NEW ORLEANS – This week, New Orleans welcomed more than 70 convenience and fuel retailing human resources professionals to the NACS Human Resources Forum, held in the city’s French Quarter. With many attendees attending year after year, the HR Forum is a valuable opportunity to not only hear about the latest pressing concerns in the HR field, but also a time to network and reconnect with colleagues from across the country.
Led by Terry McKenna, principal and co-founder of Employee Performance Strategies Inc., the HR Forum incorporates interactive presentations with group breakout sessions to address topics vital to today’s HR professionals with a goal of generating new ideas and valuable opportunities for individuals and their companies.
Tuesday’s opening session began with an introduction of all first-time attendees as well as an opportunity for the “regulars” to share any significant events from the past year. Participants then shared personal expectations and goals for the three-day forum — most expressed the desire to walk away with tangible insights on leadership development, recruitment and retention strategies, wage compression as well as ADA and ACA regulations.
NACS Industry Analytics Manager Zaneta Purvis presented attendees with recent data on industry and compensation metrics when she provided a preview of the soon-to-be-published NACS State of the Industry Compensation Report of 2014 Data. McKenna then led a brief discussion on compensation-related issues. Laurie Quinn, HR director for Campbell Oil Co. and BellStores, shared best practices for employee recognition and engagement, including team-building strategies and quarterly meetings complete with game-show themed employee events.
Following lunch, attorneys from labor law firm Fisher & Phillips briefed attendees on the latest developments in the Affordable Care Act — specifically the now-in-effect employer mandate — as well as an update on renewed enforcement efforts from the U.S. Department of Labor. Attorney Tabatha George explained that while parts of the employer mandate, which applies to any company with more than 50 full-time or full-time equivalent employees, are still a bit of a moving target due to its recent implementation, it is essential that employers become familiar with the mandate and penalties for non-compliance. According to George, two of the key issues for employers to address are: which employees count as “full-time,” and is the coverage offered considered “affordable” by the ACA definition.
George’s colleague John Thompson then led a presentation on recent developments at the U.S. Department of Labor, describing an atmosphere of increasingly aggressive enforcement in a variety of areas, particularly wage-hour violations at the federal level.
Despite a somewhat bleak outlook from Thompson, the day ended on a positive note as participants broke into groups to discuss their experiences on how to get store managers to assume more ownership. Several attendees were concerned that managers didn’t seem to understand (or care) what was expected of them, perhaps due to generationally based habits as well as simply not being the right fit. McKenna pointed out that it is essential for companies to define the problem they’re experiencing, by clarifying what it means in each store for a manager to take ownership. And the convenience industry is changing rapidly, with increasing demands related to foodservice and other industry changes, he said, and some employees may not be prepared for the new dynamics.
Attendees offered strategies to boost employee engagement, including one person who said their stores are now known by the manager’s name, not just a store number. The manager’s name is also clearly on the budget’s P&L line, a change that saw immediate improvements at the store level. Other strategies discussed included implementation of accountability systems — such as daily check-in calls between managers at different levels to discuss variances, widely sharing customer feedback and ensuring that companies have an individual who is accountable for customer satisfaction, and spending time grooming the right employees not all employees.
The NACS HR Forum is taking place March 3 to 5 in New Orleans.