In today’s competitive labor market, organizations can’t win with compensation alone. The true differentiator is how well they design, deliver, and sustain the employee experience. In this session, Charles Ramos—former Recruitment & Retention Manager at the San Antonio Food Bank and founder of Zenergy HR Consulting—shares a practical framework for connecting talent acquisition, employee experience, and workforce planning into one cohesive strategy.

Using real-world examples from high-pressure, resource-constrained environments, Charles will explore:

• Recruiting in a tough market when you can’t out-pay the competition, including how to hire for mission, impact, and role fit instead of checking résumé boxes. 
• Why the first 90 days determine long-term retention, and how managers become the true “Total Rewards delivery system.”
• A simple, repeatable approach to workforce planning, focused on future skills, internal pipelines, and building capability—not just filling vacancies.

Attendees will walk away with a practical framework and a one-page tool they can bring back to their organizations to strengthen recruitment, improve retention, and plan for the workforce their business will need next.