January 14, 2021 • 28 mins
Edgy, cool, and a bit of an introvert...Carrie Cherveny is the Senior VP of Strategic Client Solutions for HUB International. She comes into the Spotlight today and discusses HR's role of risk management and the pressure HR professionals have on their jobs in today's environment. Carrie also talks about her "Crystal Ball" for 2021 and upcoming HR challenges.
You can see Carrie's iconic Disrupt HR Orlando presentation “F” In The Workplace — And Other Colorful Language here - https://disrupthr.co/vimeo-video/f-in-the-workplace-and-other-colorful-language-carrie-b-cherveny-disrupthr-talks/
You can follow Carrie on LinkedIn and see all of her great insightful posts at www.linkedin.com/in/carrie-b-cherveny-esq-7037a95 and check out the HUB International Coronavirus Communications Resource Center - https://www.hubinternational.com/products/risk-services/hub-crisis-resources/coronavirus-resource-center/
The HR and Leadership Spotlight Show features Leaders - HR Professionals, Consultants, Coaches, Entrepreneurs, and Business Owners with a leadership message to share.
The HR and Leadership Spotlight Show is sponsored by Alliance HR Partners Consulting. If your organization needs HR help, go to www.GetHRHelpNow.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Chuck Simikian (00:01):
edgy, cool, not your normal HR person. I talk
about smiles and files for HR.
My guest today is not smiles andfiles. I cannot wait to bring
her to you, folks standby forthe latest episode of the HR and
(00:21):
leadership spotlight show.
All right. With me today isCarrie. Cherveny. Carrie,
welcome. Thanks for having me.
Hi. Hello. So I would say wordsthat describe you are not timid,
(00:45):
shy, meek, correct. Although youdid tell me earlier on you. You
can be an introvert. Correct?
Carrie Cherveny (00:55):
I can be an introvert. Yes, people find that
surprising.
Chuck Simikian (01:00):
Well, folks, and and I want to tell you so much
about Carrie and she's got a lotto share today. But before we do
carried your bring anything forus today. What are you drinking?
Carrie Cherveny (01:10):
I brought a mocha peppermint latte. Cheers.
Cheers.
Chuck Simikian (01:16):
Cheers.
Excellent. Well, welcome to thatStarbucks. And, you know, a lot
of times, now that I've beenworking from home and I know
you're working, working fromhome a lot, I actually indulged
myself and I bought a Nespressomachine. I already own one, come
on, it's the best as you pressone button, and then you press
(01:38):
the other button, and it foamsup your little milk and, you
know, that sort of thing. And Iuse oat milk, just stay away
from dairy. And man, it is thebest. It's the coolest thing.
Taking videos of it, send it topeople. So anyways, so folks,
Carrie is with us today. She isthe Senior VP of client
(01:59):
solutions for a group called hubinternational and I'm gonna let
her tell you all about that in aminute. Because that is a huge
title. It's very cool. And and,and like my guest, she is edgy.
She is cool. I saw her at a liveevent at it was called disrupt
HR here in Orlando, where peopleget up and they do these
(02:26):
presentations. What are theylike five minute presentations
carry?
Carrie Cherveny (02:30):
Yeah, five minutes,
Chuck Simikian (02:32):
five minutes.
And they they pick topics andKerry's topic was F in the
workplace f like as inprofanity, correct? Yeah, f
bombs all day long. f bombs andtell it and you you, you dropped
them. I mean, you were droppingf bombs left and right. Part of
the presentation. It was like,Whoa, wow. But it was cool. It
was a great presentation had agreat point. Can you tell us how
(02:56):
you came up with that? Thattopic, because I do want to hear
all about you and your journey.
But that was pretty cool. Andfolks, you can actually search
that you go to YouTube, searchdisrupt Orlando, and maybe type
in Kerry's name, and I fact youknow what I'm gonna do in the
show notes. I'm gonna put a linkto that, if you don't mind. I
(03:20):
don't mind that that's a prettyiconic presentation. How did you
come up with that?
Carrie Cherveny (03:25):
So you know, believe it or not, when I was a
litigator, working in employmentlaw firms, I was really
surprised by the frequent use ofthe F word in the workplace. And
one day, my legal secretary, shewas wonderful. Her name was
Ruth, she was probably 80 yearsold, walks in my office and
(03:47):
plunks down on my desk 42 usesof the F word, single page
document. So over photocopy,that everything was all wiggly
and zigga Lee. And I thought,you know, I think I better
research this and make sure thatwe're not creating some
liability here in the workplace.
And that was about 10 years ago,and I've been lecturing on F in
(04:11):
the workplace and hostile workenvironment ever since. Because
I think that there's a realmisperception and
misunderstanding around the useof F word, the value of the F
word under certaincircumstances, and the liability
it can create in the workplace.
(04:31):
And I think it's really helpfulto HR people to understand where
those boundaries are and wherethose lines are. And let's face
it, Chuck, it was a lot of funto talk about it. And it's a lot
of fun to build those programs.
My national marketing departmentcalled me from Chicago when I
built out the deck that you sawand they said, I can't believe
that I have to build a deckfilled with the F bomb and like
if you're offended, I'm sorry.
Chuck Simikian (04:55):
Yeah. I love that. You know, I've been to a
number of those eight, disruptOrlando. HR, disrupt
presentations. And the only oneI really remember is yours. It's
the craziest thing. And it wasgreat. So folks, you have to
check those out in the shownotes below. So Carrie, sure,
Vinny, tell us about you tell uswho you are, talk about your
(05:15):
journey, and how you got towhere you are how you chose to
be involved in, in humanresources. And, you know, just
that journey, I think we'd loveto hear that.
