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A Conversation with Kent...
Frequently Asked Questions:
Tell me about your background. What is the payback for my company? What’s
the history of the PRISM firm? What
do you need from me so we can get started?
Expenses related to employees are really a
significant investment; for many organizations, more than 50% of their total
operating costs. Costs of hiring,
wages and salaries, payroll taxes, training, insurance, benefits, sick leave,
vacations, holidays, workers compensation and unemployment claims really add up.
Furthermore, inappropriate or inconsistent application of company
personnel policies has, for many organizations, led to costly litigation. At PRISM Consulting Group, we assist companies with
the human resource issues critical to employee acquisition, retention and
performance; compliance with EEO, Affirmative Action, OSHA and other
regulations; and can develop pay and benefits programs to enhance company
profitability. Our cost-effective services ease the burden of
"people management" for busy owners or executives of companies like
yours. We can function as your
advisor, as your consultant, as an adjunct to your existing HR staff, or as your
complete outsource provider of HR management services. If you are a typical emerging business owner or
manager, you need someone who can provide professional HR guidance at an
affordable price. Along with the
legal issues, you need to recruit people who share your vision for your
business, to compensate them so they will stay with you, and to provide an
environment where they can grow and prosper.
Our relationship with your company can vary from
that of consultant, to an outsource provider of personnel services, to providing
human resources services at your site or on a retainer basis. These approaches
can help organizations like yours fulfill their needs to provide competent human
resources support, without the cost of full time professionals on the payroll.
Our services help ease the burden for busy owners and managers, while helping
you to achieve compliance with employment laws which affect your business every
day.
Tell me about your background. A
long time Houstonian, I earned my BBA degree in Marketing from Lamar University
and my MBA in Management from the University of Houston.
I hold my PHR certification as a Professional in Human Resources. For over thirty years I have led both large and small HR teams in a variety of industries. My experience includes serving as Vice President of Human Resources for two different public companies ... Vallen Corporation / Vallen Safety Supply Company, North America's premier industrial safety equipment distribution and manufacturing company; and Integrated Electrical Services, Inc. (NYSE:IESC), a nationwide provider of electrical contracting, communications and maintenance services, with 15,000 employees and nearly $2 Billion in revenue. More recently, I was Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Aegis Mortgage Corporation, one of the largest mortgage production franchises in the United States; and Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Funding America, a startup wholesale mortgage bank, of which I was co-founder.
My experience and accomplishments include all areas of HR - benefits, compensation, recruiting, staffing, training and development, HRIS, safety, payroll, change management, and employee relations.
I founded PRISM Consulting Group in 2001.
In medicine, a basic principal is that prescription
without diagnosis is malpractice. This
statement is also true when “doctoring” your organization’s people-related
problems. Often a consulting firm,
or even a key individual in the company itself, sways managers with an effective
presentation and then off to the operating room goes the organization for the program
du jour surgery.
During the audit we will: ·
Conduct a comprehensive review
of each aspect of your HR function to identify specific areas which need
improvement to meet the current and future needs of the organization. ·
Review your HR administrative
systems to determine their effectiveness in maintaining complete, accurate
records and reporting relevant information for compliance with federal and state
regulations. ·
Review each aspect of your
company's current employment practices, including policies, forms, procedures,
and processes currently in place to see if they are meeting your
organization’s needs and to determine if they are compliant with regulations. ·
Recommend changes, enhancements,
and new approaches to allow you to maximize the effectiveness of each human
resources function. ·
Establish the priority of
recommendations in consultation with Company management. Depending on the needs
of the client, the PRISM Consulting Group evaluation audit can result in a full
written report of findings and recommendations that is presented and discussed
in detail with management. This
allows us to determine areas where existing programs and systems are inadequate,
as well as identifying other needed programs to establish an effective HR
management function. Our goal is to
assure you have high-quality employee relations.
What is the payback for my company?
Although it would be tough to quantify, the
potential cost avoidance could be huge. Companies
like yours seldom realize that they have a compliance issue or that they are
unnecessarily open to claims of discrimination, until it’s too late.
The time to involve us is before the claim or lawsuit hits your desk. Our relationship with your company can vary from
that of consultant, to being an extension of your existing human resources
staff, to actually handling your total human resources function.
If you, like many companies, cannot afford a full time HR staff
professional, we can serve as your outsourced HR Director at much less expense than hiring
professional staff. Our services help ease the burden of "people
management" for busy owners or executives of companies like yours by
cost-effectively implementing critical HR management projects which otherwise
may never get done.
The company needs to carefully control overhead
costs to maintain a reasonable profit margin -- especially given today's
competitive environment and uncertain economy. For this reason, it cannot afford
its own full-time human resources management professional to develop and
maintain required programs and systems. But, these are so essential to
attracting, motivating, and retaining quality employees -- the basis for the
Company's continuing success. PRISM Consulting Group offers the expertise to develop, install, or reengineer a variety of human resource management programs and processes, such as: ·
Employee Handbook ·
Policies and Procedures ·
Personnel Administrative
Structure, Procedures & Forms ·
Due Diligence Support for
Mergers and Acquisitions ·
Computerized Human Resources
Information Systems ·
Recruitment & Selection
Programs ·
Needs Analysis ·
Job Descriptions ·
Wage and Salary Programs ·
Performance Evaluation &
Management Systems ·
Group Benefits Programs ·
Human Resource Staff Training ·
Support for Company Growth or
Restructuring PRISM provides a viable alternative to employing an
in-house human resources professional. We offer the advantages of great depth of
professional human resources management expertise and experience without a
long-term commitment, at considerably less cost than hiring a full time staff HR
professional.
We
charge for our services on either an hourly or daily rate, depending on the
nature of your requirements. Our
clients like that arrangement, since they pay only for the work they truly need.
For example, a client may ask us to only develop their Employee Handbook;
or if we conduct an HR audit for a customer, they may feel that a verbal
discussion of the results will be sufficient and that they don’t need a formal
report. In that case, they wouldn’t have to pay for the time
involved to prepare that document. We
can do as little or as much as your needs and budget allow. In
addition, you’ll find that our rates are much more cost effective than if you
asked your accounting firm or lawyers to do the same quality of work.
What’s
the history of the PRISM firm?
I
founded the PRISM Consulting Group in 2001 to help serve these companies.
What
do you need from me so we can get started? Just
call or email me. We can discuss
your challenges and get started immediately to help you and your company meet
your human resources and business objectives.
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PRISM Consulting Group |
A potential client discusses
human resources issues and the services provided by PRISM Consulting Group with
PRISM Consultant and Principal, Kent Edwards.
To avoid this disruptive, expensive, and often
unnecessary diversion, managers should first diagnose organizational problems.
PRISM Consulting Group can identify the human
resource issues critical to your company's success and, working with you, design
and implement solutions to significantly reduce costs, improve your R.O.I. and
increase your organizational effectiveness.
Responsibility for administering the company's human
resource function is usually assigned to an office or payroll employee, under
the direction of the Controller or President.
Over
the years that I’ve been an HR professional, I recognized the need that
smaller, entrepreneurial and emerging companies had for these services.