Insights from the Arizona Commerce Authority Small Business Boot Camp featuring Clint Parry, MBA, SHRM-SCP

In today’s competitive business environment, talent is your biggest asset—and your biggest risk.

In a recent Small Business Boot Camp session hosted by the Arizona Commerce Authority, Clint Parry, Focus HR’s Business Development Manager, delivered a timely and insightful presentation: “Optimize HR: Your Key to Secure Top Talent & Growth.” The session unpacked the most pressing HR challenges small business owners face—and offered a clear, proactive blueprint for solving them.

Here are the key takeaways from Clint’s presentation:

The State of HR in Small Business Is… Messy

Clint didn’t sugarcoat it: most small businesses have reactive, fragmented, and under-optimized HR systems. That leads to:

Compliance gaps and legal risk
Administrative overwhelm
Frustrated employees
Missed opportunities to attract and retain great talent

The root cause? Most small businesses outgrow their HR foundation without upgrading it. What worked when you had five employees won’t hold up when you have 15—or 50.

Talent Is Your Competitive Edge

In a world where products and services are easily copied, your people are what set your business apart. But attracting and keeping great talent isn’t easy.

According to Gallup:

Only 31% of employees were engaged in 2024—the lowest in a decade.
52% were disengaged, and 17% were actively disengaged.
Disengaged employees are more likely to “quiet quit,” contributing to $200+ billion in presenteeism losses each year.

Clint coined it clearly: “He who wins at the talent game wins at the business game.”

HR Needs a Blueprint—Not a Band-Aid

Clint introduced the HR Blueprint for Small Business, a three-part framework designed to simplify HR and unlock business performance:

Get Them: Strategic Recruiting & Selection

Recruiting isn’t just hiring—it’s marketing. Small businesses need to think about employer branding the same way they think about customer branding.

Clint encouraged leaders to:

Create a clear scorecard for each role, focusing on outcomes (not just job descriptions)
Build a steady talent pipeline, even when not hiring
Use structured interviews and assessments to improve hiring accuracy
Sell your culture and mission to prospective employees just like you would to clients

2. Inspire Them: Leadership & Culture

A paycheck isn’t enough to keep today’s workforce engaged. Employees want purpose, growth, and belonging.

Clint emphasized that strong culture starts with values—and values are brought to life through leadership. He highlighted the difference between transactional leaders (who manage tasks) and transformational leaders (who inspire people). Want loyalty and discretionary effort? Be the latter.

3. Keep Them: Operational Excellence

You can’t run a high-performance team on spreadsheets and crossed fingers. Clint outlined the importance of:

Streamlining HR operations through automation
Staying compliant with ever-changing employment laws
Investing in onboarding, training, and employee feedback systems
Leveraging cloud-based HR platforms to reduce manual work and risk

The Cost of Turnover Is Higher Than You Think

It’s not just about losing a body—it’s about losing momentum. Clint broke down the true cost of turnover, including:

Lost productivity and institutional knowledge
Morale damage and ripple effects
Replacement costs averaging $6,000+ per employee
Onboarding and retraining drain on your team

And what’s driving that turnover? Disengagement, unclear expectations, and a lack of connection to the company’s mission.

Outsourcing HR Is a Growing Trend—With Good Reason

Small business owners are increasingly turning to HR outsourcing to reduce costs, manage risk, and free up time to focus on growth.

Focus HR’s approach? The best of strategic, HR advisory services from credentialed HR professionals dedicated to your company, supported by a full team of back-office Payroll, Benefits and Workers’ Compensation specialists who deeply care for our clients. It’s scalable, cost-effective, and aligned with modern business realities.

Whether you’re a small business with no internal HR resources or a larger firm needing to untether an HR Manager from the burdensome load of administrative HR to focus on talent acquisition and development, Focus HR has the right solution for your business.