Carrie Cherveny (05:30):
So I think when I look back at my travels,
through my career, and throughmy life, it's a story of
honestly, fate and destiny, andhaving good friends and the
right network in place to helpme along when people say it's
all about who you know, it'sabsolutely true. And not because
(05:51):
who you know, means that you canpull strings or get advantage.
But friends help friends bypropping them up, friends help
friends by opening doors. Andthat's been the story of my
life. You know, I graduated fromthe University of South Florida
with a master's in speech anddebate in the middle of a
recession, what the heck was Igoing to do speech and debate,
(06:12):
believe it or not, at the time,I didn't know I wanted to be a
lawyer, I actually thought I wasgoing to be a college professor,
because I love teaching andpublishing and writing and
researching. And I got acceptedto two PhD programs, which
required me to move out ofstate. And that just, I didn't
want to leave family. I'm very,very tired and connected to my
family. So I got a job in HRbecause a door opened and I
(06:36):
walked through it. I practicedHR, I was an HR professional for
about six years. And to behonest, I got really frustrated
with our lawyers telling me whatto do. And I didn't always agree
shocking. And I started askingthem to send me the cases that
they were relying on, well, youknow how much they love that.
(06:57):
And I finally said, you know, ifthey can do it, I can do it. I'm
going to give this a shot. Andevery step of the way. I said,
Well, I'll, I'll see how thisgoes. And if this door opens,
then I'll go to the next one.
So, you know, first I filled outthe applications. And then I
took the L sat and somehow I gotinto law school and somehow I
got financial aid. And it allkind of laid out for me in a way
(07:19):
that I can't help but believe itwas meant to be. And I practice
law for about six yearsdefending companies I made
partner and five I knew it wasvery important that I knew and
understood how these lawsuitswould evolve in court how the
facts sets would help or workagainst clients. But I always
(07:40):
knew it wasn't where I wanted tobe. I always knew that I wanted
to be on the teaching educationhelping preventative side. And
one day, I got a phone call froma friend of mine network. Hey,
there's a general counselposition open at this company.
Are you interested? I was therefor about four and a half years.
(08:00):
And lo and behold, I got a callfrom a friend of mine network
who said, Hey, have you heard ofhub international? they're
hiring. These senior executiveshave seen you present? Are you
interested? And five yearslater? I've been at hub since
February five years ago. Wow.
Wow. So
Chuck Simikian (08:18):
your title Senior VP. So we know you're up
there a Grand Poobah of sorts,but strategic strategic client
solutions what exactly? Whatexactly is that tell us what you
what you pretty much do everyday, every week, every month.
(08:40):
For the last four years.
Carrie Cherveny (08:41):
Oh, it's funny that we really struggled with
what to call me I'm the onlyperson that have international
that provides complianceguidance to clients both an
employee benefits and employmentlaw. Our compliance officers
across the country are solelyfocused on employee benefits.
But with my vast employment lawbackground, it didn't make sense
(09:03):
for me to limit the conversationI had with clients. And we
didn't want to build out therole in a way that pigeon holed
me into a pure lawyer compliancecovey because one of the things
that I pride myself on is that Ican work with clients to give
practical advice and guidance,balance the real world business
(09:26):
needs with the compliance andthe risk side of the
conversation. So I didn't wantto be purely the lawyer or
purely the compliance personbecause when you give guidance
to clients, you've got to givethem guidance and advice that is
executable that is common sensethat will work for their
(09:48):
business while mitigating risk.
So that's where we landed on thetitle. We have continued to
revisit the title to see ifthere's something different,
better more succinct, lesswords, less syllables, and
haven't come up with it. So ifanybody has an idea, I'm open.
Chuck Simikian (10:08):
But, and that's and that's fine. I tell you,
despite your title, no matterwhat your title is, you're
putting out some great stuff.
And I follow you on LinkedIn, Imight even be a super fan at
some point. But you share somesome great posts. And I a couple
of weeks ago, I ran a car acrossan E book called workplace
(10:32):
safety. It was a self inventorytoolkit. It was a, it was under
the hub h UB. And, actually, weprobably want to add an answer
to the audience. What hub iswhat is how, by the way,
Carrie Cherveny (10:51):
is the fourth largest Insurance Brokerage in
the world. So we specialize inemployee benefits, commercial
lines, and we have an entireconsulting division just around
risk management in specialtyareas like health care,
transportation, manufacturing,
Unknown (11:10):
etc.
Chuck Simikian (11:11):
I know that I follow you on LinkedIn, and you
have some great stuff. And attimes, I would even say I'm a
super fan. I think I love yourposts. I love what you share.
And it's really relevant to me,as an HR consultant trying to
help other clients. Plus, I loveHR. And I love a lot of the the
(11:35):
things that you're sharingreally just adds new
perspectives and things youdon't normally see out there.
But I was following one of yourthings. And you had something
that came out it was called theworkplace safety, self inventory
toolkit, you shared that. And itwas under the hub hub
(11:57):
International, which is your isyour company, but I'd love to
hear about that. But tell ourvisitors or visitors, our
viewers today, what is hub, bythe way,
Carrie Cherveny (12:09):
hub is the fourth largest Insurance
Brokerage in the worldspecializing in Insurance
Solutions for employee benefits,commercial lines, and risk
management consulting along withpersonal line coverages.
