The following transcript is provided unedited.
Tony Lee:
Welcome to the HR storyteller podcast series from the society for human resource manage. I'm your host, Tony Lee head of content here at SHRM. Thank you for joining us. Our HR storyteller podcast, feature practitioners, and thought leaders in human resources, sharing stories about why they love HR, what motivates them, and what's moved them in their careers.
Today. We are joined by Heather dare you, manager of workforce planning for Sarasota County Government in Florida. Also known as HD. Yes. HD. Welcome.
Heather Deyrieux:
Thank you. Glad to be here.
Tony Lee:
Yeah. So thrilled to have you, so you have a story you'd like to share with us.
Heather Deyrieux:
I do, So a lot of people always ask me how I got involved in HR and specifically HR, Florida, and now Sher I'm in my various positions.
And it was by saying yes, and I was working for Orlando jobs.com. Your city, your jobs. Uh, local job board many, many moons ago. I think it was back in 2006, 2007, that I started with them and we attended our local HR, Florida state conference in expo as exhibitors at the time. And the sponsor exhibitor team reached out to my boss, Roger Le and said, Hey, we'd like you to join our team.
We think you'd do really well with this. It's a great opportunity to continue networking. And he was on the team and they had a team meeting coming up in Daytona beach and he was gonna be in St. I know, tough life and he said, Hey, HD, can you, uh, go over to Daytona and just provide this report to the conference team for me?
I said, well, okay, sure. I can drive to Daytona and give a report. So I remember opening the report cause I wasn't allowed to look at it ahead of time. And he's like, yeah, I'm sitting on the beach in St. Martin and join a beer. Sorry, you guys are, you know, stuck there in Daytona instead. And here's how we're doing on sponsors and exhibitors.
Well, during the course of the meeting, we found out that the sponsor chair was gonna. About eight months pregnant by the time the conference rolled around. And while she was still gonna be there and still helping out with everything, she's like, I might not be as mobile as I was planning on. So the conference director reached out to Roger and I and said, Hey, could you be Amy's legs during this event?
And you know, whatever other special projects come up. And that started my HR Florida career. And that turned into a new position where they created a conference chair role, um, to be in training for the conference director position, and then moving on to the EC and eventually president, um, of HR, Florida in 19 and 20.
So that was. Some interesting times.
And then the, uh, coveted role of immediate past president for 21 and 22. And because of the timeline, working out perfectly to that and throwing my hat in the ring, I was able to become the Southeast Mac rep as well, uh, to help the other wonderful states in our region.
Tony Lee:
So you're into volunteering.
Heather Deyrieux:
Oh yes, yes. It, it, it's a volunteer career. As I always talk about, uh, that, you know, it's a very much full-time job, uh, depending on the position of what you're doing, but it's truly a passion that fulfills me in great ways, but I also tell people on a regular basis, I would not.
Who I am today or where I am today without the volunteer roles and the opportunities that Sherm in nature of Florida, my local chapters have provided to me, um, being able to dive in and really look at a P and L and understand the budgeting process for a multimillion dollar organization, you know, in my free time, uh, with a bunch of other volunteers and, you know, presenting on a stage to 2,500 of my closest friends.
And, you know, now having a conversation on a podcast or. Intimate chat of, you know, five or 10 people is no big deal when you can do it to 2,500 and try to be very welcoming and warm and not bringing people in.
Tony Lee:
Yeah. So clearly it's altruistic to, to volunteer, but there are personal career benefits that come as well. You wanna talk a little about how people can benefit that way, too?
Heather Deyrieux:
Sure. Uh, so it was, um, back in 2015, I believe it was, um, I decided to leave Orlando jobs, um, just had reached my career potential with the organization, still great friends with them, wonderful people, great orgs, um, but decided I needed to do something else. And it was because of my event planning, background and experience that I had gained through HR, Florida as being conference director and being involved in so many other roles that.
Able to move over to the director of strategic development for the international business innovation association and do event planning and HR, and a whole host of other things, uh, helping entrepreneurs and the, uh, EDCs and early stage companies. And going back to my entrepreneurial roots that I really liked, and after that diving directly into an HR position as the director of talent with dental care, Uh, but during that time I was, you know, continuing education.
I achieved my master's degree with the concentration human resources and just fell in love more and more with the field and the people and the impact that I could make.
Tony Lee:
Yeah. So you've got a big job managing workforce planning. What does that entail?
Heather Deyrieux:
Uh, so that is our recruiting and talent acquisition arm, as well as retention and all of the other things that, uh, could fall under the employee experience.
Uh, so we have about 2200 team members at Sarasota county and about 1100 regular volunteers. Uh, we could not survive without our volunteers, uh, pre C. We actually had a. Five to one mix of five volunteers to one paid staff in our libraries. Uh, so our volunteer base is something that is near and dear to us, and we appreciate all the value that they provide, uh, to the organization and to our wonderful community.
Uh, so recruiting's been fun right now. , it's, it's always fun. It it's real fun right now. Um, but yeah, it's a wonderful, uh, opportunity. It was my first entry into the public sector. Um, but it was because of the relat. That I had made again through the local chapters and through HR, Florida, that I had many clients and friends that were working in the public sector before.
So before I made that move, I made a bunch of phone calls and said, you know, tell me the pros and cons. What have you learned during your career? And do you think this would be a good fit for me? Um, because government can be very different than the private industry and in a lot of positive ways, uh, which I enjoy because.
It's not about profit. It's not about the bottom line. It's how can we make an impact for our residents and our visitors? And that was what I was looking for and that step for my career.
Tony Lee:
Yeah. That's, that's terrific. You know, you brought up something that we haven't spent a lot of time talking about, so, you know, it's obvious managing employees.
