Crafting Remote Work Connections: Tracy Avin's Troop HR Approach to Building a Vibrant Culture - ep. 067

Welcome to another episode of Remotely One, the podcast delving into the ever-evolving realm of remote work! In this episode, hosts Rick and Kaleem engage in a fascinating conversation with Tracy Avin, a remarkable professional singer, breast cancer survivor, and the visionary founder of Troop HR—a thriving community for people leaders. Tracy takes us on a journey from her New Jersey roots to her remote work experiences, culminating in the establishment of Troop HR during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beginning with her foray into remote work in 2016-17, Tracy highlighted her successful transition to remote while residing in California. Blending personal anecdotes with professional insights, the trio explores Tracy's New Jersey background and her reflections on the state's portrayal in shows like "Jersey Shore." Her pivotal shift from a large enterprise organization to a 10-person health tech startup in 2013 takes center stage as she recounts the culture shock and community-building efforts that eventually led to the creation of Troop HR. Tracy's initiatives underscore the importance of articulating achievements when proposing remote work arrangements.

Our guest sheds light on Troop HR's focus on supporting HR leaders and professionals, fostering collaboration, and sharing resources. Tracy's efforts in navigating the challenges of the remote work era, especially during the pandemic, are truly admirable. The impact of COVID-19 on remote work and the swift organizational transition were crucial for the current state of remote work, hinging on open communication.

The conversation swiftly touches on the most prevalent topics in remote work within HR circles. Tracy identifies engagement, managing leave, and compensation as the top three, delving into the complexities of compensation, particularly regarding pay equity for employees in different locations. Kaleem shares his personal dilemma on remote work compensation, sparking a discussion on strategies HR professionals employ to keep remote employees engaged. Tracy highlights the effectiveness of offsite events, team socializing, and employee resource groups (ERGs), emphasizing the importance of fostering personal connections among team members. She also shares creative ideas for monthly social events at Troop HR.

Tracy's insights into the evolving landscape of remote work and HR practices are not to be missed. Her dedication to building communities and providing valuable resources for HR professionals navigating the challenges of the remote work era is truly inspiring. This episode encapsulates a harmonious blend of personal anecdotes, professional expertise, and pertinent insights into the current remote work landscape.

To capture the essence of remote work experiences, the challenges posed by the pandemic, and the initiatives taken by Troop HR to create a supportive and impactful community for HR professionals: Tune in!

Be inspired, and don't forget to check out Troop HR for a firsthand experience of the vibrant virtual community Tracy has cultivated! 

This episode is kindly presented by TroopHR! Join the TroopHR at www.troophr.com

Learn more about Tracy:

• Personal Email: tracy@troophr.com
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracyavin/
• TroopHR Webpage: https://www.troophr.com/
• Forbes Page: https://councils.forbes.com/profile/Tracy-Avin-Founder-TroopHR/5041ac2b-f097-4748-83df-77491388a309

Transcript

Rick: 0:02

you are listening to Remotely One, a podcast that educates, entertains, and inspires you to take your life back from the office commute. I'm Rick, a former beer rep who left the Warehouse to become a voice actor and digital creator.

Kaleem: 0:16

And I'm Kaleem, a remote work advocate and consultant. We're gonna speak with some of the top professionals who have managed to avoid the commute as they share stories from the most inspiring to the most comical, all while working remotely.

Rick: 0:29

Man, this sounds awesome. Let's clock in.

Kaleem: 0:44

where are you originally from?

Tracy: 0:45

Uh, New Jersey

Kaleem: 0:46

Oh, she was born in Jersey.

Tracy: 0:49

I was,

Kaleem: 0:51

girl.

Tracy: 0:51

yeah.

Kaleem: 0:54

Can you sing Jersey girls at all?

Tracy: 0:56

Not at all. I have not lived in New Jersey in 25 years, so I've lived outside of Jersey longer than I've lived in Jersey at this point, but I have family there, so I visit frequently.