Chuck Simikian (12:23):
Okay, all right.
So I asked you, I said, that isreally well done. That is really
well done. And you said thankyou. And then you said you wrote
it. So tell me about that. Tellme about the there's another a
couple other ebooks you'veshared COVID and the holidays
best practices. So you writethese ebooks for hub also
(12:47):
correct. Tell me about that.
Carrie Cherveny (12:52):
Correct. So listen, it's always a team
effort, right? I've always gotsomebody partnering with me on
research or peer review orediting or feedback. But
certainly this year, I've spenta great deal of this year
building content for ourclients, especially around
employment law and COVID. COVIDhas created a area of compliance
(13:22):
that includes topics andconsiderations that are highly
unusual for HR people to dealwith. You know, not any time in
the past. would an HR generalistthink that all in one
conversation they have to dealwith Employee Benefits coverage,
or Risa, OSHA employmentpractices liability, title
(13:45):
seven, the Americans withDisabilities Act, family medical
leave, and now the ffcra. So Ifeel my heart goes out to the HR
community because I'm part ofthe HR community and started my
career there cut my teeth in theHR role. And so I just felt
compelled to put togetherguidance that would help teach
(14:08):
would help educate, but moreimportantly, help HR people
build programs that protectedtheir organizations. You know,
I've said so many times thisyear, when the Affordable Care
Act came out, I thought, Oh mygosh, these poor HR people, you
know, the the amount ofcomplexity associated with the
Affordable Care Act isunbelievable. And now I look at
(14:30):
COVID. And I think fordable careacts a walk in the park compared
to what we've had to face anddeal with with COVID. So that's
really the foundationalinspiration or thought process
behind putting together thematerials that we've put
together.
Chuck Simikian (14:46):
Okay, yeah. And they're really well done. And
folks, it's not just availableto hub clients, correct you.
It's available to the public andI'll put Kerry's contact
information on LinkedIn. You'regonna want to go, you're gonna
want to follow her. And you'regonna want to check out a couple
of these ebooks, they're,they're really, really well
(15:07):
done. Carrie, I love havingpeople on the show talking about
their philosophies, maybe it'stheir leadership philosophies,
their management philosophies,their HR philosophies. And you
said something early on in theinterview early on a couple of
minutes ago, that inspired youto want to move down the line in
(15:36):
your career, to the point thatyou wanted to be a lawyer. And
you said, You wanted to providepeople, and you want to provide
your clients with guidance andadvice. That is executable,
correct. So talk about that andtalk about your overall
(15:57):
philosophy in that vein.
Carrie Cherveny (16:01):
So I remember, my very first HR position like
real HR was my department, thecompany was counting on me, I
was all by myself, I was part ofone. And I walked into a company
with 250 employees that grew to2000 employees in under a year,
(16:23):
they didn't have a W four, theydidn't have an i nine, they
didn't have personnel files. Andquite frankly, I couldn't spell
title seven at the time, I wasbaby baby in my career. And I
remember the people who helpedme along, and I remember the
people who made my life morecomplicated. And there are a
number of people, one of whom ismy mentor, who helped me learn
(16:49):
and understand the complexitiesof the human resources field and
my role. And he did it in a waythat helps me build programs,
build processes, and deliver inmy organization, and didn't give
me esoteric, idealistic, blackand white policy, please kind of
(17:09):
guide us there were lots ofthose people in my life too. And
I realized early on that beingable to design and implement,
would determine the quality ofthe guidance that I received.
And I've never forgotten that.
And my goal has always been tohelp people who were sitting in
that seat today, because Iremember how it felt, I took my
(17:30):
job. So seriously, I knew andunderstood, if I screwed up, my
company was going to pay theprice, my leadership was going
to pay the price. And the ownersof my company invested their
money, their savings, theirreputations, and all you need as
an HR person to screw somethingup and do a lot of damage and
(17:50):
harm. So that's the lens fromwhich I view our clients. And I
view the world if I can't giveyou guidance, help and support
that is not practical is notexecutable is not something that
you can operationalize that Ihaven't done my job. Right.
Chuck Simikian (18:13):
I love that, you know, I teach a number of
classes. And I yesterdayactually taught a couple of
sessions of a class called theone person HR department,
something along those lines. Anda lot of the folks in there were
brand new HR people, or theywere HR folks that had, you
(18:33):
know, as companies grow, right,they grow, they mature, they
grow up, and all of a suddenthey realized that an HR person
and they're like, you overthere, you can be the HR person.
Right. And, and so that was thetype of folks in this session I
had about 100 100 folks, and I,I always take them down, but
(18:58):
down the path of trying to makethem understand the gravity of
their new role. They might havebeen the office manager, maybe
the front desk receptionist,they the accounting clerk, the
marketing rep, but now they'vegot HR in their title. And I try
(19:18):
and make sure they understandthat anything and everything
they do from this point forward,can put their company in
jeopardy. So it's cool that youYou said that it's called the
chin. I actually tell them I sayyour job is now risk management.
Your job is now risk management,the the number one job and I
asked him I said what's thenumber one job of HR? And I'll
(19:39):
bet you're probably going to sayif I ask you what the number one
a job of HR is, what would yousay the number one job of HR is,
Carrie Cherveny (19:47):
you said it perfectly. It's risk management.
In fact, I sit in the riskmanagement consulting division
that hub because we recognizethat the support and guidance I
provide as managing the risk forEmployers I mean, HR people have
so much pressure on them today,they're in such a high profile,
(20:08):
hot seat and more is being askedof HR people than ever before.
