The Staffing Struggle

BY LISA GIBSON

In the past five years, more than 850 Basin Electric employees have transitioned out of the company. Diane Paul, senior vice president of human resources for the Bismarck, N.D.-based power cooperative, says that number is high compared with previous years. Most of those employees are retirees, Paul says, as Basin has been blessed with people who start and end their careers with the co-op. Those past five years have marked what Mary Miller, director of communications and creative services, calls the retirement bubble.

“It’s a good problem to have that our employees spend their entire career with Basin, but we certainly had their shoes to fill after they retired,” Miller says.

Basin isn’t the only company with shoes to fill. A workforce shortage plagues many industries in the Upper Midwest, and across the country. Companies are struggling to fill open positions and many have been forced to evolve and make adjustments to their recruiting, hiring and managing processes.

“It pushed us to reimagine how we do business in human resources at Basin Electric,” Paul says.

Supply and Demand

Sanford Health is struggling with a workforce shortage that spans its entire region of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and parts of Iowa and Montana, says Evan Burkett, chief human capital officer and vice president of human resources for Sanford. Despite the fact that the nursing shortage has made the news lately, Sanford is working hard to recruit people for all sectors, including housekeeping, food service and security, among others.

“It’s always a supply and demand issue,” Burkett says. The workforce is aging and that puts a strain on health care institutions like Sanford to not only fill those open positions, but provide health care to an aging population, he adds. “We’re seeing an unsettling trend of declines in people applying for jobs.”

Sanford is building a new medical center in Fargo, N.D., that will need 300 to 500 new employees in all sectors when it’s ready to accept patients in 2017. The company recently implemented a hiring bonus initiative to attract nurses to Fargo. “The fact that it ran in Fargo probably gives you some indication that’s where we’re having some material shortages issues or ability to recruit,” Burkett says. “To be honest, we were disappointed in the response, but I think that gets directly to the issues of the shortage that exists.”

Like many employers, Sanford has made itself available at career fairs, made internships available for young people, used social media and partnered with academic institutions to lure qualified employees. “That’s a very important part of our workforce strategy,”

Burkett says. Establishing relationships with colleges and universities allows Sanford to identify the best talent in those programs and offer perks such as loan forgiveness to new hires who commit to a career at Sanford after graduation, he says.

Paul says identifying good talent is a main reason Basin reaches out to academic institutions to recruit employees, too. “Basin Electric always tries to employ the best in the workforce,” she says. The partnerships with schools also allow Basin to recruit interns who could become full-time employees. “We have a very strong internship program.”

Basin also implements a grade-based education reimbursement program that can cover further training for new employees. “And it also will strengthen our succession planning so we have people in place.” Paul says these and other programs have played a role in Basin’s growing success in recruiting new employees.

American Crystal Sugar Co. has seen some success in recruiting from relying heavily on referral of new employees from existing ones, says Jill Rotert, recruiting and development manager for American Crystal’s human resources department. The program offers financial compensation for any current employee who refers a qualified new candidate who is hired by the sugar beet cooperative.

The cooperative also pushes radio ads and billboards to lure new workers. “We try to be creative in our advertising approach,” Rotert says.

Both Basin and American Crystal put an emphasis on training new employees, as well as existing employees who want to climb the ladder. “When it comes to training, I think that we do a really good job of bringing in our employees and working to give them the opportunity to learn as much as they can about our business so that they can continue to expand and grow,” Rotert says.

American Crystal feels the workforce crunch particularly in the rural areas where it has sugar beet processing factories. The company has factories in East Grand Forks, Minn., Moorhead, Minn., Crookston, Minn., Drayton, N.D., and Hillsboro, N.D. “There’s just not a large number of people that are looking for a job, or who aren’t already working for us.” American Crystal started a busing service from Fargo to the Hillsboro factory for its employees that has helped recruit workers for that location, but others still suffer, Rotert says. “Crookston has a lot of competitive companies trying to grab that same individual.”

Rotert says she doesn’t think the union contract disputes and employee lockout a few years ago have affected American Crystal’s ability to recruit and hire good workers. Some employees retired or chose not to come back after the lockout, so more positions were left open, but the recruitment hurdle just comes down to supply and demand, she says.