Kaleem: 1:08

Okay. Okay.

Rick: 1:09

Do you feel that Jersey Shore was well represented of the people of New Jersey?

Tracy: 1:13

Absolutely. Absolutely.

Rick: 1:15

Okay.

Kaleem: 1:16

What do you

Tracy: 1:17

Sadly. Absolutely.

Kaleem: 1:19

sadly. Absolutely. I'm hearing your accent come in a little bit more. Jerseys

Tracy: 1:24

yeah, I think about like going to the supermarket and that's what you see it real like, yeah. I mean, look,

Rick: 1:32

That's amazing.

Tracy: 1:33

to when that show just launched, but like, and I never went to those bars, but like all those bars and things, I mean, I'm definitely older than those people, but like, That was totally what people I knew did, so I get it.

Rick: 1:53

Welcome back to Remotely one. I am your co-host, Rick Haney. Joined by my esteemed co-host and colleague, Kaleem Clarkson. What's happening brother?

Kaleem: 2:02

What's going on, bro? You right. You are a co-host. I'm a co-host, and you're a co-host. How you doing baby?

Rick: 2:07

50 50. Baby.

Kaleem: 2:08

50 50 in this beer. You look great, bro. You look

Rick: 2:12

We're gonna, change the name to 50 50. We are one. So, hey everybody, welcome back and since you know how to find us now, do us a huge favor. Go to rate this podcast.com/remotely one, and leave us a review. That's all we ask. Nothing major. Again, rate this podcast.com/remotely one. If you could do that, we would be ever so thankful. Since 2015, remotely one is one of the largest communities of remote work professionals with over 2,800 Slack members and 4,000 email subscribers. Those numbers are climbing by the day, if I may

Kaleem: 2:49

they are.

Rick: 2:50

It is free to join. So go ahead and check it out remotely one.com. And with those things out of the way, Kaleem, tell us a little bit about our guest.

Kaleem: 3:00

Oh, bro, I'm so nerved up, bro. As usual, man. I just got the juices flowing. First off, she was born in Jersey, son. She was born in Jersey.

Rick: 3:10

Oh. Oh gee,

Kaleem: 3:12

and she told us, the Jersey Shore, that stuff on tv, that issue's a real thing. It's real Jesse

Rick: 3:18

I don't believe it.

Kaleem: 3:20

Guess what was the saying? Did you say tans and what, what's, what's the saying? Guest?

Tracy: 3:24

Gym, tan and Laundry,

Rick: 3:27

Now we're

Tracy: 3:28

T L.

Rick: 3:29

That's it. That's it.

Kaleem: 3:32

G T L, Jim Tan. I love it. I love it. She's now a resident of the city, a k a Manhattan, for all you people who don't know who or where the city is. So she's now a New Yorker, officially. Our guest today, Rick, She beats shit, man. She beats stuff. She's a breast cancer survivor. Kudos to you guest. Kudos to you. Really good stuff there.

Rick: 3:56

Love to hear that.

Kaleem: 3:57

okay. She's worked for a Proctor and Gamble company. She's worked for a venture based startup and was the VP of business development at a company called Sherpa. She is a professional performing singer.

Rick: 4:13

Oh,

Kaleem: 4:13

she has a horrible singing voice. She says, shout out to her son who can't stand her singing. So she's a horrible singer. She's a founding member of the Forbes Business Development Council. No big deal. No big deal. Yeah, that's why I'm nervous, bro. That's why I'm nervous.

Rick: 4:31

I know. I'm nervous too.

Kaleem: 4:33

she is the founder of Troop hr. Which is a community for people leaders. You should see some of the names of the companies that are part of this community. You have to check it out. listeners and viewers, please give a warm welcome to Tracy A. Let's go.

Rick: 4:50

Ooh, with a long a Tracy. Welcome to the show.

Kaleem: 4:53

let's go. Tracy, let's go.

