A third-generation powerhouse in the energy industry, Stern Co. has grown from a small family business into a leading fueling distribution and consultation partner.

Founded as an oil supplier in 1976, Stern has grown into a company of more than 82 employees and six locations across the Midwest.

Family leadership includes Scott Stern, second-generation CEO, and Kaitlyn Reinesch, third-generation vice president of marketing and customer care. Family working in the business also includes Hillary Christopher, third-generation retail fuels account manager, and Kaitlyn’s husband, Trevor Reinesch, director of fuel operations.

Earlier this year, key nonfamily leader Dan Rausch was appointed president.

With growth comes new hurdles, however. Initially, Stern was just looking for software to simplify its extremely manual payroll process. But as the team explored solutions, they realized other opportunities to level up.

“Our HR department was split amongst a couple of people,” Kaitlyn Reinesch said. “I would do the recruiting, and then we had another team member that did safety. Then, we had our controller doing all the payroll and the benefits.”

With multiple people wearing multiple hats, the approach to HR was fractured. More importantly, the team wasn’t able to focus on the core operations of the business.

The solutions

During a quarterly planning meeting, Stern’s EOS implementer, Kyle Kangas, suggested a partnership with PRO Resources. After doing due diligence and comparing options, Stern started working with PRO Resources in January 2024.

Payroll and PTO

Unlike other payroll software systems that Stern considered, PRO offered both easy-to-use software and payroll experts to manage the entire process. Now, Stern’s controller can focus on more mission-critical financial tasks.

In addition to managing payroll, PRO also provides software to simplify employee administration like PTO tracking.

“Before, if I wanted to request time off, I would fill out a Word document and send it to my supervisor, who would send it back to me. And then, I would send it to the payroll person to track it on an Excel spreadsheet,” Reinesch said. “Now, I can just go in and request it online, and it’s so much more convenient.”

All Stern employees now can track their own PTO, benefits, onboarding documents and more. Plus, supervisors like Reinesch can access big-picture analytics to help inform planning decisions and their EOS scorecard.

“It’s making everybody’s life a lot easier and makes for happier team members,” Reinesch said.

Safety and compliance

Safety always has been a pillar of practice for Stern. As a company that handles hazardous materials, it’s essential to operations. However, it became more difficult to ensure everyone at every location was on the same page.

One benefit of working with PRO Resources is access to safety specialists. While Reinesch already had robust safety procedures in place, PRO was able to help document and train employees on those procedures.

“They had a team member who came from a safety role in the propane industry,” Reinesch explained. “So he was really helpful in formalizing a lot of our procedures.”

To help with ongoing efforts, PRO Resources also conducts on-site safety audits every six months.

“When you walk by something every day — like a box sitting on the floor that might be a trip hazard — you don’t notice,” Reinesch said. “But they come in and their safety team has fresh eyes.”

By documenting processes, training employees and completing safety audits, PRO helps Stern keep safety central as it grows.

Recruitment and onboarding

Even though Stern leaders started out just looking for payroll solutions, they soon realized PRO Resources could help save time and energy on their hiring process.

“Before PRO, I would post all of the information on Indeed and review every application and send it to the warehouse manager,” Reinesch said. “If the warehouse manager liked the application, then I would contact the applicant, try to schedule an interview and coordinate that with the warehouse manager.”

With PRO’s recruitment platform, applicants now answer initial questions on their own and self-schedule an interview.

“All I have to do is upload the job description and location,” Reinesch said. “It not only saves me time, but it saves the potential employee time, and it saves our warehouse manager time.”

Even after the hiring process, PRO personally reaches out to each employee to ask about their onboarding experience. Acting as an extension of the Stern team, PRO Resources helps resolve issues and implement improvements.

“Ultimately, our employees feel like their voices are heard a lot more,” she said.

The results

The partnership between Stern Co. and PRO Resources has yielded remarkable results.

“Since working with PRO, I’ve saved about eight hours per week,” Reinesch said.

Perhaps most importantly, PRO has allowed Stern to concentrate on what it does best. As Reinesch puts it, “We’re really good at delivering products and services to our customers in our market. But we’re not HR experts, nor do we need to be.”

The relationship is an example of how family businesses can be well served when they connect with outstanding outsource providers, said Stephanie Larscheid, executive director of the Prairie Family Business Association.

“PRO Resources is a strong supporter of family businesses and of our organization, investing in programs and services that allow family businesses to thrive for generations,” she said.

“Stern Co. has always been a forward-looking company, so it’s fitting that they’ve connected with an additional partner to help them optimize their operations. When families engage with Prairie Family Business, they tend to experience growth and maturing of operations. Stern is a great example of this.”

As Stern Co. leaders looks to the future, they are excited about the possibilities the partnership with PRO Resources opens up.

“Our vision is to be bigger, faster and safer. And we can’t do any of those things without PRO,” president Dan Rausch said.

“If we want to scale, we need processes that are consistent throughout all of our locations. And if we want to be faster, we need to drive efficiency and free up everybody’s time, which is what their platforms are doing for us. If we want to be safer, PRO has the team to support us with audits and safety coaching.”

From a small, family-owned oil company to a multistate energy powerhouse, Stern Co. has come a long way and continues to grow. With PRO Resources as its HR partner, the company is well-equipped for whatever the future holds.

“There’s so much value that they bring to the table,” Reinesch said. “They’ve taken us to another level.”

To learn more about how PRO Resources can help your business move into the future, visit here, or reach out to Prairie Family Business Association for a conversation at fba@usd.edu.