HR Thought Leadership

LISA LEATH, chief people officer at Vantaca and founder of Leath HR Group, refers to herself as the “slayer of HR nightmares.” Turns out, there are lots of companies that need help handling sticky employee relations issues, finding new employees, and keeping and training the employees they have.

After roles as a human resource generalist at Haug Partners LLP in New York City, human resource manager at Corning Incorporated, and the head of human resources at Alcami Corporation for 1000 global employees, Leath founded Leath HR Group in 2017. Leath HR Group provides fractional human resource management to companies that don’t have a human resource director or companies that need support, as well as handles recruiting for talent for hard-to-fill roles. In 2021, Leath started consulting at Vantaca, the leader in software focused exclusively on the community management industry. In July 2022, she joined Vantaca full-time as chief people officer.

“I believed I could bring my global HR experience to small and mid-sized companies that needed support,” says Leath about starting Leath HR Group which is now under the direction of her husband ANDY ALMETER, president. Over the foreseeable future, Almeter and his team plan to expand recruiting services and geographic reach continuing to delight fractional HR clients.

A graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a degree in labor studies and industrial relations, Leath says that her mom, a labor relations expert, advised her not to go into human resources. “I thought it would be funny to defy my mom, so I took an HR class. I loved the professor and all the interesting stories he told about negotiating with unions. My mother was my ultimate mentor and coached me on what success could look like,” Leath says. “Overtime, my love for HR has evolved. I live for designing HR solutions that exceed expectations.”

WorkTok, a mobile application designed by Leath HR Group, is just one of those solutions. The idea for WorkTok was sparked when Leath worked for a healthcare practice administrator in 2019. The administrator rarely had positive interactions with nurses who were always with patients. The interactions she did have were complaints and resignations.

“I thought it would be great to have a tool that regularly checked in on the nurses, without being time consuming or too invasive, but let them know the practice administrator was thinking about them,” Leath says. “The intent was to drive two-way feedback between a supervisor and employee to build trust and rapport and to give employees a voice before they quit, so the supervisor could ultimately retain them.”

The application was developed through a partnership with PS Solutions and is used today by industries ranging from healthcare to trades to financial services to the service industry. WorkTok’s main features include two-way feedback, one-on-one check-ins, employee engagement and satisfaction, and employee feedback managed through a scheduling tool.

GABRIELLE PLUMEZ, the engagement specialist at Leath HR Group, has taken the lead on implementation and adoption of new WorkTok clients. In addition to being the front person for WorkTok, her role includes social media management for brand awareness and growth, community engagement through events, recruiting talent for clients, and professional development training. Plumez also assists with production coordination of Leath’s podcast, “HR Nightmares,” which offers realistic advice for avoiding terrible people problems.

“We’ve come full circle. I now help businesses onboard their teams as well as maintain client success. Building relationships with businesses and people in our community is an exciting part of my job,” Plumez said.

Cyber Tok, another tool from WorkTok, provides cybersecurity training and knowledge checks with employees. “It’s important to be proactive with employees regarding cybersecurity,” says Leath. In partnership with Atlantic Computer Services, Cyber Tok was developed from an IT professional’s standpoint. “The tool trains people to spot scams so everyone can avoid dangerous or expensive outcomes,” Leath explains.

Leath has been recognized with several awards, including two Coastal Entrepreneur Awards, 40 under 40 and was named a 2020 WilmingtonBiz 100 Innovator. Her philosophy in life is “Yes is the answer. What is the question?”

She concludes, “I’m loving my role at Vantaca playing a bigger thought leadership role in the technology space. It’s my intent to provide thought leadership on people and culture to the business community for as long as I’m able.”

Leath will continue to share human resources trends through her podcast. Plumez added, “I see an “HR Nightmares” conference in our future. We’re growing fast. I look forward to helping businesses in our community grow their people operations.”

To view more of photographer Terah Hoobler’s work, go to terahhoobler.com.

Want more WILMA? Click here to sign up for our WILMA newsletters and announcements.