Tracy: 4:55

Thank you. That was quite a welcome. Thank you so much.

Rick: 4:59

Well, we do it right. We're glad to have you. We have so many questions. And I'm excited to get into it, but you know, I have to know, was there a point in your history that you just knew remote work was gonna be for you? And, you know, was it kind of like a spark that ignited your career and that led to where you are now?

Tracy: 5:19

Yes, there is actually. So, um, I mean, I know Kaleem has been in this remote world since long before it was common in the workplace, but Going back, Ooh. Maybe around six years ago now, I had been working for a company and my husband got a role out in California and I was working for the company in New York City at the time and little bit of an old school org. So, you know, I had to either go in and resign or work remotely from California when the company was headquartered in New York. And I actually sought some counsel from some of my HR. Friends and family and said, you know, how do you think I should approach this? And I got some really great advice from a close friend of mine who said, just go in and ask for it on a trial basis. A trial basis is open for everyone, and if it doesn't work out, no harm, no foul. If it does, then you now have proven another way. For people to work within your organization. And so that's exactly what I did. My boss actually said to me, I thought you were coming in for one of three things. He added to, so one you're quitting. Two, you're moving to California, because he knew my husband was there, or three, you're getting a divorce. And so I said, I'm glad it's that I'm moving to California. And I asked, can we do this on a trial basis? And he was very open-minded to it. So, I wound up moving out to California and working remotely back in. Wow. It was 2016 17. Very successfully upon coming back to New York. Another colleague of mine at the organization was moving to Florida and she said, you opened the door for me to be able to work remotely from Florida. And again, this is before Covid was even a thought in anyone's mind. And so I think it was at that point that I realized, You know, the remote work thing is if you have a good work, work ethic and you're committed to the work that you're doing, it really doesn't matter where you are to do that. And so, that was my first experience with remote work.

Rick: 7:24

Wow, that's fascinating.

Kaleem: 7:25

yeah. So when you decided to kind of have this discussion, do you remember any of kind of the points that you brought up like, Hey, I could. You know, for some of our listeners who may be in this same position,'cause we're hearing a lot about return to offices, right? Like, you must come back into the office. You gotta come back into the office. Do you remember any of the discussion points that you kind of led with? Obviously you probably had a little coaching ahead of time, so do you remember any?

Tracy: 7:52

Yeah, so I, I'm gonna double down, do it on a trial basis. You know, let's test the waters set and set an amount of time around that, right? You should have check-in points, so it shouldn't just be, let's try this and go. It should be like, let's do a three or six month trial basis. We'll check in monthly. We'll see if I'm hitting the goals. The other thing that I came forward with was, What my achievements to that point had be ha have been as I had already proven myself as a really strong contributor to the workplace in the role that I was in. And so to be able to come and say, you know, this is what I've achieved since I've been here. And then to even put some objectives out there, like, this is what I plan for the next six months. So that when we do have those check-ins for the trial basis to prove that, Yes, this is working. And then the other thing is, just to make sure there's open lines of communication, you know, whatever that may be. If I communicate with you over text, then don't connect with me on Slack. You know what I mean?'cause you wanna be able to have that open communication. I don't know if I said that in any kind of, Order. But those are the key points that I had going into the conversation. And I think because I was organized with my thoughts, this is an important part of it because it wasn't just like, Hey, can we chat, but organized thoughts that it was a much more productive conversation that led to positive results for both myself and the company.

Kaleem: 9:19

Yeah.

Rick: 9:20

I mean, unlike most of the world that had to adapt, a lot of people working remotely now are only working remotely because of the pandemic, but, You predated all of that, and you able to see things from a different perspective than most everybody else. So did you find yourself in a position of like immediate leadership because you already had that experience, and were you able to translate that to other people who just were forced to do it and weren't sure how to go about it?

