The Culture Impact in an Employee-owned Business with Kristi Spindler

“A company doesn’t have to be employee-owned to give your employees a voice.”

- Kristi Spindler

Do you like ESOPs?  Most people do.  Wondering if it’s small alien species on a planet in the Star Wars universe?  Nope.  ESOP stands for Employee Stock Ownership Plan, and it’s an acronym used frequently by wholly employee-owned companies.  In today’s episode, my guest shares what she loves about working in HR in an ESOP environment.  We also spend some time in the latter part of the episode talking about advocating for support for women in the workforce, from parental leaves to daycare subsidies.  

My guest is Kristi Spindler. Kristi Spindler, Human Resources Director at Dakota Supply Group, has nearly 20 years of HR experience leading HR teams focused on company growth and engagement. Kristi lives with her husband and two daughters in Fargo, ND. Kristi received her bachelor’s degree from The College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, MN and has a Master’s degree in Organizational Management from Concordia University in St. Paul, MN. Kristi is a current board president of BIO Girls, Prairie Business’ 2021 Top 25 Women in Business, was an All-American collegiate soccer player and now spends time coaching and cheering her girls on in sports.

In this episode of Talent Management Truths, you’ll discover:

• The advantages of doing HR in an employee-owned business with an  ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) and ideas for what you can do if you don’t work in an employee-owned business
• Thoughts on the importance of people leaders on team engagement
• Why advocating for women in the workforce is important and ideas on how to do this

Links

• Kristi Spindler on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristi-spindler-6807215/ 

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Transcript

LM Ep 110

 [00:00:00] 

Do you like ESOPs? Most people do Wondering if, maybe it's small alien species on a planet in the Star Wars universe? Nope. ESOP stands for Employee Share Ownership Plan, [00:01:00] and it's an acronym used frequently by wholly employee-owned companies. In today's episode, my guest shares what she loves about working in HR in an ESOP environment.

We also spend some time in the latter part of the episode talking about advocating for support for women in the workforce, from parental leaves to daycare subsidies. My guest is Christie Spindler, human Resources Director at Dakota Supply Group. She has nearly 20 years of, HR experience leading HR teams focused on company growth and engagement.

Christie lives with her husband and two daughters in Fargo, North Dakota, and holds a master's degree in organizational management. In this episode of Talent Management Truths, you'll discover the advantages of doing HR in an employee-owned business with an ESOP and ideas for what you can do if you don't work in an employee-owned business.

Thoughts on the importance of people, leaders on team engagement, and why advocating for women in the workforce is important and ideas [00:02:00] on how to do it. Thanks for listening. Enjoy.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: Hello and welcome back to Talent Management Truth. I'm your host, Lisa Mitchell, and today I'm joined by Kristy Spindler. Kristy is the Human Resources Director at Dakota Supply Group. Thanks so much for joining me, Kristy.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Thank you. It's great to be here.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: So you're located in Fargo, I think Of movie fame in North Dakota.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Yeah, that's right. Fargo, North Dakota. Yes. Even though the movie wasn't filmed there, but yes.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: No, I know, I know. I just is one of my favorite, favorite films though. So let's, let's kick off by having you share a little bit about you beyond the fact that you're from North Dakota and what you do at Dakota Supply Group.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Okay. Sounds great. So, I have been in human resources for almost 20 years. I've been at Dakota Supply Group for a little over a year and a half now. I have been fortunate to, over the last 20 years or so, been able to lead HR teams in some former, former fashion. So, I, I [00:03:00] don't lead the whole HR team here.

I work, I report up to a fabulous chief people officer. But I do have, I think it's, I should also off the top of my head, 7, 8, 9 direct reports on my team. And we get involved talent acquisition reports up to me. Communication reports up to me. We have our HR business partners report up to me, and so I get involved with a lot of employee relations and performance management type conversations.

And then I get to help with a lot of just special strategic projects from an HR standpoint as well. So we've got a few of those going on today too. So that's some of the areas I get involved with. Yeah.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: Beautiful. Okay. And so what was your career path like on on, on your way to, to where you are now?

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Great question. Like a lot of people that work in human resources, I fell into hr, so I did not expect to have a career in hr. I knew I would. I would like to do something from a business perspective, but I actually graduated, graduated college, my undergrad not knowing a whole lot about hr and got my first job as an HR assistant.

