August 2021 Minutes

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Board of Directors Meeting

 August 27, 2021 (8:05 a.m. to 9:30 a.m)

The Board of Directors Meeting was a Zoom Meeting due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Present:  Andrea Chatfield, Todd Fernald, Hope Kelly, Jenn Kinville, Catharine Mirabile, Peter Richard, Amy Sabato, Tina Sharby, Karin Taylor, Jessica Locke, Tim Dabrieo, and Amy Wright.

Absent:   Michelle Gray, Jennifer Horton, Carol Kilmister, Jeannie DiBella, Kristine DiFiore Jermaine Moore, Sarah Rossetti, Dianna Sporcic from SHRM, Peter Stoehr, Linda Tuells, and David Twitchell

Tina Sharby –Fill in Secretary

The meeting minutes of the April 23, 2021 meeting were voted on and approved unanimously.

Jennifer Kinville – Treasurer

The HRSC Checking Account Balance is a $45,580.96 through August 29, 2021.

The GSHRC Checking Account Balance is $61,469.26 through August 29, 2021.

Expenses included; NH BIA membership, Vachon Clukay 2020 Tax preparations (thank you to Peter Richard for the recommendation and saving the council in tax preparation fees), and PO Box renewal.  Income included $409.98[AGC1]  from our Regulatory Webinars – Thank you to Andrea Chatfield.

We do have some expenses coming up for the Twin State HR Conference and for our Directors and Officers Liability Insurance, these will likely be reflected in our next Treasurers report.

Catharine Mirabile – SHRM Northeast MAC Rep

Some reminders from SHRM:

• SHRM Annual Conference & Expo - September 9 – 12 – Las Vegas (virtual and in person)
• Tune in Tuesdays – 2^nd Tuesday of each month
• SHRM Volunteer Leaders Business Meeting (VLBM) November 11 – 13, currently this is scheduled to be an in-person and virtual event.

Catharine discussed the results of the MAC Spring Survey, which consisted of 10,000 randomly selected participants which included SHRM affiliate chapter members, SHRM National members and non-members.  The key findings within the survey along with the feedback the MAC members received from their respective regions were presented to SHRM’s Board of Directors.  The four areas of focus were:

1. Bolstering awareness of the member value proposition in being a dual member (belonging to both a local chapter and SHRM National).
2. Partner and align with SHRM affiliates to deliver a consistent member experience.
3. Enhance content to meet the needs of various member segments.
4. Further invest in SHRM’s Better Workplace, Better World initiatives.

The next MAC survey will be the fall survey, where it will be sent to all SHRM affiliate Chapter and State Council volunteer leaders.  Catharine stressed that all volunteer leaders that receive this survey to please complete it, as it is critical feedback needed to be presented to SHRM’s Board of Directors on areas that SHRM can assist these volunteer leaders.  Things in the past that have been addressed by virtue of this survey are things like the reworking the VLRC and helpful onboarding tools for new volunteer leaders.  

Andrea Chatfield – Legislation   

2 Legislative Issues

• HB 544 – Divisive Concepts Bill – final law does not apply to most employers.
• NH Medical Freedom Bill – final law does not apply to private employers and does not prevent them from mandating their employees to get the COVID vaccine.
• PRO Act - Bill pending in US Senate.  Passed by the US House already. Bill would strip away most rights of employers in the union-organizing process; bill would force unions on employees; many other negative impacts, including turning over employees’ private information (home and personal contact info, compensation and job titles) to unions with no protections, and allowing secondary boycotts on small businesses. Andrea proposes having the HR State Council send a letter to NH’s 2 US Senators, with each NH SHRM chapter signing onto the letter.  While they are co-sponsors of the bill, they may be dissuaded from pushing to get the PRO Act passed by a simple majority in the senate.  Andrea to draft a letter and disseminate to the State Council. Chapter Presidents and State Council members should check with their employers to make sure it is OK for them to add their job titles and employers to the letter.  The goal is to get the letter finalized so Hope can present it in person to the Senators who will be at Hope’s company for a soft opening.   Employers would be required to turn over their employee’s name/address/salary to unions.  The bill would allow secondary boycott. 

Tina Sharby – Director

The 2^nd Annual VT/NH Twin State HR Summit still needs your support to encourage attendance. We have decided to cancel the in-person event in both states that was going to take place on the Friday of the conference. Registration is a little bit low compared to where we were last year at this point.  Discussion on Zoom Fatigue.

Orientation Deck – Tina is reviewing the SHRM deck to give to the new Board Members as a reference. 

GSHRC – Tina suggested that we may want to consider not holding the GSHRC in April of 2022 and asked if there were any requirements from SHRM to hold the conference. Catharine reminded us that the GSHRC is the one time that the state council has to get out in front of members during the year and noted that the bordering states have an annual conference.  Tim reminded us that SHRM does not require a conference other than the leadership conference and if we have an event we must invite SHRM to attend.   Tina will continue discussions with the team and get back to all shortly.

Chapter Meetings: Tina indicated she wants to attend one-chapter meeting for each of the NH chapters. If she has not already attended one of your meetings, please let her know when your next one is scheduled. Todd and Amy discussed their chapter presidents’ meetings, they have been very helpful, especially during COVID.  When they meet again, they will invite Tina.

Tina also let the board know to reach out to her if any of the boards are struggling in anyway and we can work together to try to assist one another.

Executive Board Member Emails – The board agreed that we should look into obtaining email addresses for the executive board that remain with the board position vs. the individual.  Michelle to check this out.

Bylaw Changes – Recommended changes were attached to the meeting invite.  Reviewed at tis board meeting and will be sent to SHRM for approval.

Ry Perry Award (HR Hero Award) – Tina asked the board to consider doing a different type of event to recognize the recipient of this award.  Possibly a winter dinner event, with light programming and then the award.

Board Committee vacancies and Survey Responses:  Tina admitted she made a rookie mistake by not asking for individual names for those who completed the board interest survey. Unfortunately, this made the responses anonymous.  The good news is that many of you were either interested or know of someone who is interested in some of the “lighter lift” positions and committees.  The bad news – please send Tina an email with your interest so she can reach out to you directly.

Hope Kelly – Certification Director

Hope sent to all Chapter Presidents the document to remind chapters to reaffirm.  Hope completed the reaffirmation for the State Council.

Those on the State Council and Dual Memberships have the opportunity to take the Certification exams complimentary.  It looks like we are in good shape with all if not most certified.  This did go out to volunteer leaders and is a reminder.  Deadline is Wednesday, 9/1/21 .

Sarah Rossetti – Workforce Readiness

The Workforce Readiness Committee is still looking for volunteers.

Jessica Locke– Diversity

March of 2022 is the annual Diversity Conference. The DWC has been offering monthly DEI programming to members and the community.  Check out their website.

Jeannie DiBella – Membership

Jeannie will be looking to phase out of her role as Membership Director, please let Tina know if you are interested in this role.

Chapter News

Basically, all of the chapters have moved to virtual conferences through the end of 2021. It was discussed that some chapters are finding it difficult to find venues to host their meetings at a reasonable cost.

A discussion took place about Wild Apricot and the chapters that use Wild Apricot successfully. 

Adjourn

Peter Richard made the motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Todd Fernald and approved unanimously.

2021 HR State Council of NH Meetings

Submitted by: Tina Sharby