DES MOINES, Iowa — The health and well-being of its employees have always been a priority for Des Moines, Iowa-based Kum & Go, says Tanner Krause, CEO. But the murder of George Floyd last summer by a police officer motivated Kum & Go to accelerate planned initiatives focusing on DE&I.
Today, Kum & Go has a full-time DE&I manager on staff who leads education efforts and ensures that company policies and practices are written through an inclusive lens.
“Now that virtually every person in this country is equipped with a video camera, there [are] greater levels of accountability for those that misuse their power and mistreat people. We saw the benefits of these distributed video capabilities by way of the unfortunate murder of a Black man in Minneapolis,” says Krause. “And if that young woman wasn’t there with her phone out, does [Police Officer Derek] Chauvin get convicted of murder? Does legislation get passed across the country to improve quality of life for black indigenous people of color (BIPOC)? Maybe not.”
(Darnella Frazier, who filmed Floyd’s murder, later won a special citation from the Pulitzer Board.)
Krause is aware of his own privileged upbringing as the wealthy leader of a c-store chain that has been in his family for three generations. He says he feels a “personal responsibility” to do what he can to “get everybody to the same starting line.”
He says this is not a political agenda, but a human agenda.
George Floyd’s murder accelerated some efforts at Kum & Go, but the focus on DE&I isn’t new for the company, says Krause. “My dad, [company Chairman Kyle Krause] for as long as I can remember, has used his pulpit to preach social responsibility and matters of DE&I. And [Kum & Go’s employees] know the values that we have as a family. They know the values that we have as an organization, and so when we continue to give airtime to topics like mental health and DE&I, then they know it’s real.”
“Our industry owes it to our associates and our customers to do better because we represent such a diverse workforce.”
Kum & Go has undergone more than a few initiatives to improve the lives of its employees over the years. In 2019, the company shifted 2,000 of its part-time positions to full-time jobs. Today, Krause says approximately 75% of hours worked at Kum & Go’s more than 400 c-stores are by full-time employees who have their work schedule planned out and accessible a full year in advance.
The effort wasn’t cheap. It reduced the company’s profitability by a few percentage points.
For Krause, it was worth it.
“It was about taking care of our associates, and fortunately, particularly being a privately held company, we have the benefit of being able to do initiatives like this, where we prioritize people over profits,” Krause says.
For Pride Month in June, Kum & Go partnered with New York-based clothing label HOMOCO, named after former East Coast gas station chain, Homes Oil Co. HOMOCO made Kum & Go-branded clothing, and the proceeds were donated to LGBTQ+ organizations, including the Transgender Law Center.
Kum & Go is even making its dress code for employees more accepting.
“We found that the existing Kum & Go dress code isn’t as inclusive to all body types, and so we want to create a dress code that can eliminate any feelings of self-consciousness amongst our store associates and allow them to be comfortable and not have to worry about that part of their jobs,” says Krause.
He says wages are also important when it comes to supporting Kum & Go’s employees.
“The reality is, if your people are worried about how they will pay their bills or where their next meal will come from, no amount of team building, culture building or educational activity will be able to account for that amount of anxiety,” Krause says.
His goal is to ensure that employees can make ends meet from the money they make from one full-time position with Kum & Go. “We’re not there today,” he says, “but that’s the most important thing that we can do for our people. And honestly, they deserve it.”
- Click here to read CSP’s complete DE&I: Starting the Conversation report.
Krause says he has received little pushback internally while promoting DE&I, but for retailers who are experiencing internal pushback, Krause says explaining the “why” behind the initiative is important.
“If I have stubbed my toe in this process, it would have come from assuming a broad audience knows why we’re doing the type of stuff that we’re doing. And like any initiative, it’s really important to explain why leaders are talking about this and prioritizing this,” says Krause.
Given the inherent diversity in a business that touches as many people as convenience retail, Krause says these issues transcend the bottom line.
“Our industry owes it to our associates and our customers to do better because we represent such a diverse workforce. We have a responsibility to make the world a fair place because it’s those same people that are marginalized who work for us and shop with us,” he says. “And we owe it to them to do more than what the market bears when it comes to promoting equality.”