Tracy: 9:50

So yes and no. I'll start with the no first because I'm also a mom, and so not only were we thrown into having to work from home, but at the time I now had a second grader at home with me and he was part of the New York City Department of Education and trying to figure out how do we manage. The classroom setting and making sure that his needs were met. So that's the no side of it. And that was just trial and error and figuring it out like the rest of us. the yes was because, you know, no matter what the circumstances are when things pop up. I like to act quick on my feet. Obviously you wanna be thoughtful about things, but when this all happens, I had a lot of friends and colleagues reaching out with challenges that they were immediately facing, be it furloughs for their workforce. First having a distributed workforce and wanting to be in compliance with what that means for different payroll requirements. Very quickly, I activated my network and I connected with folks in employment law. I connected with folks that dealt with, coaching and supporting workplace wellness in order to deliver content and resources to other people, and by the other people I'm talking about. Primarily human resources professionals. And so without naming any names, you know, we were getting online and going to some of the legacy organizations webinars, and they were talking about how commutes had changed. And this is April, 2020 and we're all sitting there in New York and California saying, commutes, we're under quarantine. What are you talking about? How do we deal with that piece of it? And so, We actually wound up scheduling weekly webinars with an employment attorney who was just giving regular updates on what we should be thinking about, how we should be approaching things, and just kind of setting people up for the best success in this sort of uncharted territory that we were all in together.

Kaleem: 11:50

Interesting how you transition from being a person that. Just presented remote work to their boss. And I, you know, just kind of going back to that, I just really love the fact that you articulated what it is that you had accomplished already. I think that's really important for our listeners and viewers. If you're gonna go in and try to pitch these things, go in with an organized plan, get some time on the calendar and make it be a meeting, and be prepared to highlight those things. And then now you're kind of in a leadership position and people are reaching out to you, asking questions about how do we move forward? At what point in that space did you decide. To start Troop hr. So can you talk to us a little bit about what Troop HR is and how did that idea kind of sprout from you working remotely?

Tracy: 12:44

Yeah, absolutely. As I had spent the first 10 years of my career working for large enterprise orgs, pharma, subsidiary of p and g, and then transitioned to this 10 person health tech startup. And this is an important part of the story because it was culture shock as it would be, you know, going from a company with thousands of people to 10. And this was back in 2013 and we were in the on-demand healthcare space, which is. Common now, but in 2013, most people didn't even know what that meant. And our clients were other tech startups. And so I started becoming friends with a lot of them, getting an understanding of what you know their benefits needs are. And I said to one of them, wouldn't it be great if we could all just get together and share ideas and best practices? And wound up hosting a small dinner with about 15 HR leaders from tech startups, and then very. Informally over the course of the next 10 years or so, would host these quarterly dinners and breakfasts. Again, very informally, but just bringing people, leaders together to share ideas. And so fast forward when Covid happens. I. I had built this community very grassroots, but I had built this community and became known as a resource. And all the while my husband was on the side saying, you should do something more with this. You should do something more. And I never saw it. And then Covid happened and all of a sudden the world was connected over Zoom or Google meets whatever your preferred provider is, and. I saw it and I said, wow, this is how we connect. We can connect and share ideas and resources in a more meaningful way. And rather than me just being that one center resource, we could all be resources to each other. And so going back to that point, for me, coming up with troop hr, yes, obviously, Focused on HR leaders, but it's not just about HR education, it's about how we can support each other as professionals and just elevate each other in our roles as leaders. And so that is something that. I learned really fast during C O I D and in order to sort of test out the hypothesis, I wound up interviewing over 50 HR leaders to get a better idea of what is it you're looking for in community? What types of resources do you need or are you hoping to gain?

Rick: 16:10

So in regard to, HR as a whole, I mean, you've worked with a lot of different people in a lot of different industries. What would you say are the most popular topics in remote work at this time? From that perspective?

Tracy: 16:24

So if we're talking specifically remote work, the three top ones I would say are engagement, managing leave, and compensation. And I could dive deeper into any of those as to why they're hot topics as you like.

