90 Days Hired, They Stay a Year w/ Jolene Hostal

Hiring faster isn't always the fix, sometimes you need to clean deeper.

In this episode of The Chad & Cheese Podcast, hosts Joel Cheesman and Chad Sowash sit down with Jolene Hostal, Director of HR at Stanley Steemer.

Jolene shares insights into managing recruitment and talent acquisition for an 80-year-old brand with over 50 corporate locations and 200 franchises. The conversation covers key strategies for high-volume hiring, modernizing the candidate experience, and improving employee retention:

• Tech Stack & Speed

• Hiring & Profile of a Tech

• The Retention Challenge

• Communication & Engagement

PART 2 - What Day-90 Reveals

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

Joel Cheesman: All right, let's do this. We are the Chad and Cheese Podcast. I'm your co-host, Joel Cheesman, joined as always, Chad Sowash is here, as we welcome Jolene Hostal...

Jolene Hostal: Hello!

Joel Cheesman: ...Director of HR at Stanley Steemer. Welcome to HR's most dangerous podcast.

Chad Sowash: The carpet cleaning company!

Joel Cheesman: Good to be here. Jolene, a lot of our listeners and viewers won't know who you are. Give us a little bit about you. And for those that don't know Stanley Steemer, maybe just a sentence or two about what Stanley Steemer does.

Jolene Hostal: Yeah, so I'm Jolene Hostal, the Director of HR. I have been with Stanley Steemer for going on 19 years.

Chad Sowash: Hello!

Jolene Hostal: Yeah. It's fun, that's why I stay, right? Stanley Steemer, it is an 80-year-old company, but we are looking to be young and...

Chad Sowash: Vibrant!

Jolene Hostal: Vibrant, right! Exactly. That's why we partner with Paradox, we're doing some cool things there. But, yeah, Stanley Steemer, it's a carpet cleaning company, but we do anything in your house, really—floors, tile...

Joel Cheesman: Air duct cleaning.

Jolene Hostal: Air duct cleaning! Yeah, duct cleaning.

Chad Sowash: If you have a duct, they'll clean it.

Jolene Hostal: We'll clean it. We'll do your dryer vents, we'll do everything, so...

Joel Cheesman: I think that's called job security, because those things aren't going to go...

Chad Sowash: That's called expanding the TAM! Expanding the TAM, as they say.

Joel Cheesman: There's a carpet, there's an opportunity!

Jolene Hostal: Absolutely. If you have floors in your house, we're going to clean them.

Chad Sowash: So, how many people do you hire in a year? How big is your staff, and how many people do you generally hire in a year?

Jolene Hostal: Yeah, so we have 57 corporately-owned locations, and then around 200 franchises. On the corporate side, we hire about 2,500 individuals a year. And a lot of those are cleaning techs and our customer service advisors. We also have a call center that when you dial 1-800-STEEMER, one of our agents answers the phone and gets you where you need to go.

Joel Cheesman: So, you're looking to do...

Chad Sowash: Can you get a job by calling 1-800-STEEMER?

Jolene Hostal: And not you. Someone! You know what, maybe! Yeah, I mean, we definitely run you through the process!

Chad Sowash: Can't let you in people's homes!

Joel Cheesman: They're going to let you in people's homes?

Chad Sowash: So, you're trying to stay... you're trying to stay young and vibrant. Tell us about that. You assimilate that to Paradox. What are you doing to stay young and vibrant in the whole talent acquisition side of the house?

Jolene Hostal: Well, I think, yeah, I mean, obviously, partnering with Paradox over the last three years, our relationship has definitely grown in terms of making our processes better, faster, more efficient. Our cleaning tech position is our high-volume position, and they really like to get through this process quickly.

Chad Sowash: Bet, yeah.

Jolene Hostal: Yeah, so having a chatbot is really cool for us. Our chatbot's name is Maria. We put our technicians through that. They chat with Maria and get their application in, like, 90 seconds or less. So, which is pretty cool, you know? We've recently partnered with Dayforce, which just made our technology explode really quickly. We can get backgrounds and drug tests back really quickly, so...

