Low pay, a lack of opportunities for advancement and feeling disrespected at work are the top three reasons why Americans quit their jobs last year, causing the U.S. “quit rate” to reach a 20-year high in November, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. And roughly half said child care issues were a reason they quit a job.
While the “Great Resignation” has been a rude awakening for some companies as employees quit in favor of better opportunities, other companies saw the writing on the wall and chose to revamp pay structures and increase work-from-home flexibility, PTO policies and other benefits in a bid to retain talent.
College HUNKS Hauling Junk and Moving was one company that recognized and made changes to adapt to the “shift in the mindset of the workplace,” said Brandon Kuss, human resources manager.
“We’ve transitioned from living to work and now in the last two years, we’re working to live, so definitely one of the biggest things is having the flexibility and autonomy to live your life while working,” he said.
Kuss joined College HUNKS in April 2021, and a few months later the brand attracted a minority investment from Susquehanna Private Capital. The 170-unit moving and junk removal company used that investment to grow its corporate team by 32 percent, including additions to its IT, marketing and national accounts departments.
But perhaps the most impressive metric is College HUNKS had a 77.6 percent reduction in turnover year over year for the first quarter of 2022, Kuss said.
Part of that reduction in turnover can be attributed to the franchise’s recent updated benefits structure, which includes increased bereavement time, upgraded parental leave to 12 weeks of paid leave for new mothers and six weeks for new fathers, an increased 401(k) employer match, and revamped PTO and company holiday programs. College HUNKS also touts a flexible hybrid work model and competitive pay raises.
Brandon Kuss joined College HUNKS as human resources manager last April.
By looking at “iconic” brands such as Starbucks and Amazon, Kuss said, College HUNKS was able to analyze how they got there and brainstorm ideas to implement. “We were able to see areas where we have weak points in our total rewards package,” Kuss said. “To be an iconic brand means we need all the right people on the bus and in the right seat on the bus.”
“Our team is full of self-motivated A players, and we don’t want them to be poached by our competitors,” he added. “It was a strategic initiative on our end to keep the superstars we have here, and also be able to pluck those superstars from other organizations and get them aligned with us.”
Another brand pushing the needle forward in the franchise HR space is Noodles & Company, a fast-casual franchise with more than 450 locations that introduced a new brand platform on May 4 called Uncommon Goodness, which has a myriad of new employee benefits and perks rolling out over the next year to 8,400 corporate team members and managers.
The platform includes new employee resource groups such as Thrive, for Black and Indigenous people of color and allies, and Proud, for the LGBQIA+ community and allies.
Sue Petersen, executive vice president of inclusion, diversity and people at Noodles & Company, said membership in the resource groups is only open at the general manager level and above, but Noodles plans to open those up to all hourly members by the end of 2022, which she noted is unusual to see for a large franchise restaurant organization.
“We didn’t want to open the door to 8,400 team members until we tested it out and knew what worked and what didn’t,” Petersen said. Thrive and Proud will also be open for franchisees and franchise restaurant workers to participate in, and Noodles plans to add other resource groups for women, Latinx employees, Asian/Pacific Islander employees and more.
An immigration reimbursement program is another focus, which offers $500 every two years to team members to help with costs associating with renewing, obtaining and maintaining their immigration status or citizenship. “We feel like that is a differentiator to help us to cast and attract a wide range of candidates to join the organization,” Petersen said.
Sue Petersen, executive vice president of inclusion, diversity and people at Noodles & Company, said the brand plans to open up resource groups to all hourly members by the end of 2022, which she noted is unusual to see for a large franchise restaurant organization.
Similar to College HUNKS, the Noodles leadership team examined its benefit offerings and noted where there were gaps, especially with diversity, equity and inclusion in mind.
“We go through our benefits and say OK, what benefits are attractive to what population, and where might there be some opportunities to hit a population that we’re not touching as much,” Petersen said, adding this year, Noodles doubled down in a couple of areas—making sure underrepresented groups have a platform for their voices to be heard and integrating mental wellness support.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, Petersen noted, so Noodles is pushing to make sure all employees are aware of their access to the employee assistance program that offers counseling and wellness reimbursements.
Quarterly mental health workshops is another part of the Uncommon Goodness platform, which Noodles will host both in-person and virtually featuring a mental health professional with experience in the restaurant space. Topics will span basic self-care to intergenerational mental health differences, recognizing when a team member may be experiencing mental health challenges, and how to engage and support them. This will be open to franchisees and general managers while Noodles works on breaking down the hour-long recorded webinars into shorter snippets for hourly employees to engage with.
Increase speed to hire and tailor benefits to workforce
Kuss is seeing an increased focus on speed to hire, which means understanding what your company’s “deficiencies are and what you need, and being nimble enough to react quickly.”
College HUNKS transitioned to an AI-based recruiting platform last July for hourly call center positions, so candidates can apply for the job and schedule an interview in less than three minutes. Speeding up the interviewing and hiring process has helped the brand mitigate the effects of the labor shortage.
About 40 percent of Noodles & Company team members are 18 years old or younger, Petersen noted, so they’re looking for a fun work environment with ample flexibility in hours to balance their school and work life. Plus, Noodles works with a vendor group that allows early access to paychecks and a savings, budget management and financial planning tool. On the corporate side, Noodles added benefits in 2020 around parental leave—six weeks of 100 percent paid time off for both mothers and fathers, plus a phase-in and phase-out program.
Kuss advised other brands and employers to focus on awareness of “who your team is and what they value,” which “is equally as important as soliciting their advice or input.” College HUNKS sends out a monthly happiness survey to team members with a section open to comments, which can be submitted anonymously. Those comments helped inform which benefits the company prioritized in its benefits revamp, Kuss said.
If the majority of a brand’s team is millennials who are entering parenthood, for example, the company might want to focus on benefits that assist new parents such as childcare reimbursements, parental leave and dependent care reimbursement accounts. If a company has an older workforce, meanwhile, they may care more about retirement and financial security benefits.
“As an organization, we understand we can either invest in benefits and create the best benefit program we have to keep this top talent here, or we’ll simply spend that money on the revolving recruiting door, where they’re not fully satisfied or engaged and are leaving for opportunities with those benefits,” Kuss added. “That’s why we made the commitment to improving and increasing our holistic benefits offerings.”
Related: Noodles & Company Pushing Unit Growth in 2022, Says CFO