Rick: 16:39

So when you say compensation, does that mean in terms of like pay equity from someone living in San Francisco versus somebody living in Omaha?

Tracy: 16:48

Exactly. So, you know, the pay structures have evolved over the past few years because people have moved around and historically there was a geography tied to a lot of the ways that people accounted for compensation for folks. And so now if you have someone who may be, their home address is ssf, but they're living in Omaha, but you were compensating them Ssf because the cost of living is higher, but now they're in Omaha. And so that's definitely been a topic like how do we manage this now and make it equitable for everyone? So yes, that's the compensation piece of it.

Kaleem: 17:24

You know, for compensation, I'm still torn. Just my personal opinion, like, I understand that in a perfect world, maybe you just pay the same. Rate, no matter where you are. But it's so much more complicated than that because you are paying somebody a wage for them to kind of live a certain level of happiness. You know what I mean? Like a certain amount of disposable incoming in that area. And it's just one of the biggest topics that I think is such a challenging piece. Onto the engagement piece. I'm just curious, like, you're hosting these events and, um, you have people, larger companies, smaller companies. What are people doing? What are HR professionals really doing these days, to keep their remote employees engaged? What have the discussions been around, to keep their remote employees engaged?

Tracy: 18:18

Yeah, absolutely. So, first off, we've seen a growing rise of offsites, or on sites where you have this distributed workforce and you're bringing the team together. To where maybe the corporate headquarters used to be so that they can meet in person and engage. The other thing that we've seen a lot of, especially over the past six to 12 months, has been, you know, supporting teams and connecting and getting together. And so just as an example, maybe you have your HR team and half are on the east coast, some are in, The Midwest and some are on the West Coast. And so geographically you're distributed, but perhaps there's a way you can connect together as a team in a more social setting. Talking about things outside of work. And I know not everyone wants to like blur those lines as much, and so you give as much as you can. But to be able to foster relationships amongst team members beyond. The work discussion. And it doesn't have to be so detailed. It could be high level if you don't wanna get too personal, but getting to know people the same way we used to get people when we would be around the water cooler or we would be at lunch together. And then the other thing that we've seen grow significantly are ERGs, our employee resource groups. Which are centered around different areas of either identification or things that people connect with socially. And so that's been another great way to get to know people on a more meaningful way, or in a more meaningful way. And then, you know, at Troop, one of the things we do and I think like there are hits and misses, but we do monthly social events, and we try to get creative with them so it's not the same. Oh, let's do a wine tasting. You know, last month we did doodling for stress the month before that. We did, salsa making, so trying to just like mix it up a little so it's not the same thing that we've all done before. We did one where we were building terrariums together, you know, things that we can connect with on a level outside of the work discussion has been really effective. And then of course, going back to what I originally say. If you can to facilitate an offsite or an onsite where you do bring people together to meet in person, even if it's not on a regular basis.

Rick: 20:36

Interesting.

Kaleem: 20:37

Yeah, it's definitely, um, community. Yeah.

Rick: 20:40

Yeah. Well, speaking of community, I wanna dive a little bit deeper into this,'cause really interested when we talk about building communities remotely, you know, you touched a little bit on the challenges of that. But how does troop hr, uh, like at what point do you decide, okay, this is how we're gonna bring people together in person?

Kaleem: 21:02

Ooh. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you started an online community. You had, you talked about some of those tools. Love that.

Tracy: 21:10

Yeah. Yeah. So we are a virtual first community. We do not see a world where that will change, and that's because one, our members are so distributed, and two, because it's what works for them. However, like you said, we are in this post covid world now, and those in-person connections. Do matter. And so what we've started to do is this past year we launched our first annual member retreat, which is a three day event focused on professional development and networking for troop members. We have started to host some small group dinners and local metropolitan areas where we have a presence. And just last week at the suggestion of one of our members, we launched something called. Happy hour huddles. We're all about alliteration at troop,

Kaleem: 22:00

Okay. Okay. Okay.

