David Turetsky speaks with IBEJesus Prince from HR Data Labs Consulting about their time at the NACO conference and what stood out most. The conversation is short but clear: the event brought together people who were focused on finding practical solutions, and even attendees outside the immediate decision-making circle were willing to help connect the dots.
Key topics
In this episode, David Turetsky introduces the conversation from the HR Data Labs Podcast and frames it around the team’s experience at the NACO conference.
IBEJesus Prince, a principal consultant at HR Data Labs Consulting, shares a broad conference takeaway: the people at NACO were genuinely solution-driven.
A major theme is the value of openness at the conference — even people who were not directly responsible for making decisions still cared about moving a solution forward.
The guest notes that asking questions often led to the right person, which made the event feel collaborative rather than blocked by hierarchy.
Commissioners and other officials were mentioned as people the team met, reinforcing that the event brought together stakeholders with influence and interest.
The conversation highlights a contrast between environments where non-experts become blockers and this conference, where people helped route questions and support progress.
IBEJesus emphasizes that the organization and the people they met left a strong positive impression.
The episode closes, suggesting this was a brief conference check-in rather than a full-length interview.
Timestamps
00:00 - Testing the audio and getting set up
01:41 - David introduces the HR Data Labs Podcast and the guest
01:57 - Why the NACO conference was the focus of the conversation
02:08 - A quick personal icebreaker before the main topic
03:41 - First conference takeaway: people were solution-driven
04:06 - Commissioners and officials were open to connecting people to answers
04:33 - Why the event felt collaborative instead of blocked by hierarchy
04:52 - The conversation wraps up early
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[00:00:03] [SPEAKER_01] Welcome to the HR Data Labs Podcast, now part of the Work Defined Podcast Network. Join us as we explore the vital role of compensation, strategy, data, and people analytics in navigating today's complex business world. With the resources of Work Defined, we're now bringing you deeper insights and actionable ideas from top experts. Now, here is your host, David Turetsky.
[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_01] Hello and welcome to the HR Data Labs Podcast, I'm your host David Turetsky, and I have with me one of my best friends in the world, E-Bridge's Prince. Hello. Principal self-suit at HR Data Labs.
[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_02] I'm great. How about you, David?
[00:00:44] [SPEAKER_01] I'm great. We're here at the NACO Conference, and we've been here for the last couple days. Yes. What has been your big takeaway?
[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_02] My big takeaway? Actually, hang on. Okay.
[00:00:56] [SPEAKER_01] Before we do that. Okay. What's one fun thing that no one knows about E-B?
[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_02] No, it's not as bad. I studied abroad in Nigeria. You did? I did. For how long? It was almost a month. It was like three and a half years. When was this? My undergrad. So, I enjoyed it. Many years ago. Many years ago. I enjoyed it. Yeah.
[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_01] That sounds like it was a lot of fun.
[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_02] It was. I learned a lot. It was my first time getting on a plane. It was my first time getting on a plane. And so I'm going to Zappos as soon as I get on a plane.
[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_00] Now you're a veteran. Yeah.
[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_02] When you travel more than 24 hours, kind of put that in the bag.
[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_00] Did you go through like England or...
[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_02] We went through Frankfurt, Germany.
[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_00] Oh wow.
[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_02] To the Stanza.
[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_00] The Stanza airline airline.
[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_02] The Stanza airline.
[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00] Yeah. It was a great experience. Especially if you were in two first time.
[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_02] I had never been in the air. Like I didn't. It was a lot. Wow. But I mean it was an experience.
[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_00] Yes.
[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah.
[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_00] It was a lot different. Yes, it was. Yes. And I'd love to get over Africa. I've been there once or twice. Yeah. But I've not been really central or south. I've been in the northern part of Africa.
[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_01] And I'd love to experience much more of Africa. It's beautiful. Yeah. And... Yeah. So, you eat this. We're going to talk to you today about what we've learned in the local conference.
[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_02] Okay.
[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_01] What have you been overall impression of them?
[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_02] Um... Great group of people. Yeah. A great organization. I can say that. A great, great organization. They were really solution driven. That was the big thing I took away from being at this conference. That people are really seeking solutions here. So it felt good to be here. Like I made some real great connections.
[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00] You're talking about the commissioners and other officials in terms of the counties.
[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_02] Yes. Even people that may not be in the position to make decisions. You know, you start asking questions. They'll get you to the right person. Because they ultimately... Because we got to meet a lot of commissioners. They're like, maybe that might not be my... My wheelhouse exactly. Right. But I care. I care to see this solution come through because it affects me ultimately. It affects my county ultimately.
[00:03:15] So...
[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_02] Yeah, it was just nice to see so many people looking for solutions. Even if it wasn't in their wheelhouse. Yeah. Because usually if you're not in my wheelhouse, it's like blockers. Yeah. I don't see you.
[00:03:24] [SPEAKER_00] Well, we did hear...