Even even with even with theimplementation of ACA. You know,
at that time, we thought HR wasreally in a tough spot. But
today with COVID, I mean, thecalls that I get from my
clients, my heart goes out tothese HR folks, you know,
(20:30):
managers won't wear masks,people are showing up testing
positive with COVID. And comingto work anyway, employees don't
want to stay home because thereisn't any emergency paid sick
leave laughs So they're justgoing to lie and come in and all
this risk, and all theseindividuals with different
appetites for COVID, coming intowork, not coming into work, and
HR is in the middle of all ofit, trying to navigate all of
(20:54):
that risk, and then layer on topof that open enrollment and year
end layer on top of that civilunrest, and all the
conversations that are soimportant in that area, but
still lands squarely on HR. Andthen by the way, folks, starting
in January, we've got IRS, ACAtax filing season and vaccines.
(21:16):
So HR people have always beenthe heart and the backbone of
the company, but never ever moreso than today. And, you know,
reach out and give your HRperson a hub, not a sexually
harassing hug.
Chuck Simikian (21:32):
Absolutely. So your crystal ball, we're getting
up to our time right now. And Iknow that one of a couple of the
posts that you've shared hasbeen with a new with a change of
administration. And as we'rerecording this, were moving from
(21:56):
a republican administration andthe presidency to a Democrat.
And this is not a politicaldiscussion as much. But when
those things happen, Republicandemo, the winds of change, blow
differently. Correct. And one ofthe things that I tell folks is,
(22:17):
as I've read things, is thatwe're going to be going more
overall from a guidanceperspective to a more
enforcement. And I know you'veshared some things out there in
your, your crystal ball. So canyou share some of that with our,
our viewers today? What is yourcrystal ball telling you as far
(22:37):
as what we as HR professionalsand as leaders, and maybe as
business owners need to probablyexpect over the next couple of
months or so?
Carrie Cherveny (22:50):
Well, I think the number one thing on my list,
believe it or not, is unions. Iknow that President Obama was
very supportive of the Unionworld, and I believe Biden is
likewise as supportive of theUnion world. And in its natural
transition, the National LaborRelations Board will cycle out
(23:13):
some of the senior leaders andPresident Biden or President
Elect Biden will appoint newmembers of the National Labor
Relations Board. And as with anyadministration, the folks who
will be appointed will be thosewhose philosophical and
worldview is similar to that ofour leadership at the time. So
we can expect to see I think,more activity in the Union
(23:38):
world, I also think we will seea change in the guidance and the
interpretations coming out ofthe National Labor Relations
Board, for example. Under thepresident obama administration,
there was some guidance issuedby the NLRB that really opened
the door for almost any kind ofcommunication by employees about
(24:01):
the terms and conditions ofemployment under President
Trump's administration and thatneighbor, Labor Relations Board,
the guidance really dialed inwhat kind of communication about
terms and conditions ofemployment was appropriate? We I
expect that will change therewas guidance around limitations
on communication in yourhandbook, you know, slander,
(24:24):
profane language, that sort ofthing. We expect that guidance
to change. So I think, keep youreye on the guidance coming out
from the NLRB. I also amwondering what will happen with
the Department of Labor opinionletters. If you remember, under
President Obama'sadministration, the opinion
letter program was stopped. Andthen under the President Trump
(24:47):
administration, we startedgetting opinion letters from the
department. And I personallyneed letters because it gives us
a view into how the Departmentof Labor would interpret and
apply the law to start Factssaid I find them to be very
instructive. In fact, we justgot to out last Monday, I think,
Chuck Simikian (25:05):
yeah. And what are they meant to deal with?
insect farming? And I thoughtthat was pretty cool.
Carrie Cherveny (25:10):
I was great. So I'm wondering what happens with
opinion letters. I hope that theprogram continues. I think it's
really helpful. But I'm just notsure. So I think we just have to
keep our eyes open, I thinkthere's going to be some
President Elect Biden, asalready said, there's going to
be some executive orders thatwill dial back some of the Trump
(25:32):
administration, he's already Ibelieve, made clear that the
executive order around thediversity training in the
federal government sector,that's going to change and
President Elect Biden is goingto overturn the executive order
limiting the diversity trainingin the federal sector. So we'll
definitely see some change. Butthe good news is, there's some
(25:54):
great people out there like youand the rest of us in the
community to stay on top of it,provide guidance and help
clients navigate their waythrough it.
Chuck Simikian (26:03):
Yeah, I have a friend that teaches a lot of
seminars, and she uses theanalogy in her classes that you
as the HR person, you're theknight, you're the knight
defending the castle. And, youknow, you've got to have your
your armaments, you've got tohave your horse in good shape.
You have to have things ready togo. You have to be and it's,
(26:25):
it's it's a great metaphor forwhat the HR folks are doing.
Carrie shirvani. I am thrilledto have you on the show today. I
said you're a legend. From thatvideo on F in the workplace.
You've got some great things toshare out on LinkedIn. I'm gonna
(26:46):
put the links to all of that inthe show notes below. But Have I
missed anything? Is thereanything you want to add? Before
we we end our segment today?
Carrie Cherveny (26:58):
Thank you for asking, um, have international
built a Coronavirus ResourceCenter. And one of the things
that I love about being part ofhub is that hub is very
community centric and communityfocus. So our Coronavirus
resource center is open toeveryone and anyone because we
(27:19):
recognize our responsibility tohelp our fellow community
members through this crisis. Soany materials that you're
looking for if you can't findthem through LinkedIn, check out
the hub internationalCoronavirus Resource Center.