Rick: 22:02

I love it.

Tracy: 22:03

our huddles are, Virtual member led discussion groups. However, one of our members in Brooklyn said, Hey, what if we did a happy hour? And mind you, it doesn't mean that there has to be alcohol.'cause the three quarters of them were all drinking mocktails. So just kind of getting together in person and having fun. And so he came back to me and said, you know what? That was a big success. I'd like to do a monthly version of that in different areas in New York City Metro. And I said, great. And so Troop actually sponsors those events for our members to come together. And then we obviously posted about it in the forum. And since we did that a week ago, we had someone from Chicago reach out to set one up, someone from Atlanta to reach out and set one up. I was just texting before this call with someone in the Austin area. So I think, and this goes back to the remote, you gotta meet people where they are. And so that's an easy lift. It doesn't interrupt from people's workday, it's. Something that's not mandated, but at their convenience, if they wanna join, and troop HR is here to support them if they do wanna come together. And I think the Capstone event of all of that is this retreat that we've created. And we're in process now of, organizing next year's retreat, which will be in the spring again.

Kaleem: 23:17

Yeah, I was so bummed out that I couldn't go to the trip, the retreat. I was like, oh, I can't wait to like meet you in person. But we did get a chance to meet out at Transform. Thank you. By the way, it was really, really fun. We had Rajib, um, day on the podcast from, Learner ably. We were talking about, I had a really good time out, out, out there in Vegas. So before Rick kind of asked the question of the show? so what was the retreat like? Like what was the purpose of the retreat and what were some of the things, that were happening there?

Tracy: 23:47

Yeah, absolutely. So it was. Very different than a typical conference one. We chose a location where we felt that our members could be part of the elements and really dive into their personal wellness. And so for us it was important not to bring people down to a three-day event where they sat in a room with four walls. So we very thoughtfully planned the program out that all of our meals would be together and they would all be outside so that we could be part of the environment. We also made sure on the program that it was really focused on professional development topics. So a lot of times conferences can be vendor driven, understandably. Their businesses. This was focused on. What is the benefit for our members? And yes, we had sponsors, but the sponsors were in the background versus being the center exhibit hall. And then the other thing we did is within the schedule, we included downtime. I actually just got off of a zoom this morning with one of our members who was giving me some feedback and she said, my. Favorite part of the event was the half a day you left with cabanas by the pool. And not because we were swimming in our bathing suits, but because we actually got to make these meaningful connections with one another. And for us, that's really what Troop HR is all about. It's about, you know, like I think about like million dollar show where like you're phone a friend group and like it's about this community where. It is a close knit community and you can build relationships and our members coming together and actually meeting in person just escalated their ability to connect with one another. And so I know even coming out of that, just found out from her that they started their own little group. Not like a community, but like they go for drinks once a month together now that they met each other at the retreat and they didn't realize that they all lived in the same area. So,

Kaleem: 25:40

You're a connector. Tracy, you're a connector. You've done that before. I guarantee you came up as a connector, didn't you?

Tracy: 25:47

for sure. for sure.

Kaleem: 25:50

I really appreciate it. And for all listeners and viewers, I'm a little biased. I am a member. Just as a member of the value that I find as an HR professional is literally just people to listen. You know, you post, it's very well done. I'm sorry Tracy, I'm just Take your compliments right now. But it's very well organized and I'm not just saying this'cause she's on our show. I would rip her if it sucked, but it doesn't. I'd rip her right on the show. Be like, your community stinks, but it doesn't stink. It's really well done. You can post in these different channels. People respond, especially if you have these remote work challenges. I just love how responsive everyone in the community is and they can, you can really get some difficult questions and a lot of different feedback. That's what I've fully enjoyed. so if you're a people officer or an HR professional, definitely check out Troop hr. It's worth every penny. The membership for sure.

