Don't Waste the Chaos

You're not failing your employees because you can't offer the big, comprehensive benefits package. People leave six-figure jobs for smaller employers all the time - because they stay for stability, trust, respect, and flexibility, not the package.

In this episode, Kerri walks through: 

• The five categories of benefits (foundational, voluntary, lifestyle, wellness, cultural) - and why most owners only think about the first one 

• ICHRA and QSEHRA: two health options your broker may never mention, plus the employer tax advantages a plain stipend doesn't give you 

• Why flexibility is the #1 rated benefit t...

Performance management isn't about reviews — it's about clarity. If your team is confused, resentful, or underperforming, it's an expectations problem, not a motivation problem. Most employees aren't failing to meet the standard; they just don't know what the standard is.

In this episode, Kerri walks through:

• The three markers every role needs — what good, great, and "not meeting" look like

• The four performance tiers and how to build tiered reviews

• The 5 root causes of underperformance — skill gap, will gap, capacity overload, misaligned role, personal life interference — and the right fix for each

One employee asks for time off and you say yes. Another asks three weeks later and you say no. Neither of you realizes you just created a discrimination claim. In Part 6 of the HR Foundations series, Kerri breaks down leave management — the operational area where she sees the most lawsuits.

Leave management isn't the flashiest HR topic, but it's where Kerri sees the most lawsuits land on small and mid-sized businesses — and almost always unintentionally.

In this episode, she walks through everything an owner, operator, or manager needs to know to handle leave without creating lega...

Are your salaried employees actually classified correctly under federal law — or are you sitting on overtime liability without knowing it? Most small business owners don't realize there's a three-part exemption test under the Fair Labor Standards Act that every salaried role has to pass. In Episode 5 of the 13 HR Foundations series, Kerri Roberts walks through classification, pay equity, and how to build a compensation structure that holds up in an audit. 

In this episode, you'll learn: 
1. The three-part FLSA exemption test every salaried employee has to pass (and why "salaried" alone doesn't make someone exempt) 
2. The f...

Most small and mid-sized businesses don't have an employee handbook problem - they have a "we don't have a policy for that" problem. Scattered Google Drive docs, a handbook from 2017, three managers making three different calls on the same issue. That's how inconsistency claims and wrongful termination exposure start.

In Episode 4 of the HR Foundations series, Kerri Roberts unpacks why an employee handbook isn't a bureaucratic binder - it's a communication tool with legal weight that protects the employer and the employee.

In this episode, you'll learn:

A bad hire costs about 50% of their annual salary in year one - and most of that cost doesn't come from a bad hiring decision. It comes from failed onboarding.

If your onboarding looks like paperwork, a quick tour, and "let me know if you have questions," you've handed your new hire abandonment with a welcome sign. In Episode 3 of the HR Systems Series, Kerri Roberts breaks down the 30/60/90 day onboarding plan that actually works - the same system she builds with her small and mid-sized business clients to retain top talent, set clear expectations, and stop...

Think back to the last person who didn't work out in your business. Was it a people problem - or a process problem? Nine times out of ten, it's the process.

In this episode, Kerri Roberts walks through the 5 components of a real small business hiring system - so you can stop winging it and start building a process that protects your business and brings in the right people. [This is Episode 2 of the 13 HR Systems Series.]

FREE RESOURCES Mini HR Audit (free) → https://saltandlightadvisors.com/hraudit

HR Foundations Cour...

Most small businesses put HR off until later, and then "later" shows up as a lawsuit, a resignation, or a conversation they never saw coming. This episode launches a brand new series: the 13 HR Systems every small business needs. We're going one system at a time, starting where every business should start - with HR mindset and employer responsibility.

If you've been winging HR, this is your map.

FREE DOWNLOAD

Employer Responsibility Checklist → https://saltandlightadvisors.com/employerresponsibilitychecklist

Mini HR Audit (free) → https://saltandlightadvisors.com/hraudit

Wh...

You know the conversation I'm talking about. The employee who's consistently late, creating tension, or putting up bare minimum numbers - and every week you find a reason to put it off one more time. Today that ends.

In this episode, I'm giving you the exact 5-step framework to have the performance conversation you've been avoiding - what to say, how to say it, and how to make sure it actually changes something.

What you'll learn:

→ Why avoiding it is costing you more than having it (your best employees are...

Most business owners don't realize their HR is broken — until someone quits, files a complaint, or a lawsuit lands on their desk. In this episode, Kerri Roberts breaks down the 5 most common signs that your HR foundation is crumbling, why ignoring them can cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars, and how to start fixing it TODAY for less than $400.

