How Kwik Trip Stays a Top Workplace – 16 Years Running

Announcer:
Welcome to the Recruiting Community Podcast, the go-to channel for talent acquisition leaders and practitioners. This show is brought to you by CXR, a trusted community of thousands connecting the best minds in the industry to explore topics like attracting, engaging, and retaining top talent. Hosted by Chris Hoyt and Jerry Crispin. We are thrilled to have you join the conversation.

Chris Hoyt:
Hello everybody. I’m Chris Hoyt, president of CareerXroads, and this is the Recruiting Community Podcast. We’re excited to be here today. Normally, we bring in talent acquisition and talent leaders from within our community—that’s hundreds of companies and thousands of practitioners.

But today, we’re pulling from a different pool. If you can’t tell by the signage—or if you happen to be on a treadmill listening and not watching—we are at USA Today’s Top Workplaces 2025 award show in Las Vegas. And I’ve got with me a gentleman who might be receiving an award today. Want to introduce yourself?

John McHugh:
Sure! I’m John McHugh, Vice President for External Relations at a convenience store called Kwik Trip. That’s Kwik Trip with a K, not a Q—there’s another Kwik Trip in the U.S., but we’re the one with a K.

Chris Hoyt:
Oh wow, I didn’t know that. I only know the one with the K.

John McHugh:
Yeah, those are the other guys. They’re a great company too, with a strong culture.

Chris Hoyt:
Let’s talk about Kwik Trip with a K and why you’re here. A series of surveys goes out to employees, and the results—based purely on their feedback, not external decisions—indicate that you deserve to win an award this week.

John McHugh:
Yeah, we’re pretty proud of that. We’ve been working with Top Workplaces for 16 years and have made the list every single year. That’s incredible to us. It’s one thing to make the list, but staying on it—especially through ups and downs—speaks to the consistency of our work environment.

Chris Hoyt:
That is something to be proud of. When you get that data back, are there ever any “aha” moments? Anything that surprised you, made you think you need to double down or pull back on something?

John McHugh:
Yeah, absolutely. I’ll go back a few years. When we first started doing this survey, we discovered that coworkers who had been with us for 15 to 17 years—despite our strong retention—started to lose their spark. I presented that data to our board of directors. One of our board members, Craig Culver from Culver’s Restaurants, suggested we offer a one-month paid sabbatical at 20 years of service, in addition to regular vacation.

Our CEO said, “Good idea—let’s do it.” So now, when you hit 20 years at Kwik Trip, you get a full month off in addition to your PTO. It’s been phenomenal. When you’re at 17 or 18 years, you think, “Just two more years to go.” I’m actually taking mine this June—heading to Florence for a cooking class.

Chris Hoyt:
A month-long cooking class?

John McHugh:
Two weeks of cooking, then two weeks to walk it off.

Chris Hoyt:
That’s incredible! That kind of program must have a big impact on retention.

John McHugh:
It does. Programs like this, plus everything we’ve learned through Top Workplaces over 16 years, have had a huge impact. In our industry, turnover is often over 125%. At Kwik Trip, with 39,000 coworkers, our turnover is around 25%.

Chris Hoyt:
That’s amazing. And you spend time reading through every single employee comment?

John McHugh:
We do. We take days going through all 39,000 responses every year. That’s how we learn what coworkers are really thinking and what we can do better.

Chris Hoyt:
I imagine you uncover some things you didn’t anticipate.

John McHugh:
Absolutely, and it changes from year to year. That’s why it’s important to do this every year. Some companies say, “This was a tough year, we shouldn’t do the survey.” That’s exactly when you should do it.

Chris Hoyt:
Right—especially during a rough patch, to really understand what’s on your people’s minds.

John McHugh:
Exactly.

Chris Hoyt:
Did you do anything differently because of the survey?

John McHugh:
Yes. One example is during our CEO transition. Our founder—very much a beloved, grandfatherly figure—retired. His son, a former head trauma surgeon at Mayo Clinic, took over. He’s very different from his dad in good ways and some different ways. We were unsure how the transition would be received.

But the survey showed that people made the transition. In fact, Top Workplaces gave us an award for leadership, recognizing that employees believed in our new direction. That’s rare when shifting from a legacy CEO to a second-generation leader and still scoring highly with coworkers.

Chris Hoyt:
It really sounds like this is part of your company’s operating system.

John McHugh:
Very much so. We wouldn’t choose any other program. A lot of companies offer “top workplace” awards, but you don’t always know the criteria. Sometimes it’s about selling a logo or spinning a story. With this, it’s real data. It’s our coworkers’ voices.

Chris Hoyt:
We were just saying that earlier—this isn’t something done in a back room. You can’t fake the results.

John McHugh:
Exactly.

Chris Hoyt:
If you had the run of the show today and could write a USA Today headline about your experience or this award, what would it say?

John McHugh:
“It’s All About Purpose and Compassion.”
We’ve learned from these surveys that our coworkers want to know their work means more than just selling stuff. They want to make a difference. And if we want them to be compassionate with customers, we need to show them compassion first. You can’t expect someone to work a 10-hour shift and be kind to others if they haven’t been treated kindly themselves.

Chris Hoyt:
I love it. Well said. Thanks so much for taking time today—I know you’re busy with panels and everything else.

If you want to see past or future podcast episodes, go to cxr.works/podcast. For more leadership interviews from the USA Today award event, visit cxr.works/usatoday.

Thanks, everybody!

Announcer:
Thanks for listening to the Recruiting Community Podcast, where talent acquisition leaders connect, learn, and grow together. Be sure to visit cxr.works/podcast to explore past episodes, see what’s coming up next, and find out how you can join the conversation. Whether you’ve got insights to share or want to be a guest, we’d love to hear from you.

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