Flexing During the Pandemic featuring Jeanne Bolhuis of Keyser Insurance Group

Working through the challenges of COVID and coming out the other side in a successful and profitable position can be a tough task for small businesses. One key is having flexibility in your talent acquisition and human resources (HR) practices, according to Jeanne Bolhuis, Chief Consulting Officer for Keyser, an insurance group and HR consulting service in Kalamazoo. She was interviewed by Sheri Welsh for this week’s The Welsh Wire podcast.

“The whole platform for recruiting shifted, right?” Bolhuis says. “And so in the way that either people couldn’t work, or, you know, tied to unemployment benefits or safety or remote work and on site work. There are all these variables that created even more of a talent acquisition challenge on top of what we might have been dealing with previously.”

Bolhuis says right now it’s more important than ever to have a proactive, long-term strategy for getting the employees you need, which is one reason Keyser has partnered with Welsh & Associates to create a consistent flex talent acquisition model.

The podcast conversation highlighted that flexibility is important for every element of the HR arena, not just hiring.

“I think sometimes as HR professionals, one of the things that we strive to do is have the answers, we want to take care of people,” Bolhuis says. “And that’s, I think, been the biggest challenge that I have seen with our clients in an HR world is not having the answers, because we haven’t been here before. And also things are changing.”

Listen to Sheri’s full interview with Jeanne Bolhuis.

Subscribe to The Welsh Wire podcast on iTunes for additional informative, entertaining interviews with West Michigan business leaders.