GSTV Wins Crain’s Detroit Business Excellence in HR Award

by Leslie Green, Crain’s Detroit Business

Winner: Employee Experience

“When torn between paths of whether we follow the best interest of GSTV or the best interest of the team member, where we can, we’re always going to side with a team member. It may not always be the best case for GSTV, but we’re going to support our employees,” said GSTV Vice President of Human Resources Amy Ratliff.

GSTV, a national video network serving 28,000 fuel retailers, employs 124 people. When Ratliff joined the company, it wasn’t focusing on employee engagement or open communication. Since then, she said, it has become “high-touch, high-value and high-tech. 

“Our CEO (Sean McCaffrey) really wants to understand the thoughts and feelings of our employees and what we’re not doing and should be doing or things we are doing that we shouldn’t be doing so he can make changes,” Ratliff said. 

Changes might be improved technology, additional staff or how the company operates “day in and day out,” she said.

Improving the employee experience also meant overhauling GSTV’s benefits package. 

The company increased its 401(k)-match program and PTO and added paid parental leave for anyone having a baby, adopting or newly fostering a child. It also added departments, increased staff by 26 percent to alleviate employee strain, developed an open-door policy and began holding one-on-one meetings between employees and Ratliff. 

In addition to four weeks of PTO and 12 federal holidays off, the HR department began emphasizing the importance of downtime and self-care by shutting down the office on the first Friday of every month.

“Everyone is so grateful for those self-care days when they can disconnect for a little bit,” said GSTV HR Manager Destiny Crawford. “We exceed our goals because of our teams.”

To further engage employees, the HR department has held fun social events, such as co-worker feud and virtual bingo, and developed quarterly social responsibility programs, such as fundraisers for Black Girls CODE and Susan G. Komen for the Cure and a food drive for Feeding America.

“Our Human Resources team has worked diligently this past year in helping to grow our business, increase our engagement and drive GSTV’s culture. The team has created a culture of empathy, caring and openness that allows our team members to feel like family. Their efforts have led to a significant impact on the growth of our business and overall experience for the GSTV Family,” McCaffrey said.

GSTV was named one of Crain’s Cool Places to Work in 2020.