Why Sticking With Basic Tech Is Holding Your Business Back (Podcast: HR mixtape)
If you're still running your HR or operations out of Google Drive and Excel, you're not alone, but you're also not doing your team any favors.
Jared Rosenthal, CEO of Health Street, joined the HR Mixtape podcast to talk about what small and mid-sized businesses are getting wrong when it comes to tech. The short version? Most teams are making their jobs way harder than they need to.
You don't need a huge budget or a full-time IT person. You just need to stop relying on systems that were never meant to handle the kind of work you're doing now. Read more of Jared's tips for small business owners below.
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Most people aren't afraid of tech. They're just busy.
Jared said it best: when people manage payroll in one place, timesheets in another, and client reports in yet another… it's a recipe for mistakes. And when something breaks, the only fix is more manual work.
A lot of companies avoid switching systems because they think it'll take too long to learn something new. But the longer you wait, the more time you waste trying to patch things together.
The goal isn't to go fully digital overnight. It's just about making things smoother and easier by reducing errors, cutting back on double work, and keeping your team from burning out.
Being a good leader doesn't mean having all the answers.
Jared didn't start out as a tech guy. But when he saw the same issues popping up again and again, he figured out how to solve them one at a time.
He gave an example of spending a full day trying to automate a simple task: sending out daily appointment faxes. It took him nine hours to figure it out, but that one fix has been running on autopilot ever since. Small business automation can go a long way in saving time throughout the years.
That mindset of just trying, even if you don't get it right the first time, is what real innovation looks like in a small business.
And it applies to managing people too. Jared talked about how his team went fully remote during COVID. He didn't think managing employees remotely would work, but it did, and even better than expected.
He knew that building trust in remote teams was key. He shared more of the company's numbers, set up a stock option plan, and created monthly contests that actually matter to people, like gift cards for five-star reviews or other March Madness-style competitions.
Different things motivate different people, and it's important to figure out how to motivate remote employees. Sometimes it's money. Sometimes it's public recognition. The key is knowing your team, figuring out employee engagement strategies that work, and giving them real reasons to care.
Transitioning to working remotely turned out to be a great move for the business, allowing Health Street to expand even farther and faster.
Not everyone grew up seeing strong leadership. That's where it gets real.
One of the most meaningful parts of Jared's interview was about how some employees have never had leadership modeled for them. So when things go sideways, they might not know how to respond—not because they're not smart, but because they've never seen what handling problems calmly and effectively looks like.
He doesn't hide mistakes. In fact, he uses them as examples. One time, someone made a small change to a data field name and accidentally caused two weeks of chaos. But instead of placing blame, the team treated it as a learning moment.
If your staff knows they can mess up, fix it, and still be trusted, that's what creates a strong team.
You don't need to do everything, just do a few things better.
You don't need every tool under the sun. You don't need to be the most tech-savvy person in the room. And small business tech doesn't need to feel overwhelming or complicated. You just need to pick something simple, something that helps, and make it part of your daily workflow.
That could be one system to handle employee records, one platform for drug testing services, or one way to better support your remote workforce.
One of the biggest mistakes leaders make? Thinking they have to wait until things slow down. They won't. Start now, even if it's small.
What's next?
Want to hear the full conversation with Jared? He shares even more stories, lessons, and practical tips about leading through change, building smarter systems, and supporting your team in real, meaningful ways.
Listen to the full episode of the HR Mixtape podcast to get the complete interview and walk away with ideas you can use right away, no matter the size of your team or your tech stack.
