In this episode of Who Hired This Person?, host Kaitlyn Randall sits down with Merrie Ellis, HR Compliance Manager at Vensure Employer Solutions. With a background spanning HR business partnering, benefits leadership, and compliance strategy, Merrie shares how HR becomes most powerful when it works behind the scenes—quietly building trust, ensuring legal alignment, and helping teams thrive. From bad onboarding to cross-state hiring pitfalls, Merrie delivers practical, human-centered advice for getting it right from day one.

Key Lessons Covered in This Episode:

🔹 From Psychology to Compliance: A Human-Centered Pivot

Merrie’s career began in psychology but quickly evolved into HR after recognizing how much of our lives are spent at work. Her studies, leadership roles, and eventual focus on compliance allowed her to build a career that balances structure with empathy.

🔹 The Strategic Role of Compliance in HR

Rather than seeing compliance as a barrier, Merrie reframes it as a map—a set of tools designed to protect both the business and its people. She shares how her compliance mindset strengthens culture, credibility, and consistency.

🔹 A Hard Lesson on Onboarding

A past experience with misaligned onboarding revealed the hidden gaps between HR, IT, and leadership. Merrie stepped up to improve communication, lead benefits orientations, and foster tighter cross-functional collaboration.

🔹 Mentorship That Builds Confidence and Capability

After guiding an intern into a full-time role, Merrie reflects on the power of trust, shared knowledge, and backing off when it’s time to let someone grow. That intern is now a go-to team member—a testament to thoughtful mentorship.

🔹 Multi-State Hiring: Don’t Assume One-Size-Fits-All

Many companies mistakenly rely on corporate HQ policies or default to California’s rules. Merrie breaks down why that approach risks non-compliance—and how HR needs to tailor hiring and onboarding practices to each employee’s work location.

🔹 The Misclassification Minefield

Misunderstanding the difference between exempt and non-exempt employees can be costly. Merrie explains how duties tests, job descriptions, and salary thresholds all play into proper classification—and why it’s safer to default to non-exempt when in doubt.

🔹 Proactive Compliance = Prevented Problems

From travel time pay to overtime eligibility, Merrie shares how spotting risks early has helped Vensure’s clients avoid penalties and protect employees. Her “compliance lens” never turns off—and that’s a good thing.

🔹 When HR Really Works

For Merrie, great HR happens in the small moments: when someone raises a concern, when consistency is upheld, and when advocacy outweighs convenience. It’s not about checking boxes—it’s about showing up with integrity.

🔹 Advice for New HR & Compliance Pros

Stay curious, keep learning, and stay connected. Merrie urges HR professionals to treat life experience as education—and lean into the collaborative nature of the HR community to keep growing.

Key Takeaways:

✅ Compliance isn’t the opposite of empathy—it’s what builds trust.

✅ Onboarding success comes from collaboration, not checklists.

✅ Multi-state hiring demands state-specific attention and adaptation.

✅ Mentorship is about guidance, trust, and eventually stepping back.

✅ Preventing risk is far easier (and cheaper) than correcting it later.

Links & Resources:

🔗 Connect with Merrie Ellis on LinkedIn: Merrie Ellis

🔗 Learn more about Vensure Employer Solutions: www.vensure.com