From Layoff to CEO: Kim Pollok on Leading Through Uncertainty and Building a Career Without a Degree

In Episode 79 of the Rock Solid: Round Rock Business Leaders Podcast, host Bryan Eisenberg sits down with Kim Pollok, CEO of SWBC Payroll & HR, to discuss her unlikely rise from a December 31 call-center shutdown to the corner office. Pollok, who advanced her career without a college degree, provides a candid guide for leaders on developing talent, retaining clients, and navigating compliance in an ever-changing environment. Pollok’s journey began when her previous employer, a call center with over 2,000 workers, gave staff the choice to relocate to El Paso or be laid off. SWBC ran the closing job fair and offered her an entry-level benefits coordinator role at $10,000 less than her HR-manager salary. She accepted that very afternoon. Over 16 years, she climbed through the ranks, saying "yes" even when no one on the team knew what a PEO was during the SWBC PEO acquisition. Key to her growth was finding and asking for mentors, including SWBC Mortgage CEO Susan Stewart and FI division CEO Mark Hine. One mentor lesson reshaped her leadership style: "Stop letting people give you dead birds. Don't allow people to just give you their problem and then you are taking on everybody's problem without some solutions, because you're collecting everyone's dead birds and you can't do anything with it." She now uses this framing with her own team, alongside a second mandate: "You have a seat at the table, you've earned a seat at the table, use your voice." Pollok also discusses managing baby boomers, Gen X, and Gen Z under one roof without abandoning fairness, and implementing a secure, private AI system for research and workflows, ensuring client and financial data remain protected. The episode also touches on why SWBC sponsored the Round Rock Chamber's Women Who Mean Business event featuring Olympian Cat Osterman. SWBC Payroll & HR, privately held by Charlie Amato and Gary Dudley, serves clients from five employees to 7,000 across roughly 42 states, with industries ranging from hospitals and construction to pig farms. Pollok describes the firm as an essential back-office partner for small and mid-sized businesses, providing over 70 specialists at a cost-effective rate. Listen to this Episode