Kalaida Holmes
Former Chief Human Capital Officer at AmeriCorps
AmeriCorps
Episode 100
Beyond HR: Why Financial Acumen is Your Strategic Superpower
Current chapter: Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built By PeopleJuly 19, 2025 · 15:13
Thesis
“Effective HR leadership demands a deep understanding of business financials and diverse employee personas to ensure strategic initiatives deliver measurable ROI, adapt to legislative changes, and continuously add value to the organization.”
Show notes
Kalaida Holmes has worked in HR across the Army, DoD, AmeriCorps, Deloitte, and the private sector — a 20-year career built deliberately at the intersection of human capital and financial impact. Her rule for presenting any HR initiative is simple: "Show me the money." No cost savings, no business case. No projection, no funding conversation.
At AmeriCorps, she applied that logic to a workforce that was genuinely different from most federal agencies. While the average federal workforce skews toward 50–60-year-old employees, AmeriCorps employees average 35–40. The standard leadership development playbook didn't apply. She built a demographic-specific strategy, segmenting the workforce into personas and tailoring programs — including onboarding, leadership development tracks, and internal communications — to what those specific employees actually needed.
On quantifying the ROI of people investments, she offers something practical: stop inventing numbers, start using calculators built by credible research organizations like Gallup and Forbes. These tools let you anchor projections to defensible external data rather than internal estimates, which makes the conversation with finance leaders fundamentally different. Her closing reflection on the shift away from DEIA terminology is worth hearing — she makes the case that good HR practice was always the goal, and that's not going anywhere regardless of what you call it.
- Why every HR initiative needs a financial projection — and how to build one you'll actually defend to a CFO
- How employee persona mapping changed Kalaida's approach to leadership development at AmeriCorps
- Where to find defensible ROI calculators for turnover reduction, engagement improvement, and hiring cost
- How to navigate shifting compliance terminology (like DEIA) without losing the strategic thread
- Why moving across sectors — government, consulting, tech — makes HR leaders more effective, not less focused
This episode is brought to you by Previ — an employer network that saves employees thousands on the necessities they already pay for, at no cost to the company.
What you'll take away
- 1HR leaders must quantify the financial impact of their initiatives by connecting them to business outcomes like cost savings, productivity, or reduced vacancy lag.
- 2Tailor HR strategies, such as leadership development and communication plans, based on specific employee personas and workforce demographics rather than using one-size-fits-all approaches.
- 3Utilize external research, calculators from reputable organizations (e.g., Gallup, Forbes), and transparent assumptions to support ROI projections for people-focused investments.
- 4Foster continuous curiosity and build a strong peer network to expand knowledge, understand diverse organizational needs, and collectively solve complex HR challenges.
- 5When faced with new legislation or changing terminology (e.g., DEIA), focus on upholding the core principles of good HR practice like inclusivity, compliance, and transparency.
What most organizations get wrong
- •Kalaida Holmes advocates for moving between organizations to gain diverse experiences and ensure continuous value addition, challenging the conventional wisdom of long tenure at one company for career growth.
- •She encourages HR professionals to overcome discomfort with making financial projections for people initiatives, emphasizing that these are projections based on data and resources, not unattainable promises.
- •Regarding the shift away from terms like DEIA, Holmes argues that fundamental HR practices (like hiring the best talent from all sources, being consistent and transparent) remain unchanged and still achieve diversity, equity, and inclusion, regardless of the specific terminology used.
In Kalaida's words
“you need to always show me the money. And so I don't present ideas if I can't somehow tell you what the cost savings would be and what it would cost in in terms of resources, time, and money.”
Highlights the guest's foundational approach to justifying HR initiatives with clear financial impact.
“one of the things we did was I looked at the makeup of the workforce, and AmeriCorps is quite different from many other agencies. Their average age is about 35 to 40, when most agencies you're talking 50 to 60 or a lot higher... so we had to support them differently.”
Emphasizes the critical need to understand specific workforce demographics to tailor effective HR strategies.
“I went and found calculators developed by think tanks and well-known research organizations like Gallup, Forbes, where they could show you that, hey, if you reduce turnover or if you improve engagement, here's how you can calculate that dollar saving.”
Provides actionable advice on how HR leaders can leverage external resources to quantify the ROI of people initiatives.
“When we really thought about it, it really didn't change the way we did business. We just had to stop using a term. But at the end of the day, if you are a good human capital professional, you're always trying to be inclusive.”
Illustrates a strategic mindset for navigating changing external mandates by focusing on core HR principles rather than just terminology.
“I would say always be curious and willing to learn because to be able to participate in some of the financial conversations or understand your personas or the needs of your different organizations, you're going to have to learn about these different things as well as ask questions and develop a good peer group”
Offers key parting advice on the importance of continuous learning and networking for successful HR leadership.
The problems this episode addresses
- •Quantifying the financial ROI of people-focused initiatives to secure executive buy-in for HR investments.
- •Developing effective HR strategies for diverse workforces, especially when generic 'one-size-fits-all' approaches fail to meet varied employee needs.
- •Navigating rapid legislative changes and evolving terminology while maintaining strategic focus and core HR values.
- •Addressing inefficient manual processes in HR that lead to wasted resources, inaccurate data, and hinder organizational effectiveness.
- •Improving fragmented or ineffective onboarding experiences that negatively impact new hire engagement and retention rates.
In this episode
Built by People podcast features insights from world's top HR leaders
Built by People
Kolata Holmes has about 20 years of overall HR experience
The journey of human capital innovation
Paulette discovered importance of understanding business financials as an HR leader
Knowledge of Business Financials at the Army
What approaches have you found most effective for articulating ROI of people-focused initiatives
Reveal: The ROI of People-focused Initiatives
How have you balanced responding to new legislation or compliance requirements while maintaining strategic focus
Responding to new legislation and compliance requirements
Always be curious and willing to learn, Gladys says
What parting advice would you have for your fellow CPA?
Topics covered
Organizations and entities mentioned
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