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VBSR Fall Program – Onramps, Upramps and Offramps: Developing Talent on the Road to Social Responsibility

Event Details:
When: October 30, 2019 12:00 pm – October 30, 2019 5:30 am
Location: Killington Grand ResrorHotel, 228 E Mountain Rd, Killington, VT 05751

Cost To Attend:
Nonmembers – $75
VBSR Members – $60

Registration is open

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Click here to register to attend.

Join more than 150 Vermont business people October 30 for VBSR’s Fall Program ”Onramps, Upramps and Offramps: Developing Talent on the Road to Social Responsibilty” at the Killington Grand Hotel. You will gain new tools for unbiased recruiting, offering benefits to support retention, developing employee leadership skills, and much more!

Thanks to our story slam sponsor VELCO, we will begin the event with a story slam featuring three inspiring stories about the personal and professional journeys from local business leaders, Mark Redmond Executive Director of Spectrum Youth and Family Services, Michele Morris, Director of Outreach & Communications at CSWD and Anna Nassett, Founder of Stand Up Resources.

Throughout this half-day conference you will attend workshops focused on unbiased recruiting, leadership development, avoiding burnout, offering the best benefits for your employees, how to effectively manage and improve employee performance and engagement and helping make sure the right employees are in the right roles within your organization.

The program ends with a networking reception sponsored by FarVision Consulting where you can keep the conversation going by sharing the days lessons with new friends and colleagues.

Please click here to learn more about our presenters.

Agenda

12:00 – 12:30 Registration and Networking

Lunch will not be served at this event. There are many options for lunch in Killington or attendees may pre-order boxed lunches via the registration link.

12:30 – Intro and Welcome – Oscar Wilde II & III

12:40 – Story Slam – Oscar Wilde II & III

Mark Redmond PhotoWhen a Non-profit Decides to Start a Social Enterprise – Mark Redmond, Executive Director Spectrum Youth and Family Services

Two years ago, Spectrum started a car detailing business, a social enterprise, Detail Works, because they were frustrated by the low numbers of youth who were able to remain employed. For more than staff at the JOBS program have placed youth in various employment sites including restaurants, grocery stores, fast food, etc. The federal standard for success is the percent of workers that make it to 90 days of employment. Spectrum has been at around 41% for years, (one of the best rates in Vermont) but they believed they could do better.

Spectrum started Detail Works because they believed that by owning a social enterprise and staffing it with adults who are trained in working with formerly homeless and at-risk youth, we could increase the amount of time they remain employed while teaching them both the hard and soft skills they need to learn to succeed in the workplace.

Spectrum is now at 91% who have maintained employment for 90 days or longer at Detail Works, more than doubling the previous outcome. The youth who do leave after 90 days are finding better jobs, at higher pay, or enrolling in college or a trade school, and remaining there.

Mark will share how Spectrum made the decision to start Detail Works, how they picked the industry/business, and how they engaged volunteers in the business community to help them.

Michele Morris, headshotDon’t Follow Your Bliss, Chase it! – Michele Morris, Director of Outreach & Communications at CSWD

Nobody looking at Michele Morris’ education and resume in 2008—including her – would have guessed she would reinvent herself as a civil servant in the solid waste industry just one year later. Today, she is thriving in a mid-life career change that suits her better than she could have imagined.  Hear from Michele about aptitude, eagerness to learn, and willingness to work hard and do whatever is needed. She discovered that everyone has transferable skills that can be applied in surprising ways to open doors you never knew existed.

Anna NassetStand Up, Anna Nasset, Founder of Stand Up Resources

From the belle of the ball to the hermit upstairs, sometimes things don’t turn out as we think they will. Anna lived a self-described charmed life on the coast of Washington state as a gallery owner and gal about town. All of that shifted eight years ago when a man she didn’t know started stalking her. Suddenly, her vibrant life became a cell of fear and solitude. Over the years as the crime continued her world crumbled around her. She lost her business, she lost friendships, she lost relationships, she lost well over half a million dollars. And she lost herself.

Anna moved to Vermont to hide, start new, where no one would really know her or knew about her secret past. But life has a way of showing you otherwise. Now she STANDS UP and speaks out against stalking and sexually related crimes. Her voice and story that had been painfully hidden away now comes out in its strongest sound. The life that was ripped away from her has created a life she never saw coming… and she can’t wait to see what the future holds.

1:45 – 2:00 –  Networking Break

2:00 – 3:00 – Session 1 Workshops 

Workshop 1 – Consciousness of Bias in Recruiting Efforts – Northstar I

Jennifer No, Darn Tough 

When it comes to biases, we all have them. Biases play a role in what we do, the decisions we make, and, yes, our recruiting efforts. Attendees will learn ways to disrupt the cycle and improve recruitment efforts through improved recruiting practices and why it’s beneficial for their organizations.

 

Workshop 2 – The Year in Review? Why Performance Reviews are NOT the Way to Tap Into Employee Passion, Creativity and Engagement -Northstar II 

Maribeth Spellman, Hickock & Boardman HR Intelligence

The annual performance review is not an effective tool for engaging employees, driving performance, or achieving business goals. In this workshop you will explore the benefits of integrating ongoing feedback, rating-less reviews, and crowd sourced feedback into your performance management practices.

 

Workshop 3 – Leading from the Inside Out – Oscar Wilde I

Michele Asch, Twincraft

With a head for business and a heart for people, Twincraft Skincare is committed to building and sustaining a culture of collaboration, empowerment, accountability, and innovation.  Michele Asch will discuss how to build leadership development and personal growth and awareness into the fabric of how you do business.