You, you, everybody knows what that's about, but managing volunteers.
Heather Deyrieux:
Oh yeah.
Tony Lee:
What is HR? Usually managing volunteers. And if so, you know what what's involved with that.
Heather Deyrieux:
It definitely varies from organization to organization, but because of my HR Florida experience of managing volunteers, it was definitely something I felt more comfortable with.
Um, one of the associates on my team is actually our volunteer program coordinator. So she has more of that on day to day, uh, basis of working with them. And we have department volunteer coordinators that actually help hands on, uh, with most of those volunteers. So from the HR. Beta for this role is really more of the recruitment, the background checks, fingerprinting, um, and taking care of that.
So that we're consistent with our volunteers and our employees, because they're all interacting with the public on behalf of Sarasota county. So we wanna make sure that we're providing that same level of service and integrity.
Tony Lee:
Yeah. And do you engage and motivate them the same way you do employees?
Heather Deyrieux:
I certainly try to so we do a lot of volunteer recognition.
Um, so I'm sure everyone watching or listening to this, uh, knows that April is national volunteer month. Uh, so we do a lot of recognition throughout the year, but that's really our. Big time is in April. Uh, we also look at the volunteer value. Um, so there's always a dollar value that's associated with the volunteer hours.
And then we present a big check, uh, to our county commission, uh, for those value of the, the volunteer hours. And it's typically anywhere between like six or $7 million of value that those volunteers are providing back to the community. Uh, but we do recognition pins. We do different parties for them.
Wonderful certificates and different meet and greets, uh, and anything that we can do to make their lives easier.
Tony Lee:
Yeah. So what's it like having a difficult conversation with a volunteer versus an employee
Heather Deyrieux:
So I've told people I've fired more volunteers than I have employees in my life, which, you know, it's even a harder conversation, I think at times, because we're like, yeah, we know we're not paying you, but you're S.
Still not cutting it. And we're gonna have to say goodbye. just like an employee have to set those expectations up front and there has to be accountability. And when we are interviewing people for volunteer roles that the volunteer.
Career or the paying career. I try to scare people off and I know that might be a little taboo to say, uh, you know, normally it's like, oh, somebody wants to volunteer. Yeah, come on, get involved. And that's the initial reaction because the more the merrier, but we really wanna make sure that we're finding the right.
Fit for somebody and that they have the bandwidth to do the job well. And that it's a right time in their personal and professional life that they can give back to whatever that position is. And Hey, if now's not the time, that's cool. And maybe we can do something in the future, or maybe it's a different role that would be a better fit for them as maybe a committee member rather than a cheer position so that they can ease into it and make sure that they do have that availability to.
Tony Lee:
So let's pivot a little bit, pivot. You mentioned talent, shortages and recruiting. That's kind of, it sounds like where your heart really
Heather Deyrieux:
Absolutely.
Tony Lee:
Any big secrets boy, everybody is struggling now. Aren't they? So a anything that's working well for you guys?
Heather Deyrieux:
Sure. So I, I shared a little personal story at the, uh, board of directors, uh, presentation earlier this week and very happy to share that with Sherms getting talent back to work initiative.
Uh, the HR Florida state council recently welcomed the Florida department of corrections to one of our state council meetings as part of. Workforce planning, And after a very informative conversation, I was able to reach out to the representative and then to the local contacts to talk about future employment opportunities for those returning citizens to our community and being to government agents.
Seas. We had some hurdles and different things that we had to work through of, okay, how can we make this happen? Um, but it's incredible. The different training programs that they are offering to, you know, help people get back into their communities and to find, um, great roles that can help them with their future.
And so between customer service skills or carpentry and a whole host of other things, we're comparing our openings to their skillset. Their release date. Um, what part of town they're in, um, their background and, you know, education experience that they had before being incarcerated. and then working through to say, okay, we can do a fillable PDF application because they don't have internet access and we can interview via teams or zoom, uh, so that those can take place while they're still incarcerated.
But knowing that they have a release date coming up in maybe 30, 60, 90 days. Uh, so we expect to get some resumes either this week or next week. And. We'll be able to have some success stories. The next time we chat.
Tony Lee:
Oh boy, that's wonderful. Um, untapped talent, uh, lots of different types of untapped talent, right?
They're returning veterans and people with disabilities. Um, are you looking at initiatives across the board like that?
Heather Deyrieux:
Absolutely. Uh, so, uh, we are definitely a veteran forward organization, um, and try to provide wonderful opportunities and a good portion of our employment base at the county is definitely veterans that have served in all sorts of different fashions, as well as their families.
Um, because people sometimes forget about the family members that move with their veterans. Uh, we're lucky enough to have McDill air force base just about an hour north of. So a lot of people like to stay in that area, cuz they fall in love with Florida, cuz why not? and uh, we're able to attract some of that talent down to join our organization, but we're looking for talent everywhere and you know, I'm really excited to see what Sherms doing with, um, the new alternative credentials and uh, moving into that area and you know, how can we.
Coach our hiring managers on those differences. And we're going through a big job description project at this time with one of our summer interns, we love our interns and really asking the questions about education that, okay, the current classification for this role or the current job description says they need a two year or four year degree.
Do they really, or would experience, you know, count for that? Or is there something else that they could obtain to show that they've got those qualifications and could do an awesome job for us? So very exciting times. Yeah.
Tony Lee:
That's wonderful. Well, Heather, HD, thank you so much for your insights.
Heather Deyrieux:
Thank you, Tony.
Tony Lee:
And, uh, you can hear all of our HR storyteller podcast by visiting our website at sherm.org/podcast. Thanks so much for listening and thanks for joining
Heather Deyrieux:
Thank you.