So that's [00:04:00] where I got a little bit of taste of HR initially. And then my HR career just continued to grow from there. So I kept on getting more and more responsibility in human resources. I did stumble into the engineering world and I ended up working for an en. Within the engineering world for about I think it was probably about 16 of my 20 years in hr.

So I do have a decent amount of background in engineering as well. And then I have worked almost exclusively in a hundred percent employee owned companies as well, which is another area that I gravitate towards.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: Yes, and we're going to explore that employee owned piece. 'cause I think it's really, really fascinating. So we'll, we'll dig into that in a second. So Dakota Supply Group. So this is. A supply chain company with distribution centers, I believe, and trucks.

Can you tell us a little bit more about what, what the company is all about?

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Yeah, that's exactly right. So we're Dakota Supply Group. We're about a thousand employees, just over a thousand employees. We have 54 branch [00:05:00] locations over the Midwest. So everywhere from Montana, down to Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan. In Wisconsin are where we're currently located.

And we do, we do wholesale distribution. So the best way to think about it's anything inside of a building, we probably sell that. So whatever that might be, whether it's on the plumbing side, on the HVAC side on the electrical side, we sell all of those products. And so we house 'em in our, our warehouse and we work with quite a few different customers, but specifically we work with a lot of contractors.

So we do the wholesale supply to contractors. Within the building process is kind of the easiest way to explain it.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: Excellent. Okay. That's really helpful. Thank you for painting that picture. So, so let's go to that employee owned element. Because I know this is something from when you and I first met that you said you really, you really enjoy. You, you've had several experiences now with companies that are employee owned and that have, what did you call them?

Their, their [00:06:00] esop?

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Correct. esop. Yep.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: So they have an employee stock ownership plan. What is it that, that you like about this kind of setup?

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: So I have always said there's no better tool for an HR professional to have than for a company to be a hundred percent employee owned. So when it comes to being able to recruit and retain employees, an ESOP is an amazing tool to have.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: I can only imagine. And, and actually listeners, if you've heard the episode with Nathan Doley you'll, you'll connect to this 'cause he's very passionate about this, this as well. So what. What does that do for culture, would you say?

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: So it does a lot for culture. So when you are 100% employee owned, I always say there's two really big components of it for the employees. So one there is the financial component and I can talk, talk more about that, if that's, I. If that's helpful. But there's also the culture component. So at the end of the day, when [00:07:00] you're a hundred percent employee owned, you still have your normal hierarchy within an organization, like any other organization is gonna exist.

But because of the financial component of it, you get to reap the rewards of your hard work as an employee owner. So as an employee, so typically for an ESOP plan, there's a, a waiting period before you. Officially become an employee owner. So it's, every company's different. Typically, it's not gonna be on day one, but typically there's gonna be a bit of a waiting period before you become an employee owner.

And then once a year. Typically, companies will share what the stock price is gonna be and the share price is gonna be. And that you, you get part of that, like you are now invested in those share prices as an employee owner. And so because of that, all of your hard work as an employee owner you get a piece of that, you get a chunk of that it isn't publicly held firm, it isn't going to shareholders or stockholders that you're never gonna see or never talk to. It goes to you as the employee owner. [00:08:00] So from a culture standpoint, it is a really good tool to, I think, create motivation, I think to create a performance driven organization because we all get to reap the rewards of that success that you experience as an organization.

But then the other really great thing about ESOPs that I love is because you're employee owned typically not all ESOPs are this way, but typically when you are a hundred percent employee owned employees have a little bit more of a voice within the organization as well. They have a, they have a say in in decisions or, projects. And it's, and like I said, it's still the same hierarchy as any organization and that is never gonna change, I think, within an esop. But we have an employee, eSOP committee where we have all of our employees have an opportunity part of this ESOP committee. And that ESOP committee helps set the tone for different things within our organization and helps set the tone from a [00:09:00] culture standpoint with this ESOP committee.

