The business
Stern Company was founded as an oil supplier in 1976. Today, it’s a premier fueling distribution and consultation partner led by the third generation of Sterns. What started as a small family business has grown into a company of over 82 employees and six locations across the Midwest.
The challenges
With growth comes new hurdles. Initially, Stern was just looking for software to simplify their extremely manual payroll process. But as they explored solutions, the team realized other opportunities to level up.
"Our HR department was split amongst a couple of people,” says Kaitlyn Stern, “I would do the recruiting, and then we had another team member that did safety. Then we had our controller doing all the payroll and the benefits."
With multiple people wearing multiple hats, their approach to HR was fractured. More importantly, they weren't able to focus on the core operations of their business.
The solutions
During a quarterly planning meeting, Stern's EOS implementer suggested a partnership with PRO Resources. After doing their due diligence and comparing their options, Stern started working with PRO Resources in January of 2024.
Payroll and PTO
Unlike other payroll softwares that Stern considered, PRO offered both easy-to-use software and payroll experts to manage the entire process. Now Stern’s controller can focus on more mission-critical financial tasks.
In addition to managing payroll, PRO also provides software to simplify employee admin like PTO tracking.
“Before, if I wanted to request time off, I would fill out a Word document and send it to my supervisor who would send it back to me. And then I would send it to the payroll person to track it on an Excel spreadsheet,” says Kaitlyn, “Now I can just go in and request it online and it's so much more convenient.”
All Stern employees can now track their own PTO, benefits, onboarding documents, and more. Plus, supervisors like Kaitlyn can access big-picture analytics to help inform planning decisions and their EOS scorecard.
“It's making everybody's life a lot easier and makes for happier team members,” says Kaitlyn.
Safety and compliance
Safety has always been a pillar of practice for Stern. As a company that handles hazardous materials, it’s essential to their operations. However, it became more difficult to ensure everyone at every location was on the same page. One benefit of working with PRO Resources is access to safety specialists. While Stern already had robust safety procedures in place, PRO was able to help document and train employees on those procedures. 
"They had a team member who came from a safety role in the propane industry," Kaitlyn explains, "So he was really helpful in formalizing a lot of our procedures.”
To help with ongoing efforts, PRO Resources also conducts on-site safety audits every six months.
“When you walk by something every day — like a box sitting on the floor that might be a trip hazard — you don't notice, “ says Kaitlyn, “But they come in and their safety team has fresh eyes.”
By documenting processes, training employees, and completing safety audits, PRO helps Stern keep safety central as they grow.
Recruitment and onboarding
Even though Stern started out just looking for payroll solutions, they soon realized PRO Resources could help save time and energy on their hiring process.
“Before PRO, I would post all of the information on Indeed and review every application and send it to the warehouse manager. If the warehouse manager liked the application, then I would contact the applicant, try to schedule an interview and coordinate that with the warehouse manager.”
With PRO’s recruitment platform, applicants now answer initial questions on their own and self-schedule an interview.”
“All I have to do is upload the job description and location,” says Kaitlyn. “It not only saves me time, but it saves the potential employee time and it saves our warehouse manager time.”
Even after the hiring process, PRO personally reaches out to each employee to ask about their onboarding experience. Acting as an extension of the Stern team, PRO Resources helps resolve issues and implement improvements.
“Ultimately, our employees feel like their voices are heard a lot more,” she says.
The results
In just ten months, the partnership between Stern Companies and PRO Resources has yielded remarkable results.
"Since working with PRO, I've saved about eight hours per week,” says Kaitlyn.
Perhaps most importantly, PRO has allowed Stern to concentrate on what they do best. As Kaitlyn puts it, "We're really good at delivering products and services to our customers in our market. But we're not great HR people, nor do we want to be."
As Stern Companies looks to the future, they're excited about the possibilities their partnership with PRO Resources opens up.
"Our vision is to be bigger, faster, and safer. And we can't do any of those things without PRO,” she says, “If we want to scale, we need processes that are consistent throughout all of our locations. And if we want to be faster, we need to drive efficiency and free up everybody's time, which is what their platforms are doing for us. If we want to be safer, PRO has the team to support us with audits and safety coaching.”
From a small, family-owned oil company to a multi-state energy powerhouse, Stern Company has come a long way and continues to grow. With PRO Resources as their HR partner, they're well-equipped for whatever the future holds. As Kaitlyn concludes, "There's so much value that they bring to the table. They've taken us to another level."
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