Rick: 26:45

Definitely. so Tracy, since we're on the subject of human connections, part of the human connections is people sharing stories with one another about real life. Occasions that occur. I don't even know what I'm saying there, but, uh, occasions do

Kaleem: 27:02

That's her. That's

Rick: 27:03

Yeah. Yeah. We're talking about real life and real life right now is me not knowing how to use words. So, um, so part of that connection is like I said, sharing stories. So, Can you share with us something about working remotely that you will never forget? Something that may be inspiring or comical, or maybe even a little bit embarrassing? Who knows?

Tracy: 27:27

Yeah. You know, as you said that, I just thought about one the months that I was on Zoom in my pajamas, like I don't know why we couldn't get dressed. And two, the storage of an excessive amount of food and supplies on the credenza in my living room. That was the backdrop of my zoom because, you know, we really didn't know what was going on, and I just remember. We had, like my kitchen pantry had like 10 x in size and was the background of my zoom because I live in an apartment in New York City, so that's where it was. And so, you know, this is talking about off the cuff, that's completely off the cuff. It's like, what was I thinking?

Rick: 28:11

Oh, I, love it.

Kaleem: 28:12

So you're on like a huge Zoom call with like the C e O or the chief people officer from Zoom, and you have a 20 pack of toilet paper behind you, is what you're saying.

Tracy: 28:22

A lot of cereal boxes, but yes. In, yes.

Rick: 28:26

People. People are getting off the call, like chatting with their buddies. Hey Carmine, did you see that Credenza? It was chock full of supplies and shit. I couldn't believe it.

Tracy: 28:36

she is in her pajamas

Kaleem: 28:40

how much toilet paper could somebody use? I mean, you know, I don't understand. Oh, that's great. Yeah. The backdrops of life. Everybody got a chance to see it.

Tracy: 28:52

Yep.

Kaleem: 28:52

a pretty good one. That's a pretty good what pajamas would you roll with?

Tracy: 28:57

I have the, I have like 10 pairs of the same pajamas. They're actually quite nice. It's just like pants and a top that could look like a t-shirt. So you know, it, it was presentable.

Kaleem: 29:07

In my mind, I was thinking you were in a zip up onesie, you know what I mean,

Rick: 29:12

With the, slippers.

Kaleem: 29:13

with the slippers and, and you know, like a smurf on there or something. A whole bunch of Smurfs, you know. But, uh,

Tracy: 29:20

but Yeah.

Rick: 29:21

Well, he's just talking about his own collection of pajamas. So Tracy, where can our listeners find you?

Tracy: 29:29

Well, uh, troop hr.com Absolutely and always, um, welcoming of people to reach out to me. Tracy at Troop HR, T r a c Y. And I am on LinkedIn all the time too, so shoot me a note there. And it's just Tracy Haven on LinkedIn. Yeah, the one thing, and Kaleem knows this as a true member, everything that I do is about enhancing the member experience for our community. It's the member first, and we're in this for, you know, the marathon in that we are taking our time to build something that not only, supports each other, but. The role of the HR professional as we look into the future, and it's really important to us to have like-minded professionals be part of what we're building so that we can continue to grow and have an impact.

Kaleem: 30:16

That's awesome. Well, thank you so much for coming on. I really appreciate you taking the time. I know you're crazy busy. Again, everybody check out Troop hr, especially if you're an HR people ops professional. Tracy, thank you so much. I appreciate you coming on the

Rick: 30:30

Thank you. I learned so much from you as I knew I would. So thanks for joining

Tracy: 30:33

Thank you, Rick. Thank you Kaleem.

Kaleem: 30:36

All right.

Rick: 30:36

care guys. you've been listening to remotely. one Visit us at remotely one.com/podcast for upcoming episodes. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and download our episodes on your favorite podcast app.

Kaleem: 30:50

Hey, Hey, don't forget the clock-out.