There's tons of information. Wehave an FAQ that we built. That
is I think it's about 200questions now. That covers
(27:40):
everything from benefits tohealth and safety, OSHA families
first FMLA what we tried to dois consolidate the vast
information into one documentand I think it's a great
resource and tool that may behelpful.
Chuck Simikian (27:55):
Awesome. All right. Well, Carrie, thank you
for being on the show today. Andyeah, folks, thanks for
watching, and we'll see you nextweek.
edgy, cool, not your normal HR person. I talk
about smiles and files for HR.
My guest today is not smiles andfiles. I cannot wait to bring
her to you, folks standby forthe latest episode of the HR and
(00:21):
leadership spotlight show.
All right. With me today isCarrie. Cherveny. Carrie,
welcome. Thanks for having me.
Hi. Hello. So I would say wordsthat describe you are not timid,
(00:45):
shy, meek, correct. Although youdid tell me earlier on you. You
can be an introvert. Correct?
Carrie Cherveny (00:55):
I can be an introvert. Yes, people find that
surprising.
Chuck Simikian (01:00):
Well, folks, and and I want to tell you so much
about Carrie and she's got a lotto share today. But before we do
carried your bring anything forus today. What are you drinking?
Carrie Cherveny (01:10):
I brought a mocha peppermint latte. Cheers.
Cheers.
Chuck Simikian (01:16):
Cheers.
Excellent. Well, welcome to thatStarbucks. And, you know, a lot
of times, now that I've beenworking from home and I know
you're working, working fromhome a lot, I actually indulged
myself and I bought a Nespressomachine. I already own one, come
on, it's the best as you pressone button, and then you press
(01:38):
the other button, and it foamsup your little milk and, you
know, that sort of thing. And Iuse oat milk, just stay away
from dairy. And man, it is thebest. It's the coolest thing.
Taking videos of it, send it topeople. So anyways, so folks,
Carrie is with us today. She isthe Senior VP of client
(01:59):
solutions for a group called hubinternational and I'm gonna let
her tell you all about that in aminute. Because that is a huge
title. It's very cool. And and,and like my guest, she is edgy.
She is cool. I saw her at a liveevent at it was called disrupt
HR here in Orlando, where peopleget up and they do these
(02:26):
presentations. What are theylike five minute presentations
carry?
Carrie Cherveny (02:30):
Yeah, five minutes,
Chuck Simikian (02:32):
five minutes.
And they they pick topics andKerry's topic was F in the
workplace f like as inprofanity, correct? Yeah, f
bombs all day long. f bombs andtell it and you you, you dropped
them. I mean, you were droppingf bombs left and right. Part of
the presentation. It was like,Whoa, wow. But it was cool. It
was a great presentation had agreat point. Can you tell us how
(02:56):
you came up with that? Thattopic, because I do want to hear
all about you and your journey.
But that was pretty cool. Andfolks, you can actually search
that you go to YouTube, searchdisrupt Orlando, and maybe type
in Kerry's name, and I fact youknow what I'm gonna do in the
show notes. I'm gonna put a linkto that, if you don't mind. I
(03:20):
don't mind that that's a prettyiconic presentation. How did you
come up with that?
Carrie Cherveny (03:25):
So you know, believe it or not, when I was a
litigator, working in employmentlaw firms, I was really
surprised by the frequent use ofthe F word in the workplace. And
one day, my legal secretary, shewas wonderful. Her name was
Ruth, she was probably 80 yearsold, walks in my office and
(03:47):
plunks down on my desk 42 usesof the F word, single page
document. So over photocopy,that everything was all wiggly
and zigga Lee. And I thought,you know, I think I better
research this and make sure thatwe're not creating some
liability here in the workplace.
And that was about 10 years ago,and I've been lecturing on F in
(04:11):
the workplace and hostile workenvironment ever since. Because
I think that there's a realmisperception and
misunderstanding around the useof F word, the value of the F
word under certaincircumstances, and the liability
it can create in the workplace.
(04:31):
And I think it's really helpfulto HR people to understand where
those boundaries are and wherethose lines are. And let's face
it, Chuck, it was a lot of funto talk about it. And it's a lot
of fun to build those programs.
My national marketing departmentcalled me from Chicago when I
built out the deck that you sawand they said, I can't believe
that I have to build a deckfilled with the F bomb and like
if you're offended, I'm sorry.
Chuck Simikian (04:55):
Yeah. I love that. You know, I've been to a
number of those eight, disruptOrlando. HR, disrupt
presentations. And the only oneI really remember is yours. It's
the craziest thing. And it wasgreat. So folks, you have to
check those out in the shownotes below. So Carrie, sure,
Vinny, tell us about you tell uswho you are, talk about your
(05:15):
journey, and how you got towhere you are how you chose to
be involved in, in humanresources. And, you know, just
that journey, I think we'd loveto hear that.
Carrie Cherveny (05:30):
So I think when I look back at my travels,
through my career, and throughmy life, it's a story of
honestly, fate and destiny, andhaving good friends and the
right network in place to helpme along when people say it's
all about who you know, it'sabsolutely true. And not because
(05:51):
who you know, means that you canpull strings or get advantage.
