Business Spotlight: 除了 Human Resources

By Shavantay Minnis

Ivelices 托马斯。, owner of HR & 除了, started her firm in 2018 after realizing the number of small business owners who lacked proper support from a human resource (HR) professional.

托马斯。, a labor and employment lawyer and an HR executive, offers her clients a two-for-one combination, allowing them to keep up with the most current federal, state and local laws and have the full support from her team of HR professionals.

Yet even with more than 20 years of experience working as an attorney, and more than nine years in HR, stepping out on her own was a challenge. Pivoting from providing direct consulting services to selling her brand as a scalable outsourced HR support service was an obstacle she didn’t know how to handle, 托马斯说.

Reaching out for help, she found the Florida Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Florida Atlantic University (能力), and her business consultant Jazmine Loiselle.

The assistance she received from Loiselle, who specializes in strategic marketing and the online challenges of marketing brands and creating engaging digital content at the Florida SBDC at 能力, enabled her to create a website, develop a marketing strategy and build her confidence and her brand, 她说.

“Jazmine has this way of reminding me of the skills and talent that I bring to the table,托马斯说. “一开始, I was nervous to network and tell people about my business, but now as soon as I start talking about what I do and how businesses need HR, 我运气很好.”

HR & 除了 opened a month after 托马斯。 left her previous role as the head of human resources at GardaWorld, 保安公司. 在那之前, 托马斯。 worked as an assistant general counsel for New York City's Mayor's Office of Labor Relations.

“I stopped practicing law and transitioned to HR because I wanted to have more of an impact in preventing labor and employment litigation from happening in the first place,托马斯说. “Only my previous role as the head of HR, while I enjoyed supporting operations and the employees, the internal politics didn’t fully allow me to add the true value that I know the right human resources partner and support can provide to a business.”

With her company, she integrates her knowledge of labor and employment law and human resources. As a part of HR & 除了’s core services, 托马斯。 also created The HR Hotline®, which is an outsourced virtual human resources service which allows businesses to receive ongoing support where “essentially our team becomes an extension of any business, so it's as if they would have an HR person on their team that offers full support for employees and owners, yet they don’t have to carry the burden of a full-time employee on their payroll托马斯说.

Since the inception of The HR Hotline®, and the supporting platform 她说 Loiselle helped her bring from thought to creation, 托马斯说 she has witnessed the relationship between employees and business owners strengthen and owners receive the appropriate HR compliance guidance for their size and industry.

“When you own a business it's easy to assume HR begins and ends with hiring and firing employees, and nothing else. But there is much more to it that I’ve seen many struggle to accomplish it,” 她说. “And it makes me appreciate Jazmine and the Florida SBDC at 能力 even more because I’m reminded that the services, I offer are so vital to the success of small businesses. Seeing them grow helps me grow.”