3:00 – 3:15 – Networking Break

 

3:15 – 4:15 – Session 2 Workshops

Workshop 4 – Unlocking Impact and Increasing Retention Through Great Employee Benefits – Northstar I

Moderator: Emily Blistein, Let’s Grow Kids
Panelists: Chrissy Flynn – The Alchemist, Duane Peterson – Suncommon and Dan Yates – Brattleboro Savings & Loan

A panel discussion exploring how and why to invest in great employee benefits. This panel will tackle questions of how to assess what benefits your employees need and want to stay, how leaders answer the tough questions of benefit fairness and aligning your benefits to your mission and your recruitment and retention goals.

 

Workshop 5 – You are the Right Company – are your Employees in the Right Roles? – Northstar II

Ross Gibson, The Richards Group

Employee Engagement studies reaffirm that employees are most engaged when they are in a role that they love within a profession that is meaningful to them. With our tight labor market and daunting demographic shifts that is making this more difficult, how can employers play a role in helping employees understand if they’re in the right role or even in the right profession. In this fast-paced, engaging workshop, we will explore and discuss several way employers can help employees in these areas. We will touch on how this starts in the recruitment process and carries though to on-going dialogue and exploration with employees. We will draw from several key thought leaders including Mel Robbins (The 5 Second Rule), Clayton Christensen (How Will You Measure Your Life?), John Maxwell (Intentional Living) and others. Attendees will leave the workshop with several key tools they can use to help provide focus and meaning to their employees’ career choices, helping to improve employee engagement.

Workshop 6 – The Empowered Culture: An Antidote to Burnout – Oscar Wilde I

Flip Brown, Business Culture Consultants
Rae Carter, Empowr

The World Health Organization defines burnout as “a syndrome
conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” It is characterized by three dimensions:
feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion, increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job and reduced professional efficacy. In this workshop, you will have the opportunity to learn how to recognize the causes of burnout in your workplace. The session will help you identify cultural norms and patterns of communication that can be changed in a modern, fast-paced workplace to support employees and strengthen the health and productivity of the workplace. An empowered culture is one where everyone has shared assumptions, beliefs, and behaviors and both challenges and solutions can be openly discussed and decided upon. We will explore these themes so you can leave the workshop able to strengthen or implement a best practice to support an empowered culture in your workplace.

4:15 – 5:30 Networking Reception

Thank You to Our Sponsors!

Story Slam Underwriter

VELCO Logo

Vermont Electric Power Company, Inc.—VELCO—owns and operates Vermont’s high-voltage transmission system and the fiber optic communication networks that support it. Headquartered in Rutland, VELCO employees strive to give Vermont’s utilities and their customers a reliable high-voltage grid, a strong unified voice on regional energy issues, and continued access to safe, reliable, cost-effective electricity. Our vision is to create a sustainable Vermont through our people, assets, relationships, and operating model.

Reception Sponsor

Far Vision Consulting Logo

FarVision is a business consulting firm with over 30 years of experience helping businesses reach their optimal! Whether an organization is in a growth mode or a transition, FarVision has a tried-and-true, scientifically valid method for solving any business problems.

FarVision believes that sustainable prosperity relies on truth, generosity, and a caring and supportive environment where inspired transformation serves as a guiding force for achieving success.

Underwriters

Bee's Wrap Logo

Reusable food storage, made with care in Vermont.

 

 

BIA Diagnostics Logo

Bia Diagnostics strives to be a caring and active member of the scientific community by conducting independent and collaborative research to further our understanding of food allergen safety and of the community in which we live by providing jobs, offering financial support to both local and international non-profit agencies, sponsoring fundraising events for such and allowing time for our employees to serve.

 

Heritage Aviation Logo

 

 

 

 

 

John G Ullman & Assoc. Logo

Since 1978, JGUA has provided clients a holistic approach to managing their financial lives. Through personal, long-term relationships, JGUA has helped individuals, families, businesses, foundations, and trusts. We recognize dynamic overlaps between family and professional relationships; therefore, we provide guidance for both parents and children on personal and professional financial matters throughout their lives. Core values minimize conflicts in client relationships and our fee model focuses your advisor on you and your best interests. JGUA prepares customized plans for each client covering areas like financial planning, investments, taxes, personal and estate asset protection, retirement, and whatever life throws their way.

 

Key Bank LogoKeyBank is highlighting it’s Financial Wellness program called Key At Work. Key At Work is designed to increase Employee Retention and Engagement by helping employees reduce Financial Stress and increase Financial Stability. Please check out our table to view our award winning Financial Wellness software and learn more about this FREE Benefit for your employees!

 

 

Let's Grow Kids Logo

Let’s Grow Kids is a statewide campaign about the need for more high-quality, affordable child care in Vermont to better support our children, families, communities and economy.

More than 70% of Vermont children under age 6 have all of their parents in the labor force, meaning they’re likely to need care. Yet nearly half of those infants and toddlers don’t have access to any regulated care, and nearly 80% don’t have access to high-quality programs.

Their goal at Let’s Grow Kids is to gain public support for increased, sustainable investment that gives each child the chance to reach their full potential.

 

Richards Group Logo

The Richards Group provides comprehensive risk management, employee benefits, and investment solutions to clients throughout Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Employers, individuals and families rely on us as their trusted advisor to help position them for success – now and in the future.

 

Trust Company of VT Logo

The Trust Company of Vermont provides trust and investment management services with a focus on long term relationships in an environment of exceptional service.