With labor shortages continuing to affect the roofing industry writ large, contractors need to ensure their efforts to hire and retain employees are optimized. In the spirit of “rising tides lift all ships,” one roofing distributor seeing reductions in turnover is revealing their strategies.

In this video, Nicole Eisenbarth, chief operating officer, and Renata Lemke, human resource manager, of Elite Roofing Supply share their collective knowledge on how to improve employee experiences to boost morale and retention.

Based on an HR presentation held at an Independent Distributor Alliance Corporation meeting, the women discuss an initiative set in 2022 by Elite Roofing Supply to enhance how employees can be empowered. Eisenbarth said the program is broken down into milestones, ranging from when a candidate is hired to when an employee eventually leaves the company.

“We broke down the whole experience, or journey, and we looked at those key milestones and we developed, so to speak, ‘personas,’ and what we wanted those employees to feel during those moments,” she said.

Whether it’s how the company communicates with employees to boxes full of Elite-branded swag sent to new hires to welcome them, the efforts have paid off. Eisenbarth said the company has seen a decrease of turnover by 3% year over year.

“People want to tell their family about it. And I mean, even when we go to the holiday parties that we host, everybody is so excited to talk about Elite. And you can see they've shared their swag with their family,” said Lemke. “And it's just such a beautiful moment to just be able to witness how much pride they have in their employer.”

The duo also share what it means for them to work as management and c-suite employees and what efforts other distributors can make in their HR operations to emulate Elite’s efforts.

“The first thing you can implement are 30, 60, and 90 [day check-ins] with every single employee,” said Lemke. “I think that’s a huge piece because you’re really seeking their feedback, like ‘how did onboarding go? How was recruiting? What could we do better at?’ And then you are able to tailor your program around truly what your gaps are.”

Watch the full conversation here, or visit our podcast page to download the episode and listen on the go.