From misclassifying employees (yes, it's more common than you think — and yes, the fines are brutal) to skipping onboarding entirely, these are the mistakes small business owners are making every single day that put their compa...

In this episode of the Don’t Waste the Chaos Podcast, Kerri Roberts challenges a common assumption among entrepreneurs - that lack of focus is the problem. Instead, she reframes the issue as a lack of commitment to the work that actually drives revenue and long-term stability.

Drawing from her own experience building a fractional HR advisory firm, Kerri walks through the pattern many founders fall into: chasing multiple revenue streams, overbuilding offers, and spreading attention too thin. The result isn’t growth - it’s fragmentation.

This episode offers a clear shift in perspective for le...

In this episode of the Don’t Waste the Chaos Podcast, Kerri Roberts examines a question many founders face too late: when is it actually time to hire? Drawing from her own business over the last three years, she walks through the real cost of hiring too early, building roles around people instead of business need, and allowing relief to drive decisions that should have been grounded in structure.

Kerri also addresses the difference between contractors and W-2 employees, explaining why classification is not a personal preference but an operational and le...

Is marriage still worth it in modern life? Why are so many people skeptical of marriage, commitment, and starting a family? In this episode of Don’t Waste the Chaos, Kerri Roberts sits down with her husband, Terry Roberts, for an honest conversation about modern marriage, fear of commitment, divorce, financial pressure, faith, and what it takes to build a lasting relationship.

Together, they talk through why marriage rates have declined, why younger generations often hesitate to commit, and what culture may be getting wrong about freedom, independence, and long-term partnership. They also sh...

Why do business owners and leaders feel responsible for everyone in their company? In this episode, Kerri Roberts and Rachel Wortman unpack leadership responsibility, money mindset, stewardship, control, and the hidden pressure many founders carry. This conversation explores why so many leaders struggle with over-responsibility in business, why Christian entrepreneurs often feel conflicted about money, wealth, and success, and how to discern the difference between faithful leadership and control. Kerri and Rachel also unpack identity ceilings, business growth, guilt around wealth, and what it means to partner with God without carrying...

What happens after you leave a six-figure corporate leadership role? For many executives, the decision to step away from corporate America is framed as a pursuit of freedom, flexibility, and autonomy. Yet the deeper reality is rarely discussed. Leaving a high-paying job is not just a financial decision—it is an identity shift.

In this episode of Don’t Waste the Chaos, host Kerri Roberts reflects on the psychological and professional transition that comes with walking away from corporate leadership to build a consulting business. After spending two decades inside corporate structures—including roles...

Kerri Roberts, senior HR strategist and fractional CHRO, continues her personal leadership series with a deeper look at what happens after you leave corporate leadership—when the title goes away, the scoreboard disappears, and you’re suddenly a beginner again.

In this episode of the Don’t Waste the Chaos Podcast, Kerri describes the emotional and psychological whiplash of going from Director/VP/COO-level authority to a solopreneur identity that can feel self-assigned and fragile. She names the new “status ladder” in entrepreneurship—employees, funding, revenue, tech stack—and why leaving one hierarchy often means walking into another.

Kerri Roberts, senior HR strategist and fractional CHRO, shares the strategic and psychological shifts she experienced leaving a Vice President of Operations role to build her consulting firm. After 20 years inside corporate systems — from 50 employees to 20,000 — she understood leadership, process, and performance. What she had to learn was entrepreneurial wiring.

In this episode of Don’t Waste the Chaos Podcast, Kerri outlines:

Why does everything escalate to you as the leader — and what does that say about your leadership system?

Senior leaders, founders, and CEOs often feel trapped reacting to nonstop questions, interruptions, and last-minute decisions. In this episode of Don’t Waste the Chaos, Kerri Roberts explores why constant escalation is not a workload problem — it’s a leadership system gap.

If every question feels urgent, if strategic thinking keeps getting crowded out, and if your organization depends on you to solve everything in real time, this conversation reframes what’s really happening beneath the surfac...

In this episode of the Don’t Waste the Chaos Podcast, Kerri Roberts — senior HR strategist, fractional CHRO, and podcast host — interviews Kelsey Thompson, entrepreneur and recovery advocate whose platform blends honest conversations about recovery with lifestyle, wellness, money, and ambition. Kelsey’s core message is simple and hard-won: your beginning doesn’t define your ending, but rebuilding requires intention, structure, and a willingness to confront your own patterns.

Kerri and Kelsey explore the realities leaders rarely say out loud: not everyone deserves access to you while you’re rebuildin...