Joel Cheesman: Okay, so Dayforce is a background check...

Jolene Hostal: Dayforce is our human capital management system, but we partner with First Advantage to do our background checks and DTs.

Chad Sowash: So, everything's in Dayforce.

Jolene Hostal: Everything's in Dayforce.

Chad Sowash: So, when all of that's happening through Paradox, all the information's being pushed into your system of record, which in this case is your HCM, which is Dayforce.

Jolene Hostal: Correct, yeah.

Chad Sowash: Gotcha, okay. And that's the cool part! You're doing it faster. Is this something where you had to go more mobile? Are these individuals pretty much out and about all the time, so they're not sitting around on a laptop?

Jolene Hostal: Exactly. Our cleaning techs are not in front of their computer, so we have to be mobile-friendly. And we have to make the process really short and sweet and right to the point, you know? So, yeah. They're cleaning carpets; it's a hard job. So, they are focused on what they're doing before they come to apply, so...

Joel Cheesman: You have a system of franchisees as well as the corporate office. Talk about how the challenges of those are part of your daily existence. Are the franchisees a separate problem from the corporate? Do they intermingle? How does that work?

Jolene Hostal: Yep. So, we don't really... Our franchise owners are their owners. They are business owners; they have the autonomy to be able to do whatever they would like with their business. So, we really support the 57 corporate locations. So, we work really closely with them in terms of getting... it's probably about 2,000 technicians that we get through the door every year, and probably 200 CSAs. There's about 150 employees at our home office right now, so...

Chad Sowash: And you guys, I would assume, kind of like set the standard: brand standard... and then probably, I mean, from a system standpoint, they get to choose their own systems that they want to use, but they probably look to you guys...

Jolene Hostal: For guidance, yep! Absolutely, they do. And you're right, brand standard. Marketing sets the brand standard, and then everyone kind of follows suit. And, yeah, they get to do their own thing, though. It's a really cool franchise model. A lot of our franchisees came from the corporate side, so we have really good partnerships with them. They know how to run the business, they've been on the corporate side, and then they buy a franchise, so it's pretty cool.

Chad Sowash: Is that easier for you when if they're on the same systems?

Jolene Hostal: It is easier for us if they're on the same systems, but we don't care—I mean, we'll support them no matter what, yeah.

Chad Sowash: Okay.

Joel Cheesman: You hire a lot of technicians. What are your most effective ways of getting in front of them?

Jolene Hostal: I think our most effective ways in getting in front of them is making sure that we're meeting them where they are in terms of like Indeed, making sure our process is quick, and making sure that they understand what they're doing for their job. So, we have a unique process, I'd say, in terms of once we have them apply, we have them come in for like a group interview, and then we have our manager talk and tell them all about what we do and how we do it.

Joel Cheesman: Define a group interview for those that don't know. Is this what we call a cattle call?

Jolene Hostal: Well, you know, I mean, I guess maybe. But we also do individual interviews at that same time.

But we have them come in and we give a presentation of like, "Hey, this is who we are at this location. This is who Stanley Steemer is." A lot of people have heard the jingle, right? But they don't know all the different products and services that we offer. So, we want to make sure that they understand that before they get on board.

Chad Sowash: It feels like a team meeting almost.

Jolene Hostal: Almost, yes! Exactly.

Joel Cheesman: What does a typical technician look like? How old are they? Education? What—if you were creating a profile of a technician—what do they typically look like?

Jolene Hostal: I would say they're usually roughly between the ages of like 20 to 30. It's a hard job, like I said. So, you're... it's sometimes two showers a day. You're moving furniture. It's definitely a physical job. And if you like to drive around, you kind of get to be your own boss, you know? We tell you where the job is; we don't tell you how to do the job. You show up, you get to work with the customer and really drive the sales and the revenue of the company that way. So, I mean, it's kind of cool. You're kind of your own boss for the day. We don't really dictate how you interact with the people, with our customers, so...

