I am responsible for driving strategic HR initiatives that align with the company's goals and support business growth. Key responsibilities include talent acquisition, development, and retention, employee experience enhancement, performance management, and employee relations. This role will also focus on DEI initiatives, organizational development, and ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. Additionally, I oversee administrative functions such as compensation, benefits, and record management.

The O’Connor Group (TOC) provides flexible outsourced Human Resources and Talent Acquisition solutions to small and mid-market companies. Our dedicated and industry-specialized experts work as an integrated part of our client’s teams to help them attract, retain, and engage the best employees while building the solid human capital infrastructure needed to thrive. We partner closely with our clients to understand their culture, goals, and challenges. This discovery process allows our experts to develop and execute a clearly articulated vision and plan that is aligned with our clients’ needs. Our unique model of partnering with our clients on an hourly basis has proven efficiency and client budget control, leading to a 90% CEO business referral rate. Our goal is to provide insightful, creative, and innovative Human Resources and Talent Acquisition solutions that allow our clients to focus on the success of their organizations. While we work closely with owners, executives, and human resources leaders to help create, and improve our client’s human capital management function, The O’Connor Group also provides short-and long-term resources that fill critical gaps on our client’s teams. Regardless of the engagement, we are committed to providing clients with optimal solutions and a simple, transparent process. The O’Connor Group has 75 talented Human Resources and Talent Acquisition Partners around the country and is based in King of Prussia, PA. In 2021, TOC was the recipient of several awards including Inc. 5000, Best Places to Work In Pennsylvania, PBJ Healthiest Employers, Quartz Best Small Remote Companies, Soaring 76, and Philadelphia 100. The O’Connor Group is a Certified Women-Owned Business with WBENC.

The O’Connor Group’s dedicated, industry-specialized experts work as an integrated part of your team to help clients attract, retain, and engage the best employees, while concurrently building a solid, sustainable HR infrastructure companies need to thrive. We’re frequently told that The O’Connor Group “brings more to the table” than expected, with success stories in hundreds of organizations across the Philadelphia area and throughout the US.

Served as member of executive leadership team. Provided strategic leadership to attract, develop and retain best talent available. Oversaw development and implementation of talent management / human resources policies, plans and services, including recruitment, selection, on boarding, legal compliance, employee benefits, compensation, employee relations, diversity and inclusion, employment practices and procedures, employee communications and events. Coached team of 10. • Provided HR leadership on conversion, implementation, testing and launch of a complete HCM solution (from ADP TimeSaver and Payforce to Ceridian Dayforce) to consolidate systems and increase organizational efficiency. • Decreased time of completion by 80% while saving $10,400+ annually by instituting online reference checking tool.• Launched a comprehensive employee wellness program for 230 full-time employees with initial increase in preventative visit compliance; lowered renewal rates and 14% uptick in financial wellness participation.

Provided employee relations management, compensation analysis and reporting, and benefits management. Liaised and drove results with benefits brokerage firm to ensure platform was competitive for employees, provided value and savings. Benchmarked and quantified financial impact analysis in creation and proposal of standardized grades and pay structures.• Architected ‘My Y Career’ workbook project which developed, engaged and retained staff across any level of the organization. Published nationwide by YMCA of the USA in recognition as a best practice.• Saved $5K+ in outsourcing fees by leading in-house employee satisfaction survey distributed to 1,900 employees through survey monkey. Analyzed performance for all 8 locations through utilization of Excel analysis and reporting.

Mitigated liability exposure in practices for full life cycle of employment. Consulted and made recommendations to management that protected organization while simultaneously enhancing employee engagement and transforming culture. Coached, trained and partnered with all levels of leadership on providing best practices and solutions to navigate difficult situations. Analyzed, recommended, and implemented solutions for employee relations trends and patterns to investigate root-cause analysis. Drove, researched, and created legal response for submission to legal counsel on any legal and regulatory charges. Supervised and coached a team of 6 Human Resources Coordinators. Traveled to support and train Coordinators. • Strategically directed Human Resources Experience team (Team of 10) towards Association-wide strategic initiatives and best practices. • Led HR team through successful transition to shared services in HR and eventual merger of two Associations into one cohesive Association with aligned visions, cultures, policies and procedures during a time when there was no Vice President of Human Resources. Awarded an Eagle Award for going “above and beyond” during the merger.• Built an employee relations investigation process from ground up with standard scripts, forms and processes to ensure consistency and limit liability. Developed ongoing training program to educate Directors on Discipline, Documentation and Unemployment.• Received accolades of “phenomenal” from legal counsel on preparation of EEOC positional statement materials and supporting documentation saving $10K+ in legal fees in one year. Proven record of success in defending EEOC charges. Awarded a rare second Eagle award for going “above and beyond” in legal defense of the Association.

Offered a lateral transfer from Western Region (Salt Lake City, Portland, Seattle) to immediately impact a struggling market in a turnaround situation in Mid Atlantic Division with 96 stores (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Southern NJ). Partnered with operations to drive operational standards through performance management and a focus on manpower planning and staffing. Analyzed environmental issues and workplace investigations to strategically tackle employee engagement concerns.• Championed and developed processes surrounding launch of new evaluation process, ‘People Activation’ that strategically moved organization forward by defining what a “5-star employee” looked like at each level.• Spearheaded planning and execution of a grass roots staffing campaign (outside of job duties) to go into the community to successfully increase application flow during the opening of a new store.• Led strategic initiatives in rolling out several new processes and tools to company constituents and management team including: online hiring management system, new crew appraisal process, employee engagement tools, and new management appraisal software.

Promoted to HR Manager position from specialist level within 6 months of hire as company grew from 130 employees to 220. Reported to CAO. Supported day-to-day HR operations. Role modeled change mastery through several modifications of position and scope with a broad range of skills and abilities.• Saved $3K+ by auditing benefits enrollments.• Held all-time hiring record for most new hires ever to start at one time (19). Personally sourced, screened, interviewed, and on boarded for a wide range of positions including: customer service and tech support reps, web designers, professional administrative staff, inside sales reps and specialized software programmers along with performing HR generalist duties simultaneously.• Won every unemployment appeal that went to hearing for terminations due to policy violations as the legal representative on behalf of the company.• Grew HR department from two individuals to 11 employees. Strategically expanded workforce through addition of independent contractors in web design, web content writing, and software programming roles.

General HR Clerical Work, assisted finance department with month end reconciliations, sourcing and screening of software engineers and Software QA Testers, onboarding and benefits enrollments.