We sat down with St Charles based Tiffany Slater. Tiffany owns and operates HR TailorMade—a company that provides businesses with top-notch Human Resource assistance and guidance.
Happenings: Thank you for taking the time to visit with us today. If you can, please tell us a bit about your background and how you got involved in the Human Resources Industry.
Dr. Slater: Absolutely. I started in HR when I was an undergrad in college. I was a business major with a specialization in entrepreneurship. Then in my senior year, I took an HR class, fell in love with it, and changed my final major to Business Administration with a specialization in HR. From there, I immediately got an internship in the industry. So, as a result I have been involved with the field since undergrad.
Happenings: That sounds great. With your initial exposure to that field, what aspects of the industry initially piqued your interest—was it the social or human nature of the business?
Dr. Slater: Actually, it was not quite the people aspect of HR but more so the laws, regulations and paperwork involved with it—so the things that most people don’t enjoy that much. I just found that aspect to be so interesting. At that point FMLA was a big thing and learning all of the things that govern how people can work and how people can be employed was really interesting to me.
Happenings: That is quite interesting. There do seem to be a lot of technical aspects to the industry, and I guess that is a major skillset that can really help guide people through those processes. This kind of leads me to my next question. With that initial experience, how did that bring you to the company that you operate now?
Dr. Slater: Sure. So after working in the industry for 30 plus years, I did start to become a bit exhausted—as the work is quite technical and can become stressful. I also wanted to have more family time, so I moved into more of an independent consultant role. This leap was a bit frightening, as I did not know anyone else doing that at the time and really did not have a clue on how to begin. But, I knew it was something that I wanted to pursue. Over the first year of launching the business, I just tried to soak in as much information that I could and ended up going through the WIBO Program for entrepreneurs—this provided workshops for start-ups and was originally provided by the Women’s Business Center. This was super helpful and allowed me to find the answers to questions that I didn’t even know to ask. With that initial program, I was able to create a business plan and have a structure for how to move forward and reach my goals.
Happenings: Resources like that can be really helpful for local businesses just tarting out. Are there any other similar resources that helped you on your initial journey?
Dr. Slater: I was also accepted into a diverse business accelerator program offered by the St. Louis Regional Business Chamber—which is now known as Greater STL. From there the networking aspect of new business really took off. I started finding my “virtual tribe” and folks that I connected with would then introduce me to their networks. I mention the virtual aspect because my business ended up really taking off and thriving during COVID. I served as the interim HR director for a new client called KIPP St. Louis. They hired me to perform an internal HR audit, as they were in the middle of hiring an in-house director just as COVID hit. So, that immediate need for consulting expertise was a perfect fit for them, and from there things started to fall in place for my business.
Happenings: As that journey began to take off, what types of businesses became part of your portfolio—did it include a lot of smaller, mid-level corporate businesses or a combination of everything?
Dr. Slater: My vision of who I wanted to support has definitely changed over the years. We have really become a big supporter of small businesses and non-profit organizations that are professional service providers—marketing, architectural, design and accounting firms. On the non-profit side, most of them are service providers who are therapists, program providers for entrepreneurs and individuals, and community developers.
Happenings: Finding that niche within your own business can be quite important. From the companies that you support, what do you think their biggest hurdles are when it comes to the HR aspect of their business?
Dr. Slater: One of the biggest hurdles is not having the budget to employ a full-time HR representative on staff. I think this is why my business model is perfect for these types of companies. I think the second hurdle is really understanding how important HR is to the success of a business. The culture of an organization really impacts every single thing that happens. One example is inconsistent management of time off. When the team is aware that others are provided with varied amounts of time off without rhythm or reason, people begin to talk and speculate. It can be the cause of in-fighting, low productivity, disengagement, and high turnover. The sooner that leaders recognize that their team is the number one driver of business, the more likely they are to recognize that protecting that resource—through allowing people to take time off to reset and be well-rested—is imperative to employees performing at their highest level and doing their best work.
Happenings: I think a big part of company culture is to have processes put in place that help to streamline communication within an organization. What types of services does your company provide to help with the aspect of managing new and existing employees within a company?
Dr. Slater: We do all of the transactional things that HR departments do, such as updating payroll records and inputting raises. We coach leaders through difficult situations and prepare them for the conversations. We also develop and deliver onboarding processes for our clients. When we are working with our clients, we identify areas inside of HR where improvement and efficiencies can be made to processes and practices to further enhance operations and the employee experience. Beyond just implementing those processes, we also manage those systems and execute their HR processes.
Happenings: It seems like an excellent resource for companies to access, especially if they do not have the in-house capabilities for such a vital service. For companies looking to adopt your services, what is the best way for them to get in touch with you, and do you provide an initial consultation?
Dr. Slater: They can go to our website at www.hrtailormade.com. From there, they can schedule a strategy session. During that 30 minute strategy session, I ask the companies to put forth the challenges they are facing, and I provide them with some recommendations on how to resolve them. Usually what happens in that conversation is people ask me what we can do for them. Most companies are reaching out because they have questions on how to make sure that their teams have the resources they need—to be able to answer the questions that employees have and to be in the best position to provide their teams with the appropriate HR resources. The goal of the HR Strategy session is to provide value and solutions that companies can implement.
Happenings: Thank you so much for sharing a bit more about your business. I think it is a vital resource to have and it is great that companies can have access to your services—especially when HR plays such an important role in an organization Beyond work, what does your life look like and how do you spend your downtime when you are not 100% focused on running your business?
Dr. Slater: I am definitely a homebody. I love being at home and being with the people in my house. We have two boys that are 14 and 13. They both love basketball and are playing it every chance they get. My husband is also a basketball coach, so we are at the gym quite often. I love going to the spa to get recharged, as previously mentioned that is a big part of being able to do my job at the highest level. I am a huge TV buff, as well.
Happenings: That sounds great. And, finally, what do your plans for your business in the future look like? Are you planning to expand or maintain a particular client base?
Dr. Slater: In the next five years, I envision that we will have clients in each of the 50 states. At that point, we may be able to expand overseas, as well. I am just now researching how that might look for our company and how to best scale on an international level.
Dr. Tiffany Slater (CEO & Senior HR Consultant)