Utilizing innovative team-building tools can put you ahead of the pack when it comes to fostering a competitive workforce.
By Mark Rowan, Chief People Officer, Pilot Flying J
Like most industries, convenience stores are adjusting to keep up with emerging technologies and an increasingly multigenerational workforce.
As this evolving workplace continues to reshape the way companies engage with team members, human resources (HR) is no longer the same management function. HR has become a competitive advantage.
To stay ahead of the pack, c-stores need to pay close attention to the evolution of HR, examine how those trends affect our industry specifically and develop a tailored and comprehensive approach focused on meaningful team member engagement.
The most obvious change we’ve witnessed is easy for me to point out as it’s in my own title at Pilot Flying J: chief people officer. Many organizations have made it their mission to center the HR role on developing and nurturing their people—as it should be. There are four key factors HR teams need to consider when evaluating their strategy: company culture, team member and supervisor relationships, career development and recognition, and compensation.
- Culture. The first factor in workforce strategy is culture. Companies must spend time and effort cultivating and emphasizing this aspect to make team members feel invested and informed. Since Pilot Flying J is a family-owned company employing more than 24,000, we have the honor to share a unique spirit of community, philanthropy and warm family culture.
The generosity of our owners, as well as our own team members, enables us to give back to our communities in which we operate and help many of our team members through personal hardships.
- Relationships. Each and every team member must feel supported and know that they have someone advocating for them. For c-stores, this can be a daunting challenge because you must understand team dynamics, strengths and challenges at every store. We ensure our Pilot Flying J team members are consistently forming strong relationships with their managers and team members, by regularly sending leadership, HR and field training support to each store.
Our founder, CEO, president, vice presidents and directors all visit stores continuously with the sole intent of talking to our teams, finding out how we can help them and listening to their feedback. We also implement bi-annual team member surveys to better understand the satisfaction level of each and every team member across the network.
The surveys receive response rates of more than 70% from our team members and are store specific, so we can pinpoint the unique strengths and challenges of each store. These assessments help my team and I examine what we do well and what we could improve upon as it relates to team members’ job experiences.
- Career Development. Beyond relationships, career development is an essential factor for c-stores to implement as part of their workforce strategy. Whether looking at corporate team members, regional managers or store associates, it’s important to show each team member their potential within the company.
At Pilot Flying J, which employs more than 24,000, we offer both our Pilot University and Leadership Academy programs, which provide career development opportunities to team members. These programs give team members the opportunity to learn about the different areas of our business and focus on their own professional development.
- Recognition and Compensation. Ensuring each team member receives proper recognition and adequate compensation continues to—and always will—play a strong role in our workforce strategy. While resources to support team member compensation often come from other company departments, HR teams should help by identifying turnover and inefficient processes that can be eliminated or fixed in order to reinvest those funds in incremental compensation.
By taking a comprehensive approach to workforce strategy and focusing efforts on these important elements of team member engagement, we’re hoping to build an environment that our team members want to be part of for years to come.
We’ve worked hard to instill a sense of ownership by ensuring managers across the company have a full understanding of the true impact of engaged team members who share our vision, mission and values. Most importantly, as the workforce continues to shift and evolve our priorities and strategies for Pilot Flying J, team members must shift accordingly.
Pilot Flying J, the largest operator of travel centers and travel plazas in North America, continues to expand its service footprint. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., Pilot Flying J has more than 650 retail locations, 52 Goodyear Commercial Tire and Service Centers (Wingfoot) and 44 Boss Shops.