ready to hire a full-time HR leader yet. So that's usually where we come in. At Helios, our HR outsourcing consultants are more than just a tactical resource or strategic advisor who you never actually meet. We serve as an extension of your team, and can serve in foundational, operational and strategic partner capacities as needed. We partner with executive leadership to understand your business goals, current challenges, and develop a plan to approach your human capital. We meet with you and your employees on an ongoing, regular basis and are the conduit between your employees and senior management. One of the most important parts of an effective Human Resources (HR) department is the trust developed through goal alignment, proven results, regular accessibility and face-to-face interactions of the HR team members. How can trust be earned through an HR outsourcing function?

At Helios HR, we are often called upon for assistance when a key player(s) exits his or her role within an organization. Many businesses do not have a succession plan in place, which means that we are stepping into an organization after the decision has been made for an executive team member to leave. It is imperative that the proper actions are taken to identify and smoothly transition the appropriate backfill into the senior role. While this can be a time filled with uncertainty, the following steps can ease the process of identifying a successor that will be the right fit for your organization.

Are you concerned about your employees' physical and mental health? Of course you are! Have you created a wellness program? Maybe not quite yet. I know, starting a new program can be challenging and seem like a lot of work initially. There's the chance that the program can fizzle if you don't stick to it, you may not have buy-in, and more importantly where on earth do you find the time to get started? But I'm here to help you on this one, so let's talk about it...