[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_02] Sometimes we did hear it, but then when we kept asking questions, it revealed itself.
[00:03:31] [SPEAKER_01] We're going to have to pick this up again because Andre is here. Did I eat your episode? Sorry about that. Please pick up the seat and sit down.
[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_01] That's my HR administrator's thing. But they also said, hey, we really need your help. And...
[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_02] We would say, you know, they see HR data labs. We're HR data scientists. Like, oh, that's outside of my wheelhouse. That's why HR person handles that. Yeah. And then we said, well, how's pay? Even if HR isn't your thing, pay is everyone's thing.
[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_01] Exactly. And, you know, we always talk about how the four-letter word of pay is more. Right? And that resonated a lot with people. In fact, they are trying to figure out how to deal with...
[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_02] Thank you. Thank you, Kathy. Thank you. See you at 11. Yep, I'll be here. Okay.
[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_01] They're all trying to figure out how do they live with less because they're not getting more.
[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_02] Right, exactly.
[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_01] There's no magic, you know, cot of gold that they can pull the money out of, the gold out of in order to be able to pay their employees because their constituencies are suffering.
[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_02] Yes.
[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_01] And there's been inflation, there's been issues, and there's a lot of people out of work. And so, there's a lot of fear because the tax base is in the tax base. You know, there's also a lot of changes from the federal government support of local government.
[00:05:22] [SPEAKER_00] Yes.
[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_01] And so, I think what we're going to start to see is that counties and municipalities are going to have to take on, not in the states, they're going to take on roles that they used to go to federal government. The federal, yes.
[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_02] Agreed. And so, it's time to clean up houses. Yeah.
[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. And so, you know, as you just said, pay is one of those things that's on their mind.
[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_02] It is. It's on everyone's mind. That was the way we connected with a lot of people. That was outside of HR. That was how we connected with a lot of people. We found that a lot of the police, sheriffs, a lot of that, I would say that we had a lot of, heard of a lot of challenges in keeping people, retaining people, even hiring people. Human services. A lot of human services just finding people and keeping people because while their heart may be in it, they have bills.
[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah.
[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_02] Who has bills?
[00:06:17] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. Well, and they also have private industry that they can go to. Exactly.
[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_02] And they're being poached, they're being taken, they're being taken even for 50 cents. Yeah. As one person said, 50 cents.
[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_01] 50 cents matters.
[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_02] 50 cents. Yeah. That was 50 cents. And it was like an 11.
[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. Today.
[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_02] It's like that speaks volumes.
[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_01] It does. I was speaking to someone today about Mississippi where their starting pay is $15 an hour, but the minimum wage in Mississippi is $7 a million by set in the federal minimum. And he was talking about how when they set the minimum wage for, or they set the pay scale at a minimum of $15, there were a lot of people who had been working from Mississippi for a
[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_01] long time in the county structures that were making $15 and they were set up for serious compression issues. And they don't know how to deal with these compression issues.
[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_02] It's not... That's not, but unless you know this, you don't have the foresight until you're here and now you're like, how are we going to level this out here? Yeah. Yeah.
[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_01] And they can't afford to do these expensive pay studies that the private industry does. Exactly. So, you know, we're trying to help them set some context for that as well. If we come back to this next year, what do you think the new challenges are going to be?
[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_02] Next year...
[00:07:37] [SPEAKER_01] Put your crystal ball on the pad on it.
[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_02] I know, because I'm thinking next year? Yeah. Thanks. I do, as we kind of, I say, as you mentioned it before, our local government are now, they're now taking the responsibility of what the federal government is doing. So what I see is next year, this being bigger because county government is maybe stronger than before, it's going to be required and necessary because your county can reach you quicker than the federal government can ever help you.
[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_00] Yeah.
[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_02] So I think that it's going to be more strength, I think there's going to be more scrutiny because people are going to look to you more. It's not going to be a big, shiny federal government to blame. It's going to be, okay, we don't even look at them anymore. We're looking at you, you know? And then, yeah, I think we're going to see things, I think the solutions are going to be needed even more. I do. I think we're going through a shift where, we talked about this on the other podcast,
[00:08:36] [SPEAKER_02] we're realizing that we can't do this by ourselves, we do need each other. Yeah. And it's formed in a way that is undeniable.
[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_01] Yeah. Yeah. Well, let's hope. Because the good news is, is that there are companies like us that will help with it, and that there are new technologies that are coming out. In fact, there's a, what's fascinating is if you walk around NACO, there's technologies and solutions for literally every aspect of life.
[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_01] Everything. Just thank you very much for being here.
[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_02] Thank you, David.
[00:09:39] [SPEAKER_01] And thank you all for listening.
[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_02] Yes, thank you.
[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_01] Take care. Stay safe. Thank you for listening to the HR Data Labs podcast. Don't forget to hit subscribe and share it with your network. You can also check out the recordings on Spotify or the HR channel, now on Roku and Fire TV. Thank you. Take care and stay safe.
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