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When you're the only HR pro in the building, control is easy—letting go isn’t.

Live from isolved Connect in Chicago, Emily Arthur, HR Director at Riverhawk Company, shares what it means to run people ops solo at a 100-person manufacturing firm in upstate New York. From recruiting skilled CNC machinists to building talent pipelines with local colleges, Emily walks through how she handles hiring, onboarding, culture, and compliance—while learning to step back and let managers lead.

We explore the myths of HR ownership over culture, what it takes to be a real partner to leadership, and how being a people hero sometimes means not being the hero.

Timestamps:

00:00 — Meet Emily Arthur, HR Director at Riverhawk Company

01:13 — From higher ed to manufacturing HR

02:22 — The challenge: recruiting skilled CNC machinists

04:00 — Building a community college internship-to-hire pipeline

06:41 — Culture is everyone’s responsibility, not just HR

08:14 — Knowing when to jump in—and when to step back

10:53 — Delegation, scaling, and growth in small orgs

13:25 — Advice for new HR pros: set up systems, not dependencies

15:14 — Why HR should work without you, not because of you

16:49 — Caring about people without calling them "family"

17:57 — HR outside of work: nonprofit board leadership and self-awareness

22:13 — How isolved powers solo HR success

23:10 — What role Emily would hire next—and why


This conversation was recorded live at isolved Connect in Chicago.

The Heroes of HR podcast is a limited series sponsored by isolved. isolved is an HCM platform that modernizes HR, benefits, and payroll across Healthcare, Hospitality, Manufacturing, and more.

You can learn more about isolved here: https://www.isolvedhcm.com/


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