We also, I am in the midst of a. Really big project where we were making some changes to our commission plan and we put together a committee of our employee owners to help us determine what this new plan was gonna look like. It wasn't a top down decision. And there and there, that certainly is always gonna take place within an ESOP organization.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is within esop the culture's a little bit different because there's lots. Typically there's opportunity for employees for voice to be heard, and some things happen bottom up instead of top down sometimes.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: Right. Yeah. Yeah. I, I think it's really fascinating. So it's, it's, Nathan's talked about it, and I think at least one other guest has talked about their experience within esop. So what, what would you, I like that you provide a little extra color, by the way, around the committee and then. You know, one example of a decision they might help with is input on the compensation plan changes.

So. When you think about listeners who may be listening in our [00:10:00] conversation right now, and they do not work for that kind of organization, so there is not that ownership. There might be, you know, stock incentives and so on at the higher levels, for instance, but generally speaking, it's not a hundred percent employee owned.

What, what would you say are some important kind of tips or elements for them to consider that they can still do in spite of that?

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: So the first thing that comes to mind is one thing I just talked about, which is what I like about ESOPs is. Typically employees have a little bit more of a voice within an employee-owned firm. A company doesn't have to be employee-owned to be able to give your employees a voice. And when you think about engagement, you think about how you wanna engage your employees.

I think a big part of that is having a voice and being heard. So just thinking about that, if you have a big decision that needs to be made at a company or you have a big project you're working on, get the input of your employees if, and I think that goes a really, really long ways. And then that also helps with buy-in.

On [00:11:00] big change management projects too. So that's the first thing that would come to mind. Another thing that I've noticed working in ESOPs is the type of leadership it typically attracts within an employee owned firm are typically a lot of leaders who are in leadership positions for the greater good of the organization.

And I think, I think what that means is. Leaders really, really care and they really care for what's in the best interest of the greater good of the organization. And I think taking that mindset, if you're a leader and you're not an esop, but. Thinking about things that way, what's for the greater good of the organization, long-term, the greater good of my employees, the greater good of of all that.

And having that mindset, I think can go really long ways as well.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: Yeah. You know, what's coming up for me too is just that, that's something I've done a lot of in my career is, is you know, doing leadership development and coaching with leaders around [00:12:00] ownership mentality, right? Thinking like the owner, thinking like the CEO you make a really great point, right? So it's, it's, it might be a tadd easier for them to wrap their heads around it when they actually are an owner.

And at the same time, that concept, I have seen it successfully kinda integrated, right? Like from an accountability perspective. So I think those are great tips also to give them a voice. We can all, in every organization do more listening than. We do, there's always more opportunity for more input and for people to feel consulted.

And that goes a long way. Change management continuum. The one other thing too that, that, that came to mind as I was thinking about your tips here is, in my last organization, Chartwell retirement resident, massive,

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: with them. Yep.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: yeah. Company, and we had in our, it was baked into our performance management program.

Which was, you know, quite progressive given, given sort of where they were at with, with the whole system[00:13:00] and how big it was. But your goals. The measurement was not based solely on your own individual performance, but also on the company performance as it related back to four key performance indicators, right?

So for instance, one of those being employee satisfaction, employee engagement results. So if the, if we had not moved the dial on the overall annual goal, say we were trying to get that, that number to move by 1%, then you know, the most senior leaders, if you were a VP as I was, I think it was like 80% was within my control and based on the results of my own teams, right from my downstream.

But 20% was based on whether the company got there overall,

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: That's great. Yes. That's a great way to create that ownership and that accountability mentality.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: And the board, the board would work with the c-suite to, to decide, you know, and, you know, there were a couple years where we didn't make all four. And, and so that did directly [00:14:00] impact your performance ratings against certain goals and therefore, how you were bonused.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Interesting.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: it it, it's interesting because I think it's useful and it could be a demotivator in some cases. 'cause some people really like it was early days, but hadn't really wrapped their head around, you know?

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: how they're doing is impacting the full,

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: Yeah, yeah. So there was, there was people, some people sort of feeling. This isn't fair and that's too big a chunk that is outside of my control.

And so it was, but it was part of the, the cultural transformation we were trying to do towards a culture of accountability.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Yeah. Very interesting. I've seen, I've seen that directly tied to bonuses. I've not seen it directly tied to performance reviews, so that's a very interesting way to do it, because those two are connected.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: It was paid for performance. It was fully paid performance. So they were directly in that instance. Very, very well actually. So, yeah. Yeah. So I think it's fascinating. So when you think [00:15:00] about another question sort of like, as a tack onto this one being an ESOP employee-owned company, what, how does this show up in your talent acquisition processes and, and how you attract people?