Joel Cheesman: So, Indeed is the primary driver. You're not doing like social media marketing; you're not doing traditional stuff like billboards or TV ads?

Jolene Hostal: No, actually. And so Diana, my counterpart, she really handles that part, and she really feels like Indeed is probably our best source of sourcing candidates for right now. I always pop in like, "Hey, let's do some employee referrals if we have a good location with a lot of good technicians there." Like, why not bonus our employees, you know? I mean, I think it makes sense.

Joel Cheesman: Why haven't you so far done that?

Jolene Hostal: We have! Oh, yeah, we do, in certain locations. If they're good employees, like, we want their

friends, you know? So, we'll incentivize them to do that.

Chad Sowash: So, talking more strategically, you've been able to... can you help us understand, going down the funnel, what you've currently done and what you would like to do next? And then how much further you want to take that, just from the standpoint of using technology, maybe agentic technology? We're here at an event where you're going to have a bunch of your peers who might already be doing some of this stuff. What do you want to learn from them?

Jolene Hostal: I mean, I want to learn how we can maybe keep people a little bit longer. I think getting them through the funnel we've really perfected over these past couple of years. Like I said, we do it really quickly. But how we maintain them, you know, is probably my biggest hurdle in terms of retention. So, we put some things in place to help with that. But, yeah, that's probably our biggest challenge right now.

Chad Sowash: And that's for corporate jobs?

Jolene Hostal: Yeah. For technicians. Yeah, I mean, our home office, we have really high retention rate at our home office. And even our customer service advisors tend to stay with us a long time. But our technicians, I would love to be able to help them stay a little bit longer in the role.

Joel Cheesman: Well, from your promotional pieces, it sounds like they are! 73% of your managers started out as technicians.

Jolene Hostal: That is true!

Joel Cheesman: That sounds like a good thing to me. Is that a low number from your perspective, or is that about where you want to be?

Jolene Hostal: No, but it's at a managerial role, right? So, I mean, at our technician level, if they can work their way up the ranks, then they definitely do stay, I will say. No, I think that's a great number, you know? A lot of our district managers, even our employees at home office, came from the trucks. So, I mean, it's a really good company to work for in terms of retention from a home office standpoint.

Joel Cheesman: Talk about, sort of on a high level, where you think we are with employment. We have immigration political issues, we have entry-level jobs and AI taking, you know, opportunities away and giving some opportunities. Just at a holistic level, where do you think we are with employment in this country?

Jolene Hostal: I think AI definitely has its place, right? And clearly, we need it for certain things, for jobs in coding and certain IT jobs that pop on my radar. But I definitely think that it's going to be challenging over the next few years to really understand what that means for the workforce, you know?

Chad Sowash: What are some of the biggest challenges that you guys are seeing right now? Obviously, retention is one you would like to see better, retention, but what are some of the biggest problems you see in the workforce for Stanley Steemer, and maybe even in certain regions? Because, obviously, different regions of the country—and you guys are all over the place—are different than others. So, can you talk about that?

Jolene Hostal: Yeah. So, I think one of the biggest issues that we face is the quality of our employee. We want to make sure that we're hiring the best people that we can, that are making sure that they're representing our brand well, you know? They're coming to work on time, showing up in a nice, clean uniform, performing the duties well, you know, making sure that they're trained properly. And that's our job, and I think we do a really good job at training them. But making sure that when they are going into someone's home, they're making our customers feel very comfortable.

Chad Sowash: Yeah.

Joel Cheesman: Who is your competition from an employee standpoint? Is it other services like yours? Is it... because you said they're in that 20 to 30 age range, so they're not like first job, but they're also not super experienced. So, who are you competing with in local markets to hire these folks, and where are you maybe poaching them from?