Skilled Workforce

Rotert says the most difficult positions to fill at American Crystal are those that require highly skilled or certified applicants. That includes certified electricians, mechanics, candidates with a boiler’s license, welders and more. Phil Davis, Job Service North Dakota western area director and Bismarck office manager, agrees.

Job Service helps connect job seekers with employers looking to hire and Davis says skilled positions are without a doubt the hardest to fill. He says Job Service always sees a shortage of truck drivers, welders, engineers, nurses and any position in health care, sales, office administrative support positions, etc.

The Job Service North Dakota website (www.jobsnd.com) lists all open positions with companies of 25 or more employees across North Dakota. At the end of December, that was 13,524. It also serves as a resource for employers, as it houses resumés of its members who are actively looking for jobs. In the middle of January, the site had 9,540 active resumés on file, Davis says. “These employers that are looking for an employee can go to our website and mine those resources,” he says.

Three months ago, the Job Service office in Bismarck observed fewer people applying for jobs, indicating the shortage of qualified workers, but that has changed. “Right now, what we’re seeing in our office are a lot of people on unemployment,” Davis says. It’s a normal transition that happens each year with the layoffs of seasonal employees, he says. But the oil downturn that began in February and March of last year has had its impact, as well. “We’re seeing a lot of those guys finally getting laid off,” he says.

Some of those workers have transferrable skills that can be used on construction crews and in other labor sectors, but with seasonal layoffs in those industries, they have limited options, Davis explains.

But while skilled workers can be the most difficult to find, other sectors with entry level jobs such as food service, retail, hotels and hospitality also are feeling the pinch. “There’s a big shortage of those types of workers, too,” he says.

Silver Benefits Bullet

Burkett, from Sanford, says benefits can be a factor in an employee’s choice to work for one company over another, but there is no chief perk that would guarantee an influx of new employees. “I wish there were a silver bullet in the benefits menu to put in place that would make all the difference,” he says. Generally, a company that offers standard benefits is in the ballpark and a viable competitor for workers, he adds.

Alerus, a financial institution based in Grand Forks, N.D., prides itself on the benefits and perks it offers its employees and their families. Alerus picks up 75 percent of health insurance premiums for its employees, as well as their spouses and dependents, which Teresa Wasvick, director of human resources, says is on the “high end” of what companies generally offer.

The company introduced a paternity leave program this year for new fathers, and also has flexible time off for maternity and bereavement. Alerus’ benefits programs also assist employees in stressful times such as buying a home. Employees can donate unused paid time off to their coworkers who might need it more than they do, or contribute to the Small Miracles are Reached Together Fund, which provides monetary support for staff members going through unexpected costs such as medical expenses or recovery from a flood, fire or storm. “We can help each other out,” says Jon Kerzmann, employee relations manager. Wasvick says, “It’s really helping neighbors and employees. We’ve given away thousands of dollars to employees.”

Alerus also offers robust training and an employee stock ownership plan, which Wasvick says is “always a great way to reward employees.”

As Alerus has gone through mergers and acquisitions, such as the recent acquisition of Alliance Benefit Group, it has worked hard to retain the employees in those added companies, Wasvick says.

“Whenever we do any acquisitions, we approach it like a partnership,” says Missy Keney, corporate communications manager. New employees are sometimes offered cash bonuses to maintain retention, and communication is crucial, Wasvick, Keney and Kerzmann agree. “We make it a point to be onsite during or shortly after that announcement is made,” Kerzmann says, adding a company merger or acquisition can be a traumatic process for employees if it’s not done properly.

Paul says Basin Electric puts an emphasis on communication among its ranks, also. Board meetings are live-streamed to employees, allowing for questions and any changes are communicated to staff immediately, she says.

Keeping staff in the loop is one of many key aspects of a strong culture that can make or break a company’s success in recruiting, hiring and retaining good people. Paul says new employees are oriented and welcomed into Basin’s family immediately.

“We teach them about our culture and our history and about what working at Basin electric means to our employees that are already here.” PB

Lisa Gibson Editor, Prairie Business 701.787.6753 lgibson@prairiebusinessmagazine.com