Suzanne Cramer oversees the human resources, recruiting and payroll departments for Rutter’s. She started in 2013 with
a background in recruitment, “My passion will always be recruitment and assisting employees with their career goals,” Cramer says.
She has built out Rutter’s career development program and worked with its operations team to build a pipeline of candidates for manager roles through an assistant manager program.
In 2020, Rutter’s turnover rate was 94%, she says. In 2021, it dropped to 86%, and for 2022, it is at 71%.
“The last three years, while challenging, from a recruitment and retention perspective have actually gone pretty well,” she says. The chain raised its starting-pay rate to $17.50 in late November, its seventh increase over the last three years.
“We have also invested in training and have added additional training hours and revamped programs to ensure our team members start off on the right foot. This year we are adding training surveys for our new hires after their first 30 days to understand where gaps in training may be,” she says.