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President Message

    December 3, 2020

    Greetings AVHRA members and friends,

    Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving time off, even if it was only Thursday!   There is lots to communicate, and I’ll be brief.   If you can give me three minutes of your time, I’ll try to make it worth your while!

    First, to our AVHRA members, we hope you enjoyed the thank you gift we sent your way this month.   It was an expression of our gratitude for what you do and for your continued support of AVHRA.  If you are a member and did not receive it, we must not have your correct mailing address, so shoot us an email and we’ll get it out to you.   If you are a SHRM member who has not yet designated AVHRA as your chapter, now is a good time.   Email us and we’ll get you signed up and mail you our gift as well.   Our email address is info.avhra@gmail.com and we’d love to hear from you!

    If you have not yet signed up for our Annual Employment Law Virtual Summit on December 10th, it is not too late!  Go to Eventbrite now to sign up.  It will be from 9am – noon, and we are even giving you a 30-minute break in between speakers just to answer emails, calls, etc.  Learn more about this event by checking out our website here.

    Ever considered joining the AVHRA Board?   Now is the time to raise your hand!   Board membership on AVHRA is a great way to get engaged and give back to the HR community in our region.   Our monthly meetings have been virtual since April, making it even easier to participate.  We will announce our new slate of board members and officers next month and we would love to have a few new members to include.   If you would like to be considered or have questions about how you can contribute, please reach out to me at robinc@jdsalaw.com and we can set up a time to chat.  

    We want to be creative in helping you navigate the continually changing landscape ahead.  We’d like AVHRA to be your go-to resource for HR education and connection. Here are two ways we plan to do that:

    1. Virtual Training - We will be offering our own AVHRA virtual training sessions as well as sourcing for you virtual training sessions available throughout the state and sponsored by other SHRM chapters.    Our goal is to bring to you, or find for you, offerings that bring value, are relevant, and often that provide accreditation credits as well.   And, of course, we hope to have our share of in-person events later in the year!   We’ll communicate with you as these become available starting in January.

       

    2. HR Coffee and Convos – We kicked off the fall with two of these events, and all who participated were glad they did and said we should keep them going!   So watch for announcements about these starting again later in January.   And plan to join some of your fellow HR professionals as we chat about HR, our jobs, life in general, and share ideas on current topics.  We had one discussion on a call about what people were doing about company holiday events, since we basically can’t have any…..some great ideas came out of the discussion!

       

    As we enter this final season of 2020, and gladly turn the calendar to 2021, please remember to take the time you need to recharge your own batteries.  Last week I was chatting with a colleague by phone and before getting to business he said “I’ve been so busy taking care of work, the kids, etc, and finally I realized I had forgotten to take care of myself and was totally burned out.  So now every day at 6am I take the dog on a walk and just organize my thoughts for the day.  It has made a big difference.”   So take the dog for a walk, pick up a good book, take a hike, or do whatever you need to recharge….not once, but every day.   You’ll do your job better, you’ll be a better family member and friend, and you’ll be better equipped to handle any unexpected challenges that may come your way.   You can do it!

    Robin Carey, President