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: It's an amazing benefit. So, from a long-term retirement standpoint, we offer a traditional 401k like a lot of companies do. We have a competitive 401k, but in addition to that, we also offer the esop. So, we have, it's on average about a 10% contribution that we're, we're gonna give to our employees on an annual basis.

And it's 10% of their annual compensation that they get allocated into this ESOP account. So they just get that for being an employee owner of DSG. So think about that. The, the ESOP contribution in addition to our competitive, traditional 401k contribution, we do like that. It's hard. It's hard. To compete with something like that.

So it is, it's a great tool. And then we also talk about the culture aspect, like the culture, the differentiation in our [00:16:00] culture that it creates for our employee owners too. It's, it's a pretty great way to be able to recruit employees and because our culture. Is so great. We have a lot of our own employees that wanna recruit as well because it's such a great place to be.

Why wouldn't my, you know, my community or my people that I'm acquainted with, my friends work here too. So it creates that expansion of recruitment outside of just the recruitment team too, because it

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: Which, which is the, the holy grail of, of talent acquisition team.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: certainly is.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: Yes, I've led that that function many times and that was always a big pillar of what we were trying to do, which was to not only look externally around how we brought in talent, but ALS and how we found it, but also how we cultivated and internally and created ambassadors of our employees.

So this really sounds like that drives that ambassadorship, if you will. So, yeah,

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: a very [00:17:00] organic employee referral process.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: Yes. Yes. Interesting. Sounds like we're making a case for this anyways. Let's, let's along talk a bit around. Something that you and I had kind of, you know, been, been discussing earlier, which is this, the importance of people, leaders on overall, you know, culture on engagement.

And I know this is an area of real passion for you. Tell us a little bit about your position, your, your philosophy.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Yeah. So, the statistic I always refer, refer back to, it's a Gallup statistic. So a lot of people are probably familiar to it, but managers more than any other factor, influence team engagement and performance. So that's not an exaggeration. 70% of the variance in team engagement is determined solely by the manager.

So, you think about that and it's, it's like the data, the science, the research. [00:18:00] Backs it up, how key that manager position is to create engagement within employees. But I think we've probably all experienced it too. We've all, we've all had good managers. We've probably had poor managers. We've all, you know, we have all experienced it.

So we, I think, can just see for ourselves the impact it makes when you have a really strong people manager. As well. So that, that's something that I've just really honed into in my HR role. And I've had the ability to, to coach and train and develop managers and try to get 'em to understand that.

Never underestimate the impact you have on people's lives both professionally and personally because of your role as their manager. It is huge. So making sure they have the right feedback, the right communication, the right growth opportunities, the right development they feel empowered. All those things are so key.

And, and what I, what I love about that, what I love about engagement so it's the [00:19:00] manager has such a huge role in engagement and what. What I love about that is engagement to me is like, when I think about the holy grail of hr, I think about engagement because it's such a win-win for businesses because if your employees are engaged, that means they're satisfied and, and probably pretty, pretty happy.

Nothing's gonna be perfect, but pretty happy with. Coming to work every day and what they get to do every day. But then that also means if your employees are engaged, you have probably a very high performing, high profitable organization and business. So engagement to me, really is like that great intersection for creating a win win for your employees and the performance of the organization.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: Absolutely. I think you're, you know, the win-win is, is absolutely true. There's a direct alignment to bottom line results. So, so it's great for the company because, you know, the company [00:20:00] does need to be successful to keep employing the people and keep doing the things. And so, and at the same time, we don't wanna do it at the expense of employee wellbeing and engagement and satisfaction, right?

'cause we all deserve a place to work that's. Safe that, that, you know, gives us, makes a, helps us make a good living. And the place where, you know, we're not dragging ourselves every day. So I think the win-win says it. Well, something too that, when you talk about the, the direct impact, so that Gallup stat, I've seen that one too, and it's well backed up.

