Oct 17, 2016
Anonymous employee
HHS Response
9yWe appreciate this anonymous post and the recognition that the Austin Office has been doing a great deal to enhance communications and to drive engagement. The reference to turnover at the Austin is appreciated and is only valid to a point. It is true that some turnover occurs as a result of being located in an area where significant competition exists as well as some who are dissatisfied with workload. That said our overall retention rate at the corporate office has significantly increased as a result of the efforts to enhance communications, increased team building,, implementing more effective communication from Department heads, and enhancing our evaluation process to include self- evaluations.
HHS does not share the opinion that Team Members are not valued outside of family members. In fact, there are only a few family members that actually work in the office so this overarching generalization does not have any merit. There are a number of Team Members who have been promoted and have been long term-valued members of the team. Compensation and incentive programs are absolutely implemented fairly and consistently and are based on market, performance & job duties. Increases either come in the form of annual merit increases that are effective Jan. 1st of each year or based on promotion. Again, these are all reviewed by the direct supervisors of each department and with the team members. As for benefits, we provide very competitive vacation, sick, maternity leave along with two volunteer days per year. Additionally, we have been able to keep our health care premiums for our employees relatively flat year over year which is much better than the national average that are seeing spikes in increased health costs.
Turnover at the office in 2013-2014 was higher in some departments, but much of it resulted from the need to hire higher caliber individuals prepared to handle the amount of growth, changing processes due to regulations, and building a core foundation to support growth. It is true that there have been changes at the CFO position for various reasons; 3 in 4 years. Recently HHS has hired a fantastic CFO who has hit the ground running, understands the business, is local to Austin, and is frankly doing a terrific job.
The comment that taking initiative is seen as a threat could not be more inaccurate to the overall philosophy of the company. The lack of initiative is usually what causes people to not be successful in our company and is not the environment that we create. We do not run as many normal corporate offices in that we have a lean staff for the 14,000 team members and over 400 customers that are supported so everyone in our office is highly engaged and all take a lot of initiative.
Opportunity and advancement is plentiful within HHS and those who are dedicated and committed to the organization are readily rewarded. Challenging the leaders of the company with proper constructive criticism is also welcomed within the organization. “Yes men/woman” is the last thing the company promotes, in fact, the last thing the company wants is complacency, we want action and participation.
I am sorry this anonymous employee at the Austin Office had a difficult experience, I wish they would have brought their concerns to any member of the leadership team that they felt comfortable with or taken advantage of our Open Door process. We always welcome the input and value the opportunity to either help resolve any legitimate issues and address their concerns or provide context and our philosophy around our operating practices.