But friends help friends bypropping them up, friends help
friends by opening doors. Andthat's been the story of my
life. You know, I graduated fromthe University of South Florida
with a master's in speech anddebate in the middle of a
recession, what the heck was Igoing to do speech and debate,
(06:12):
believe it or not, at the time,I didn't know I wanted to be a
lawyer, I actually thought I wasgoing to be a college professor,
because I love teaching andpublishing and writing and
researching. And I got acceptedto two PhD programs, which
required me to move out ofstate. And that just, I didn't
want to leave family. I'm very,very tired and connected to my
family. So I got a job in HRbecause a door opened and I
(06:36):
walked through it. I practicedHR, I was an HR professional for
about six years. And to behonest, I got really frustrated
with our lawyers telling me whatto do. And I didn't always agree
shocking. And I started askingthem to send me the cases that
they were relying on, well, youknow how much they love that.
(06:57):
And I finally said, you know, ifthey can do it, I can do it. I'm
going to give this a shot. Andevery step of the way. I said,
Well, I'll, I'll see how thisgoes. And if this door opens,
then I'll go to the next one.
So, you know, first I filled outthe applications. And then I
took the L sat and somehow I gotinto law school and somehow I
got financial aid. And it allkind of laid out for me in a way
(07:19):
that I can't help but believe itwas meant to be. And I practice
law for about six yearsdefending companies I made
partner and five I knew it wasvery important that I knew and
understood how these lawsuitswould evolve in court how the
facts sets would help or workagainst clients. But I always
(07:40):
knew it wasn't where I wanted tobe. I always knew that I wanted
to be on the teaching educationhelping preventative side. And
one day, I got a phone call froma friend of mine network. Hey,
there's a general counselposition open at this company.
Are you interested? I was therefor about four and a half years.
(08:00):
And lo and behold, I got a callfrom a friend of mine network
who said, Hey, have you heard ofhub international? they're
hiring. These senior executiveshave seen you present? Are you
interested? And five yearslater? I've been at hub since
February five years ago. Wow.
Wow. So
Chuck Simikian (08:18):
your title Senior VP. So we know you're up
there a Grand Poobah of sorts,but strategic strategic client
solutions what exactly? Whatexactly is that tell us what you
what you pretty much do everyday, every week, every month.
(08:40):
For the last four years.
Carrie Cherveny (08:41):
Oh, it's funny that we really struggled with
what to call me I'm the onlyperson that have international
that provides complianceguidance to clients both an
employee benefits and employmentlaw. Our compliance officers
across the country are solelyfocused on employee benefits.
But with my vast employment lawbackground, it didn't make sense
(09:03):
for me to limit the conversationI had with clients. And we
didn't want to build out therole in a way that pigeon holed
me into a pure lawyer compliancecovey because one of the things
that I pride myself on is that Ican work with clients to give
practical advice and guidance,balance the real world business
(09:26):
needs with the compliance andthe risk side of the
conversation. So I didn't wantto be purely the lawyer or
purely the compliance personbecause when you give guidance
to clients, you've got to givethem guidance and advice that is
executable that is common sensethat will work for their
(09:48):
business while mitigating risk.
So that's where we landed on thetitle. We have continued to
revisit the title to see ifthere's something different,
better more succinct, lesswords, less syllables, and
haven't come up with it. So ifanybody has an idea, I'm open.
Chuck Simikian (10:08):
But, and that's and that's fine. I tell you,
despite your title, no matterwhat your title is, you're
putting out some great stuff.
And I follow you on LinkedIn, Imight even be a super fan at
some point. But you share somesome great posts. And I a couple
of weeks ago, I ran a car acrossan E book called workplace
(10:32):
safety. It was a self inventorytoolkit. It was a, it was under
the hub h UB. And, actually, weprobably want to add an answer
to the audience. What hub iswhat is how, by the way,
Carrie Cherveny (10:51):
is the fourth largest Insurance Brokerage in
the world. So we specialize inemployee benefits, commercial
lines, and we have an entireconsulting division just around
risk management in specialtyareas like health care,
transportation, manufacturing,
Unknown (11:10):
etc.
Chuck Simikian (11:11):
I know that I follow you on LinkedIn, and you
have some great stuff. And attimes, I would even say I'm a
super fan. I think I love yourposts. I love what you share.
And it's really relevant to me,as an HR consultant trying to
help other clients. Plus, I loveHR. And I love a lot of the the
(11:35):
things that you're sharingreally just adds new
perspectives and things youdon't normally see out there.
But I was following one of yourthings. And you had something
that came out it was called theworkplace safety, self inventory
toolkit, you shared that. And itwas under the hub hub
(11:57):
International, which is your isyour company, but I'd love to
hear about that. But tell ourvisitors or visitors, our
viewers today, what is hub, bythe way,
Carrie Cherveny (12:09):
hub is the fourth largest Insurance
Brokerage in the worldspecializing in Insurance
Solutions for employee benefits,commercial lines, and risk
management consulting along withpersonal line coverages.
Chuck Simikian (12:23):
Okay, all right.
So I asked you, I said, that isreally well done. That is really
well done. And you said thankyou. And then you said you wrote
it. So tell me about that. Tellme about the there's another a
couple other ebooks you'veshared COVID and the holidays
best practices. So you writethese ebooks for hub also
(12:47):
correct. Tell me about that.
