If HR and Operations are to successfully team up to fight high turnover and the ever-increasing competition for talent, HR must get into the field more often, and both sides must listen more to each other.

The biggest obstacle to HR and Operations working effectively together “is that there are a lot of HR folks who are simply too black and white, and they don’t take time to really learn the challenges of the folks they are supporting to begin with,” said Mark Bryan, vice president of human resources/risk management for E.J. Pope & Sons Inc. Handy Mart convenience stores is a division of the company, which is based in Mount Olive, North Carolina.

While HR is an important part of Operations, “you have to earn your seat at the table,” Bryan said. “HR historically has been viewed as a cost center that handled payroll and paperwork … and it will be just that if the person in HR does not engage Operations in a way that works hand in hand. HR should really focus on building good working relationships with the folks in Operations and earn their trust.”

Ashley Ray, HR director at Maverik Inc., based in Salt Lake City, also is concerned that HR professionals tend to be too reactive when working with Operations. “One of the big things with the labor market being so tight is do we really communicate with our Operations folks? How do we make it so HR understands the business and make sure we’re doing what’s best for them? How are we, as HR, a business partner that they can go to for advice?”

It’s not just HR—Operations can be part of the problem, too, according to Bryan. “Many times, Operations makes major decisions without the involvement of HR.” For example, if a new store is being opened, there’s much emphasis on the food but little on HR issues, he said. “HR is told at the tail end, ‘hey, we need some help.’ Instead of HR being caught cold, HR should be involved in the process.”

In the Field

To better team up with Operations, E.J. Pope & Sons’ HR professionals regularly visit the company’s 60 locations. “We’re out in the field at least once a month,” Bryan said. “The biggest thing is to spend the time and build good relationships.”

Time spent building those relationships and improving communications with Operations is important because too often HR is just seen as “the enforcer of the handbook,” he said. “We ask them: What causes you a lot of grief? They see we are listening to them. They see we’re trying to make their life easier.”

Operations and HR can work together in a beautiful way if HR seeks to understand the challenges of Operations and works with them to help make their jobs easier.

And when Operations sees HR make changes as a result of those conversations, “the relationship becomes very positive,” Bryan said. “Operations and HR can work together in a beautiful way if HR seeks to understand the challenges of Operations and works with them to help make their jobs easier.”

Casey’s General Stores Inc. started sending HR professionals out on store visits last year, according to Cindi Summers, senior vice president of human resources. The effort is part of the company’s new Employee Value Proposition, which focuses on attraction, retention and engagement. “It was eye-opening to hear the different perspectives, and we were able to problem-solve and identify future opportunities together as we spoke with store leaders and employees on the frontline,” Summers said. The Ankeny, Iowa-based company has 2,000 c-stores in 16 states.

Casey’s also is rolling out a regional recruiter program to deploy HR people in the field who will specialize in talent acquisition and retention, she said. “They are assigned to a region so that they are able to understand the nuances of the area that affect the ability to attract and retain team members. While they report to HR, they will have daily interaction with field management to create tactical plans around outreach, job fair events, continuous applicant flow and manager training.”

Casey’s has not had HR people in the field before, according to Summers, “so this is a big change for us. Thus far, the field has welcomed the help with open arms, and it has worked to strengthen internal engagement and culture.”

In the past, recruitment was decentralized, with store managers responsible for their own hiring. “However, this new approach will create somewhat of a hybrid wherein the regional recruiter will help cast a net for qualified applicants and assist in moving them through the selection process wherever there is the strongest need,” Summers said. “If we are able to contribute to faster hiring, lower turnover and increased retention, then we need to continue to leverage that work together.”

Training Tools

In addition to getting HR out into the field to better communicate with Operations, Casey’s has developed a curriculum to better train Operations team members, Summers said.

Maverick also trains Operations managers, particularly in soft skills such as employee relations and leadership training, Ray said. “We work with Operations. We’re here as a resource, rather than to fix it, rather than it be them versus us. We ask them what they want. A lot of the training they get is because they are asking for it.”

The company offers a lot of online courses, she added, but finds that a combination of online and instructor-led training is most effective. District managers are trained, then “that cascades to store directors.”

A regional recruiter program deploys HR people in the field who will specialize in talent acquisition and retention.

At E.J. Pope & Sons, Operations used to handle training, according to Bryan, but he has developed a new training program with both HR and Operations involvement. “I got Operations buy in. They did a lot of the work; they played a huge part in developing and running the program. If it just comes from HR, it’s an HR thing” not a team effort.

When a manager is promoted, the individual attends the leadership training center, with classes on topics such as how to recruit, how to work with HR and how to address legal questions. The company also uses its leadership training program to cut turnover and to create committed team members.

“We began a practice a couple of years ago of identifying the employees that we really want to keep by developing a very simple assessment for the store manager to use as part of the employee’s first evaluation. The employee is then recognized for having a skill set that demonstrates leadership qualities. We send the employee to our leadership development program to give them a better idea of what our company is all about and the respective opportunities,” he said. “Just making a simple change of letting a star employee know that they are just that is having a favorable outcome on our turnover.”