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Work Readiness Committee – Veterans Initiative Project

What initially started out as a one-time volunteer opportunity for Dallas HR members to assist local veterans with their resumes has now turned into something with long-term goals and potential national impact. Roughly 65 Dallas area veterans and veteran spouses had their resumes reviewed by Dallas HR volunteers in early April and about half of those veterans have been interviewed and or hired due to the resume improvements! The veterans and veteran spouses' resumes came to Dallas HR through Allies in Service, a local veteran support organization.

Future plans exist between Dallas HR's Workforce Readiness Committee and Allies in Service in the form of recurring resume review and quarterly employee workshops that will focus on mock interviews and question and answer panels, allowing the veteran or veteran spouse to gain additional knowledge about the civilian workforce, in a one-on-one, relaxed setting.

The military is great at taking civilians and making them service members. The transition from service member back to civilian, however, is an on-going process that the military is currently trying to combat. This is the exact reason why the Dallas HR Workforce Readiness Committee and Allies in Service are working together. The impact of meaningful programs from volunteer partnerships like these in veterans and their spouse's lives is invaluable. This kind of community engagement and support can surely be matched across the nation – let's show them how Dallas rolls!

Community Relations Committee

DallasHR has a very active Community Relations group that partners with four local, non-profit organizations. We are so enthusiastic to include New Friends New Life (NFNL) as one of the four organizations and join them in their mission to serve women who have been sexually exploited. These women are part of the more than 300,000 American women and children trafficked each year. In 2012, NFNL served more than 650 women and children through comprehensive programs aimed at providing access to education, job training, interim financial assistance, mental health and spiritual support.

As President John Hagan says, "insanely great things are happening" here in North Texas as we bring together HR professionals to enact positive change in the community, restoring and empowering women and children to overcome backgrounds of abuse, addiction, poverty, and limited opportunities. Together at DallasHR we can make a difference!

Government Affairs Committee 

YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS IT...

Dallas HR's Annual Legal Forum is back by popular demand and being held the morning of September 10, at the Omni Hotel, Luna and LBJ, in Dallas. 

This year's event features seven attorneys presenting on a variety of topics including the NLRB for non-union employers, contractor classification, background checks after the Dollar General EEOC case, challenges with ADA and FMLA, as well as, the three phases of compliance of Obamacare, just to name a few.

The Forum willbe held in a roundtable topic style format.

Each attorney will be speaking on a different topic which will allow each attendee to select the 5 topics presented that are of most interest to them and will also allow attendees to be able to ask questions directly to the speakers.

At the Monthly Luncheon that follows the Legal Forum, Mike Aitken, SHRM – Vice President of Government Affairs, will be the keynote speaker.

Mike is a dynamic speaker who has worked at SHRM since 2003.  Prior to that, he served for 14 years as associate director for Governmental and External Relations at the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR).

Mike's topic, "The Washington Outlook: An HR Public Policy Update" will be focused on workplace regulatory agenda and HR public policy initiatives that the President and Congress have put forward that have a real impact on the workplace. Key issues of focus include proposals on: deficit reduction, tax reform, and perhaps, even immigration reform. The decisions that are being made to bring down the federal deficit and reform the tax code could have a direct impact on employer-sponsored health care, pension and fringe benefit plans.   Attend to learn more!


Member Engagement Team

DallasHR's Member Engagement team is implementing a LOT of insanely great initiatives this year to reach out and let our members know we care. This year we have started collecting reasons why our members are joining on our online applications so that we know from the get-go what our members' primary reasons for joining are so we can concentrate our efforts in those areas to meet their needs.

Once they join, they will receive a call or email from one of our volunteers to invite them to attend an orientation meeting to learn about all the benefits available to them for being a member. These monthly presentations have also been found to be great refreshers to our exiting membership who renew - as benefits and programs are constantly changing.

Lastly, we have just kicked off a 3-month Follow-Up Outreach to our members. This initiative consists of volunteers who have gone through training at the orientation meetings. They are reaching out to members when they reach their 3-month mark in their membership term to touch base with them and see if they have any questions. The feedback so far has been outstanding and our efforts are greatly appreciated.

All of this is possible because of our efforts to engage our membership, and the wonderful volunteers who are all about the organization. If you've been sitting on the fence, wondering if joining DallasHR would be worth it, hop on down and find out for yourself how much we care!