Bird Dog Equity Partners
Arcoro Case Study
HR Leader Supports Ten Companies with Help from Arcoro
Managing HR responsibilities for one company is a full-time job. For Kristi Baumgartner, human resources manager at Bird Dog Equity Partners, managing HR duties across 10 companies in multiple states was a challenge. The private equity company based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, manages hospitality properties across the Midwest. With a variety of staffing needs, including seasonal hiring and high turnover, Baumgartner chose Arcoro to support their workforce needs after recommendations from other industry professionals.
Baumgartner was the first HR leader at Bird Dog Equity Partners and was excited to build workforce processes from the ground up. She was looking for a flexible, modular system that would fit their growth goals and help them create standardized processes across their current and future properties.
Compliant Recruiting at Each Location
Before implementing the Arcoro Applicant Tracking System (ATS), the recruiting process was not standardized across all ten locations. The general manager for each location would scan paper applications to the main office to be filed. This resulted in less visibility into the hiring process and a greater compliance risk. Baumgartner and her team now work from job templates to easily post job listings. “We affectionately call them ‘Teamplates’ now. The general manager can pull up a template, change a few details as needed, click ‘send’ and our listing is posted to 300 job boards,” said Baumgartner. “The best part of the ATS is that I can review and track interview notes and make my own comments that the hiring managers can review at each location.”
Challenges
- Inconsistent recruiting practices across 10 locations
- Seasonal hiring and onboarding processes were time-consuming
- Paper-based processes were a compliance risk
Results
- Streamlined recruiting allows general managers to post a position in minutes versus an hour
- Onboarding processes were cut down from 1-2 hours per new hire to just 15 minutes
- Higher visibility into HR and recruiting processes across six states and 10 properties benefits the HR, Accounting and Operations departments
Solutions Used
Applicant Tracking System
Onboarding
Performance Management System
Succession Planning
The ATS also helps when Bird Dog Equity Partners acquires a new property. “When we acquire properties, I have a few days to hire everyone and get their paperwork filed under the new tax identification number,” said Baumgartner. When they acquired their most recent property, Baumgartner and her team had three days to hire 92 team members, ranging from guest services representatives to guest room attendants, restaurant servers and more. “The general managers love how easy it is to use the Kiosk Mode feature in the Onboarding module. They can set new employees up at a laptop, pull up the onboarding template and walk away. It’s really easy. They don’t even have to enter the employee’s name,” she said.
Baumgartner appreciates the automation and tracking within the ATS. She tracks time to fill a position within the ATS so the team can make changes for future job listings and distribution strategies. The automation features, like confirmation emails and interview scheduling, help her save time. “We can get up to 200 applications for one entry-level job. The ATS automatically sends out a ‘thank you’ email after someone applies. At the end of the week, it takes me about five minutes to go through each application and send out an interview invitation or let them know we’re moving forward with other candidates,” she said.
Building a New Performance Management Structure
Bird Dog Equity Partners is just getting started deploying its new performance management process. Their goal is to use the Performance Management module to encourage meaningful conversations among employees and managers. Baumgartner believes the rollout of this new structure is very timely with concerns about COVID-19 and its impact on the hospitality industry. “Everyone takes health precautions very seriously. We’re hoping our staff will be honest with us about their current personal needs and professional goals. One of our overarching company goals is to maintain the safety of our guests and employees and we expect our employees’ goals will reflect that,” she said.
Bird Dog Equity Partners configured the Performance Management module to fit their needs. “Having my account manager and implementation specialist to build this with me has been a huge benefit. I have access to a highly-skilled team that guides me through the options and offers me ideas from what has worked for other customers,” said Baumgartner. “The flexibility of the system provides us with many options to choose from so we can create a process that works well. The configurability is what we needed to make our corporate vision come true.”
As Bird Dog Equity Partners looks forward to the future, Baumgartner believes the Arcoro solutions will help them achieve their growth goals. “The SaaS model is great because new functionality is pushed to us automatically. We have enjoyed the new updates to the system and look forward to continued innovation from Arcoro.”
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