Jolene Hostal: Well, we'll poach from anywhere! You're right, they don't have to have a lot of experience. I mean, if you have a high school diploma, we'll train you, right? And actually, we prefer it that way. We prefer to put our brand on that person. But I think anyone's our competitor. You're right in terms of like the service industry. There aren't a lot of carpet cleaning companies that we're like poaching from. There's a lot of mom-and-pops, but there's not like a big brand. But, yeah, that service tech kind of role in other service lines, we definitely can...

Joel Cheesman: Like a Costco employee or maybe a Walmart employee? Someone that's service-facing and has that experience?

Jolene Hostal: Yeah, absolutely. Yep.

Chad Sowash: So, is that who you're targeting right now, to prospectively poach that type of individual? Is there like a perfect maybe competitor—that's not a competitor, but it is a competitor for talent in certain areas? Are you trying to target those types of...

Jolene Hostal: I don't know if we're deliberately targeting anyone. We cast a very wide net, and then we really just kind of work with you in terms of our culture. Like, if you can get our culture in terms of like you show up, here's your van, you get to really do your job on your own, you're not really micromanaged by a manager because here's your jobs for the day and you get to go out and kind of independently do that... Yeah, that's really...

Chad Sowash: Is it one person per van, or are there teams?

Jolene Hostal: Well, it's both, yeah. We call them solos, and then we also have two guys in a van, so...

Chad Sowash: Do you have to graduate to be a solo?

Jolene Hostal: In some markets, yes!

Chad Sowash: Okay, okay. "Two guys in a van" sounds like an entirely different company!

Jolene Hostal: It is, yeah! It is.

Joel Cheesman: You have employees on the road. They're out of the office. I mean, they're disparate from having face-to-face with them. How are you guys utilizing technology to engage employees on a regular basis? Are they reporting back on satisfaction of the job? Are they reporting back on their managers if they're a technician? Talk about that.

Jolene Hostal: Yeah, so we use tablets to be able to communicate with them. We have cameras in our van to be able to, at least use it for safe driving. We can talk to them. But, yeah, we send...

Chad Sowash: Slow down!

Jolene Hostal: Yep! It does, believe it or not, like, eyes on the road! Because that's a really big challenge for us, too, in terms of safety. You can't mess around with that. We put a lot of time and effort into safety with our vehicles. So, yeah, but we have tablets that we're able to talk to our technicians, be able to give them lunches, be able to make sure that they have everything they need for the day. And so we dispatch our jobs from central dispatch in Columbus, Ohio and in Salt Lake City. So...

Chad Sowash: What's the next piece of tech that you want to buy? Either because it's fun, or because you think it'll actually help?

Jolene Hostal: I don't know!

Chad Sowash: Because so many TA... for years we've seen TA buy the bright and shiny things...

Jolene Hostal: Yeah, well, we don't really do bright and shiny as...

Chad Sowash: Well, I mean, you clean stuff up, so it should be bright and shiny! But so what's that next piece of tech that you would like to buy? And how do you think it would actually impact the organization?

Jolene Hostal: That is a great question. I don't know what we would buy next. I mean, I told you we implemented a new human capital management system this past year, Dayforce, and that really was our one-stop shop. I mean, we spent an entire year implementing this system for our organization just to make sure that the technicians have everything they need right in this spot. I don't know... I honestly don't know what we would buy next.

Chad Sowash: A human capital management system is a pretty big piece of tech, so you're going to be set for...

Joel Cheesman: How was that shopping? What were the RFPs like on all the HCMs, and why did you land on Dayforce?

Jolene Hostal: We landed on Dayforce because of their open architecture. They play nice with a lot of other systems, and we have some internal systems, so their API connections were really... it was very attractive to us. So...

Joel Cheesman: It's funny that someone says, "I don't know what new tech I'd want," chooses an HCM because of the API infrastructure capabilities! That's pretty awesome. It's just a funny answer, because you sound more techie than maybe you give yourself credit for!