There's multiple studies around this. This has been around for a while, that direct impact of the frontline leader on. People who report to 'em, and not just frontline, but any us, the person we report to has, has often the greatest impact on our sense of engagement.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: mm-Hmm.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: And belonging. So for instance, I was just speaking actually just this morning before we, we got on here to record with a, with a really wonderful client of mine out in Calgary, Alberta.

And I was [00:21:00] just out there last week and we were launching a 12 month program. And it's a, it's a team coaching approach around next level customer experience for a really large internal employee.

And so the approach we're taking is we're doing team workshops team coaching workshops for the leadership team, and then there's individual coaching for the managers.

And then there's so this is over the course of year, so like quarterly training with a team coaching kind of approach for the direct employees. So the people on the phones handling employee inquiries for this massive organization. And the reason I bring this up is because, I really think it's important that for this workshop, the supervisors of the managers for this team, they were also present because they're the ones that have the largest number reporting to them.

'cause they've got multiple incumbent roles, right? So say like 10 payroll people that report to one supervisor and then there's two supervisors report to the manager. [00:22:00] So if we only have the manager in there, we've already seen breakthroughs and had some real transformation begin. That's great. And yet they're early on in their learning journey and so less well equipped to be able to mentor and bring that to the next level.

So we thought,

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Right.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: the supervisors don't, because the budget constraints don't have the individual coaching, but we'll bring them in on the team piece

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: That's great.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: good number wise and the. The feedback was just so phenomenal because they're feeling kind of jazzed up and motivated. Like they have some really core tools they can use to get that

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Mm-Hmm

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: right to create this new next level customer experience.

Anyways, that's what went in my mind. 'cause it's win-win for everybody. Even if couldn't do the full enchilada, you know what I mean? With private coaching as well. So, so there's, there's ways that we can kind of get at some of this. It kind of takes us back to when I said to you, what are your tips for, you know, a non-ESOP HR leader, right?

If you don't have that already [00:23:00] as part of a natural kind of attraction mechanism, a, you know, or engagement mechanism, what are some other ways? And it, it is interesting 'cause we're actually getting at some of those. 

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: yes, any company, whether you're ESOP or not, you have the ability to have really strong people, managers that are providing feedback, providing communication, constructive, positive recognition, development, a voice, all that can happen anywhere.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: Yeah. Yeah, and it starts with recognizing that impact. Okay. Well, let's take a bit of a, a, a right hand turn as we go down the path, because I'd love to explore another area of passion for you, which is women women in the workforce, women and moms in particular. And you recently had the opportunity to speak at Disrupt HR locally about this topic.

Congratulations on that. I'm sure it was. Very valuable. I wish I, I had, was able to hear it. So tell us a bit about, you know, why you have this passion. Like what drives it and why is it important?

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Yeah. So I think so it's, [00:24:00] it's pretty natural just given my personal life. But I've been a. Woman in corporate America for almost 20 years now. And I've, I've been a mom for almost 13 years in corporate America. I'm no longer in exec in an executive position, but I've, in a previous life, I've been in an executive position.

So, so I think I've seen a lot and I've seen some of the, the challenges that women face in the workforce. I've seen some of the, the challenges I've faced in the workforce. And so. I, I care a lot about, about equity, and I think especially when you think about inclusive inclusivity, diversity, equity, I, I care a lot about that.

I care a lot about equity and I think, naturally because this has impacted me, just given who I am as a human I've just become really passionate about.

Continuing to support women and women and moms specifically too, but always women in the workforce.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: So is this something that you're talking about at [00:25:00] Dakota Supply Chain 

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: so trying to do, so the, the two big areas when I got to speak at Disrupt HR that were takeaways for the business professionals I was speaking to was one, having a robust parental leave. Because there's a lot of research in the us We, we are not extremely progressive when it comes to parental leave.

We're getting there. But there's a lot of research out there that parental leave is an amazing tool you can have where if fathers can spend more time with their children at the newborn stage, it's gonna impact the relationship they have with the. Their child and the trajectory of that relationship in a way where fathers are gonna get more involved in the home and with childcare, which then means that women get more ability and moms get more ability to fully be in there at their jobs, in the workforce, at the office.