Carrie Cherveny (12:52):
Correct. So listen, it's always a team
effort, right? I've always gotsomebody partnering with me on
research or peer review orediting or feedback. But
certainly this year, I've spenta great deal of this year
building content for ourclients, especially around
employment law and COVID. COVIDhas created a area of compliance
(13:22):
that includes topics andconsiderations that are highly
unusual for HR people to dealwith. You know, not any time in
the past. would an HR generalistthink that all in one
conversation they have to dealwith Employee Benefits coverage,
or Risa, OSHA employmentpractices liability, title
(13:45):
seven, the Americans withDisabilities Act, family medical
leave, and now the ffcra. So Ifeel my heart goes out to the HR
community because I'm part ofthe HR community and started my
career there cut my teeth in theHR role. And so I just felt
compelled to put togetherguidance that would help teach
(14:08):
would help educate, but moreimportantly, help HR people
build programs that protectedtheir organizations. You know,
I've said so many times thisyear, when the Affordable Care
Act came out, I thought, Oh mygosh, these poor HR people, you
know, the the amount ofcomplexity associated with the
Affordable Care Act isunbelievable. And now I look at
(14:30):
COVID. And I think fordable careacts a walk in the park compared
to what we've had to face anddeal with with COVID. So that's
really the foundationalinspiration or thought process
behind putting together thematerials that we've put
together.
Chuck Simikian (14:46):
Okay, yeah. And they're really well done. And
folks, it's not just availableto hub clients, correct you.
It's available to the public andI'll put Kerry's contact
information on LinkedIn. You'regonna want to go, you're gonna
want to follow her. And you'regonna want to check out a couple
of these ebooks, they're,they're really, really well
(15:07):
done. Carrie, I love havingpeople on the show talking about
their philosophies, maybe it'stheir leadership philosophies,
their management philosophies,their HR philosophies. And you
said something early on in theinterview early on a couple of
minutes ago, that inspired youto want to move down the line in
(15:36):
your career, to the point thatyou wanted to be a lawyer. And
you said, You wanted to providepeople, and you want to provide
your clients with guidance andadvice. That is executable,
correct. So talk about that andtalk about your overall
(15:57):
philosophy in that vein.
Carrie Cherveny (16:01):
So I remember, my very first HR position like
real HR was my department, thecompany was counting on me, I
was all by myself, I was part ofone. And I walked into a company
with 250 employees that grew to2000 employees in under a year,
(16:23):
they didn't have a W four, theydidn't have an i nine, they
didn't have personnel files. Andquite frankly, I couldn't spell
title seven at the time, I wasbaby baby in my career. And I
remember the people who helpedme along, and I remember the
people who made my life morecomplicated. And there are a
number of people, one of whom ismy mentor, who helped me learn
(16:49):
and understand the complexitiesof the human resources field and
my role. And he did it in a waythat helps me build programs,
build processes, and deliver inmy organization, and didn't give
me esoteric, idealistic, blackand white policy, please kind of
(17:09):
guide us there were lots ofthose people in my life too. And
I realized early on that beingable to design and implement,
would determine the quality ofthe guidance that I received.
And I've never forgotten that.
And my goal has always been tohelp people who were sitting in
that seat today, because Iremember how it felt, I took my
(17:30):
job. So seriously, I knew andunderstood, if I screwed up, my
company was going to pay theprice, my leadership was going
to pay the price. And the ownersof my company invested their
money, their savings, theirreputations, and all you need as
an HR person to screw somethingup and do a lot of damage and
(17:50):
harm. So that's the lens fromwhich I view our clients. And I
view the world if I can't giveyou guidance, help and support
that is not practical is notexecutable is not something that
you can operationalize that Ihaven't done my job. Right.
Chuck Simikian (18:13):
I love that, you know, I teach a number of
classes. And I yesterdayactually taught a couple of
sessions of a class called theone person HR department,
something along those lines. Anda lot of the folks in there were
brand new HR people, or theywere HR folks that had, you
(18:33):
know, as companies grow, right,they grow, they mature, they
grow up, and all of a suddenthey realized that an HR person
and they're like, you overthere, you can be the HR person.
Right. And, and so that was thetype of folks in this session I
had about 100 100 folks, and I,I always take them down, but
(18:58):
down the path of trying to makethem understand the gravity of
their new role. They might havebeen the office manager, maybe
the front desk receptionist,they the accounting clerk, the
marketing rep, but now they'vegot HR in their title. And I try
(19:18):
and make sure they understandthat anything and everything
they do from this point forward,can put their company in
jeopardy. So it's cool that youYou said that it's called the
chin. I actually tell them I sayyour job is now risk management.
Your job is now risk management,the the number one job and I
asked him I said what's thenumber one job of HR? And I'll
(19:39):
bet you're probably going to sayif I ask you what the number one
a job of HR is, what would yousay the number one job of HR is,
Carrie Cherveny (19:47):
you said it perfectly. It's risk management.
In fact, I sit in the riskmanagement consulting division
that hub because we recognizethat the support and guidance I
provide as managing the risk forEmployers I mean, HR people have
so much pressure on them today,they're in such a high profile,
(20:08):
hot seat and more is being askedof HR people than ever before.
Even even with even with theimplementation of ACA. You know,
at that time, we thought HR wasreally in a tough spot. But
today with COVID, I mean, thecalls that I get from my
clients, my heart goes out tothese HR folks, you know,
(20:30):
managers won't wear masks,people are showing up testing
positive with COVID. And comingto work anyway, employees don't
want to stay home because thereisn't any emergency paid sick
leave laughs So they're justgoing to lie and come in and all
this risk, and all theseindividuals with different
appetites for COVID, coming intowork, not coming into work, and
HR is in the middle of all ofit, trying to navigate all of
(20:54):
that risk, and then layer on topof that open enrollment and year
end layer on top of that civilunrest, and all the
conversations that are soimportant in that area, but
still lands squarely on HR. Andthen by the way, folks, starting
in January, we've got IRS, ACAtax filing season and vaccines.