Jolene Hostal: Yeah, maybe! Well, and I also spent a year in the weeds on this project, so I do know a lot about... We built the APIs internally; our IT department did. And so I had to work really closely with them in terms of understanding, and even on like the Paradox side, just to make sure that the integration is working pretty seamlessly.

Joel Cheesman: How are you working either with your team or your vendors? You have a lot of the data right now. Are you regularly checking that? Are you working with them on "what does the story tell us" around data and hiring and what's working, what isn't? Talk about that.

Jolene Hostal: Yeah, I mean, I think the story's telling us that the technology is good in terms of getting them through the process quickly, like in terms of hiring. But from our side, like I said before, we would like to retain them a little bit longer. So, I mean, that really is the story that I sit with a lot of times, is like, how can we make employees happier, if we can make them happier? How can we keep them two weeks longer, three weeks longer?

Joel Cheesman: Do you survey your employees on some of that data, or are you looking at, "Hey, if we get somebody to X days, they're way more likely to last a longer time than if they don't, and how do we make that happen?" Are you looking at that data?

Jolene Hostal: Yep! And we have looked at that data. If they make it 90 days, they'll probably make it a year. So, we know... like we've adjusted our pay plan, we've done things that help. But, yeah, if they make it 90 days, they'll probably make it a year with us, so... because they understand our culture, right? And they like what they're doing. Once you hit 90 days, you understand you're running your own van, you're actually doing the job. So, yeah.

Chad Sowash: You figured it out!

Jolene Hostal: Yeah, you figured it out. So, you can move on to the next step. So, most of those people will stay a while.

Chad Sowash: Do you think moving the chat technology, the conversational AI, down the funnel more to be able to engage with those employees now that you have obviously Paradox, you've got conversational AI, you've got this open architecture with Dayforce... Do you think that could prospectively help as well to be able to continually engage them about their benefits and reasons why they definitely want to stay, and what a great job you did today, and those types of things?

Jolene Hostal: Yeah, and we've had those conversations about serving our employees. Just be ready for the answers that come back, right? But as long as we can do that, yeah, we are definitely open to it. And we've actually had lots of conversations about doing that more recently, especially with benefits, because that's obviously a huge cost to any organization, but just to make sure that our employees are happy. So, yeah.

A little treat here, some Stanley Steemer swag!

Joel Cheesman: In the bag! I love the old-timey font.

Jolene Hostal: Yeah!

Joel Cheesman: Well, yeah! Koozie, got to have that. We're doing an unboxing!

Chad Sowash: I think I got your bag.

Joel Cheesman: Why do you say that?

Chad Sowash: Oh, I don't know, that's a little snug for me, Chad. I don't know, let's see what we got.

Joel Cheesman: I bet we're both, yeah, we're both the same!

Jolene Hostal: There you go!

Joel Cheesman: Have you been Stanley Steemed? Ooh!

Chad Sowash: Stanley Steemed!

Joel Cheesman: I've steemed a Stanley once! And the hat! Is this a fitted hat? Oh, nice! It's got the no-back on it.

Chad Sowash: Oh, it's elastic!

Joel Cheesman: The Steemer!

Jolene Hostal: That's right. That's our new marketing: The Steemer.

Joel Cheesman: The Steemer! I like it. It's very Steelers, Pittsburgh.

Jolene Hostal: Ah, yeah, it is!

Chad Sowash: That's a good hat.

Joel Cheesman: Thank you, Jolene.

Jolene Hostal: You're very welcome!

Joel Cheesman: You're the only one who's come on with gifts. That's bonus points galore!

Chad Sowash: Bearing gifts!

Joel Cheesman: Bonus points galore! All right.

Jolene Hostal: Awesome. Thank you, guys, very much.

Joel Cheesman: Thanks for coming. Thanks for the gifts. Guys, this has been the Chad and Cheese Podcast. She is Jolene Hostal, Head of HR at Stanley Steemer. This is the AI Series. We out!

Chad Sowash: We out!