So there's. Parental leave. And then I also talked about a new program within the state of North Dakota which is progressive, I think just for the US as a whole, where employers have the ability [00:26:00] to subsidize childcare and they work with the state. So the state and the, the business can help subsidize a CASA childcare for certain income level families.

those are two things that Dakota Supply Group is doing. And I am so proud that I work for an organization that's doing both of those. And we've had a parental leave. For a few years now, so Dakota Supply Group's been quite progressive with that. So from that standpoint I haven't had to advocate a lot.

But I have been involved with creating a women in industry group here. So we are just getting started. It rolled out I think it was back in April, I. We rolled it out. And every single woman within the organization has the ability to get involved with this. It's called an employee owner resource group.

So a lot of you have probably heard of employee resource groups, so we just put our own little spin on it. And it's another wonderful opportunity for our employees to have a voice here at DSG

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: And so, and so, I'm just wondering if, if you're, if you. Would know sort of what is the, the gender ratio at at your company? Is it more male dominated?

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Oh, [00:27:00] yeah. Yeah. So dis yeah. Distribution as a whole is a pretty male dominated industry. Yeah. So our statistic is we have 16% females in our employee population, so, which is pretty standard it's, it's a little bit higher actually for the distribution industry. And we have some pretty, pretty good goals when it comes to changing that statistic as well.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: Is so fascinating. That's that's wonderful. Congratulations on that. And I love that you're kind of leading the way modeling away with some of the things that you offer internally, but you're sharing this externally through Disrupt HR through this show, for instance. You know, and you and I were sort of chuckling in the green room before we hit record because you know, I was saying how Canada, where I'm located has, has, you know, 12 months maternity leave and actually parental leave for spouses.

That can be traded between them. So one parent could take six months, the other can take six months. I actually, it's been a while. My son is 17. I think that may be even a little more generous. Now

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: That's

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: and yeah. And we get. [00:28:00] and that's since 2000, since we moved to 12 months. Previous to that it was six months.

'cause I have a girlfriend. Her, her first son was born in 99. She got six months. The son came around in 2001 is my friend Becky. And she got 12 months. And I remember midway when, when Erin was only six months, she's like, how did I go back to work when her oldest was this age? She couldn't believe it. And yet I remember saying to her, boy, I've got all these US colleagues who are are.

Gobsmacked that, that we get six months and now 12. 'cause they, you get like up to 12, up to three. Right.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Yeah. Mind blown. That's amazing. Yeah. I have plenty of professional females that I know where they'll go back at eight weeks. Goes into childcare at a weeks old.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: I've had lots of friends

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: yeah, yeah.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: us and, and then Europe's a totally different story. They're all, they're, they're all over the map too in terms of what they offer. But it is interesting if we think about the whys now, I can't say Canada often kind of is, is quite similar to the US in many statistics.

And so, and so in terms of,[00:29:00] you know, gender equality and equity, you know, that's driven out of some of these more progressive policies that we do have. I, I don't have the quotes off the top of my head. I would tell you though that culturally these are things that are highly, highly valued. And now there's been a lot of movement.

Certainly Quebec's had it for a long time, but with subsidized like $10 a day daycare. So that's coming. It's actually in, in the province of Ontario now, here where I am. And I think BC's got something similar. So it's important, but this is what we need in order to have a vibrant, robust, economic driver that is the workforce, right?

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: mm-Hmm.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: support the over 50% of people, right?

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: That's exactly right. Yeah. If we,

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: fully.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: yeah, if we wanna be able to make some really good movement on the workforce shortage, especially here in the us, like childcare and better infrastructure around it is huge. Parental leave a better infrastructure around it is huge. Yes. Yep.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: Yeah. Well thank you for, for bringing that [00:30:00] important topic to bear. 'cause I, I think I think it's really critical. I know a couple of people I've gotta, I've gotta put you in touch with them who are, who are really passionate about the

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: Oh, I would love that. Yeah,

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: in the, in industry. So thank you very much.

We've, we've kind of come to the end of our time together already. But I really appreciate you sharing with us a little bit about about your, your passion areas and your experience. Thanks, Christie.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate2: yeah. It was a pleasure. It flew by and thank you for having me.

Kristi Spindler GMT20231031-172017_Recording_separate1: My pleasure. [00:31:00]