(21:16):
So HR people have always beenthe heart and the backbone of
the company, but never ever moreso than today. And, you know,
reach out and give your HRperson a hub, not a sexually
harassing hug.
Chuck Simikian (21:32):
Absolutely. So your crystal ball, we're getting
up to our time right now. And Iknow that one of a couple of the
posts that you've shared hasbeen with a new with a change of
administration. And as we'rerecording this, were moving from
(21:56):
a republican administration andthe presidency to a Democrat.
And this is not a politicaldiscussion as much. But when
those things happen, Republicandemo, the winds of change, blow
differently. Correct. And one ofthe things that I tell folks is,
(22:17):
as I've read things, is thatwe're going to be going more
overall from a guidanceperspective to a more
enforcement. And I know you'veshared some things out there in
your, your crystal ball. So canyou share some of that with our,
our viewers today? What is yourcrystal ball telling you as far
(22:37):
as what we as HR professionalsand as leaders, and maybe as
business owners need to probablyexpect over the next couple of
months or so?
Carrie Cherveny (22:50):
Well, I think the number one thing on my list,
believe it or not, is unions. Iknow that President Obama was
very supportive of the Unionworld, and I believe Biden is
likewise as supportive of theUnion world. And in its natural
transition, the National LaborRelations Board will cycle out
(23:13):
some of the senior leaders andPresident Biden or President
Elect Biden will appoint newmembers of the National Labor
Relations Board. And as with anyadministration, the folks who
will be appointed will be thosewhose philosophical and
worldview is similar to that ofour leadership at the time. So
we can expect to see I think,more activity in the Union
(23:38):
world, I also think we will seea change in the guidance and the
interpretations coming out ofthe National Labor Relations
Board, for example. Under thepresident obama administration,
there was some guidance issuedby the NLRB that really opened
the door for almost any kind ofcommunication by employees about
(24:01):
the terms and conditions ofemployment under President
Trump's administration and thatneighbor, Labor Relations Board,
the guidance really dialed inwhat kind of communication about
terms and conditions ofemployment was appropriate? We I
expect that will change therewas guidance around limitations
on communication in yourhandbook, you know, slander,
(24:24):
profane language, that sort ofthing. We expect that guidance
to change. So I think, keep youreye on the guidance coming out
from the NLRB. I also amwondering what will happen with
the Department of Labor opinionletters. If you remember, under
President Obama'sadministration, the opinion
letter program was stopped. Andthen under the President Trump
(24:47):
administration, we startedgetting opinion letters from the
department. And I personallyneed letters because it gives us
a view into how the Departmentof Labor would interpret and
apply the law to start Factssaid I find them to be very
instructive. In fact, we justgot to out last Monday, I think,
Chuck Simikian (25:05):
yeah. And what are they meant to deal with?
insect farming? And I thoughtthat was pretty cool.
Carrie Cherveny (25:10):
I was great. So I'm wondering what happens with
opinion letters. I hope that theprogram continues. I think it's
really helpful. But I'm just notsure. So I think we just have to
keep our eyes open, I thinkthere's going to be some
President Elect Biden, asalready said, there's going to
be some executive orders thatwill dial back some of the Trump
(25:32):
administration, he's already Ibelieve, made clear that the
executive order around thediversity training in the
federal government sector,that's going to change and
President Elect Biden is goingto overturn the executive order
limiting the diversity trainingin the federal sector. So we'll
definitely see some change. Butthe good news is, there's some
(25:54):
great people out there like youand the rest of us in the
community to stay on top of it,provide guidance and help
clients navigate their waythrough it.
Chuck Simikian (26:03):
Yeah, I have a friend that teaches a lot of
seminars, and she uses theanalogy in her classes that you
as the HR person, you're theknight, you're the knight
defending the castle. And, youknow, you've got to have your
your armaments, you've got tohave your horse in good shape.
You have to have things ready togo. You have to be and it's,
(26:25):
it's it's a great metaphor forwhat the HR folks are doing.
Carrie shirvani. I am thrilledto have you on the show today. I
said you're a legend. From thatvideo on F in the workplace.
You've got some great things toshare out on LinkedIn. I'm gonna
(26:46):
put the links to all of that inthe show notes below. But Have I
missed anything? Is thereanything you want to add? Before
we we end our segment today?
Carrie Cherveny (26:58):
Thank you for asking, um, have international
built a Coronavirus ResourceCenter. And one of the things
that I love about being part ofhub is that hub is very
community centric and communityfocus. So our Coronavirus
resource center is open toeveryone and anyone because we
(27:19):
recognize our responsibility tohelp our fellow community
members through this crisis. Soany materials that you're
looking for if you can't findthem through LinkedIn, check out
the hub internationalCoronavirus Resource Center.
There's tons of information. Wehave an FAQ that we built. That
is I think it's about 200questions now. That covers
(27:40):
everything from benefits tohealth and safety, OSHA families
first FMLA what we tried to dois consolidate the vast
information into one documentand I think it's a great
resource and tool that may behelpful.
Chuck Simikian (27:55):
Awesome. All right. Well, Carrie, thank you
for being on the show today. Andyeah, folks, thanks for
watching, and we'll see you nextweek.
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