Coworking with Krystal Stutzman

On Wednesdays, we schedule our weekly 1:1 with HR Brew’s readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

Krystal Stutzman is the HR manager at Teadit North America, a Texas-based gasket manufacturing company. She’s a one-woman HR team at the firm, where she serves about 135 employees between the shop and office and has helped Teadit create new people policies and procedures to improve company culture as its first HR manager in about a decade.

How would you describe your specific job to someone who doesn’t work in HR?

I am the person who helps employees enjoy coming to work and [am] always looking for ways to improve on the culture while also helping the company achieve business goals.

What’s the best change you’ve made at a place you’ve worked?

Prior [to me], the company didn’t have a dedicated HR rep, so I would say implementing employee initiatives, such as a company newsletter, improving onboarding, and rolling out a volunteer program, [is] on the top of the list so far.

What’s the biggest misconception people might have about your job?

The biggest misconception is probably [that] people can’t be themselves around HR and [HR] only are around if someone is in trouble. People come in my office, they’ll vent about certain things, and they might drop a cuss word here and there, and then they immediately freak out, thinking I’m gonna write them up…[I say] “It’s okay, you’re just speaking with me. Obviously, don’t just cuss up a storm here, but it’s fine.” So, [I’m] just trying to reassure, anytime I’m having conversations [that] it can be more of a relaxed conversation when speaking with me

What’s the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

Getting to learn what motivates everyone—it’s one role I feel you get a chance to speak with everyone on staff, which helps to know how some policies could affect all departments, instead of just one.

What trend in HR are you most optimistic about? Why?

HR having a say in operations. This trend has been going for awhile now, but I love that it’s on the forefront. Sometimes HR representatives have the best ideas and can help see things from multiple angles while helping get employees onboard with the vision.

What trend in HR are you least optimistic about? Why?

100% remote work. I know I should be disappointed in myself for even making that statement, but I prefer the hybrid method. Remote work does show benefits to ones with families, but [it] does make being a part of a company culture that much harder. Hybrid at least [gives] a chance for employees to interact and have in-person meetings easily, to share the vision and goals of the company.

What about working in the office is important to you?

I’m all for hybrid models…It’s [working] with the manufacturer, where it’s not just administrative employees—we also have shop employees who absolutely could not do the job from home. So, that’s where I’m not a fan of the 100% remote for our particular industry…Just knowing that that’s not an option for our shop employees is where I’m like, “Okay, it can cause a divide.”...We’re all 100% back to work. Of course with our office staff, if there are things that come up…we’re very flexible when it comes to that.

Tell us one new or old HR tech product or platform that’s made your life easier, and why.

Not so much just an HR platform, but I would say LinkedIn. It really helps when recruiting for higher-level roles for your company while also being super user-friendly. I mean, there are…few sites I could think of where I could network with likewise peers and find potential candidates to interview at the same time.