The Power of Investing in the People

The Allentown Parking Authority (APA) was established in 1984, and for 38 years it conducted its operation with no human resources department. In 2021, I decided that the growth and stability of the organization justified the need for a human resources department. Simple right? Wrong! It takes a lot of time and consideration to determine how such a department should be structured and staffed. The first step was to recruit a professional who would reflect the organization’s culture.

Luckily, I remembered Christina Nolden, a paralegal with an Allentown law firm. She made a positive impression on me, so much so that she immediately came to mind as I considered this position. I contacted her on LinkedIn and asked where she was working. After a conversation on the phone, I asked her if she would consider a career change to work in human resources. With no doubt in her mind, she immediately jumped at the opportunity to make a change. With her legal background of more than 20 years, I was certain she could be an asset to our growing organization.

Initially, Christina met with me and the Deputy Directors to gain an understanding of what was expected of her and the new department. The APA had been rebuilt from the top down, and now had a totally updated structure and a new set of people, along with a real business focus. She understood that she would be totally challenged to familiarize herself with the various people, processes, procedures, and parking systems. She would need to immerse herself in the parking industry, which she had very little if any exposure to. Christina would now be a part of the APA management team with an important purpose and position in the parking industry.

Christina quickly learned that this would not be an easy job. Within the first 90 days, we had to terminate two managers, and she lost her assistant to a promotion within the organization so she had to recruit and hire a new one. She quickly realized the need to prioritize the people ahead of the processes of the organization, and that it was imperative it was to communicate with the managers and work closely with me to incorporate the values of this organization. There would be a long road ahead of her, but she was up to the challenge.

While people are the most important part of any business, in the parking business it’s all about the people. The hardest part of our job is recruiting good, qualified people who fill openings that often turn over, and creating an ever-expanding workforce.

We were fortunate that two major vacancies, the customer service manager position and facilities manager position, were filled by promotions from within the organization. But when COVID hit, the events at the PPL Center arena in downtown Allentown came to a halt and our event staff was completely depleted. Once COVID restrictions were lifted, the PPL Center slowly began to schedule events and the new hockey season started. Great news for parking! But we were left with no event manager or staff to run the decks and lots during the events. The people in the organization pulled together as a team and I was lucky to have the ability to offer overtime to employees currently employed, along with a supervisor who managed the few events that were scheduled. Still, we needed to hire an event manager and re-staff quickly!

While working diligently on recruiting an events department, Christina traveled to her first parking industry expo. Well, that was certainly eye-opening. She now understood how wrong people were when they said, “It’s only parking.” No way! There is so much involved in parking operations, and Christina learned first-hand how human resources plays a huge part. Upon her return, we interviewed and hired an event manager, along with staff. Now maybe she could breathe…

Although Christina learned a lot about parking equipment and services from an industry conference, it was time for her to experience her very first Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) conference. At first, she was overwhelmed, but she managed to take a step back and remembered some advice I gave, “If you come away with just one thing that you can use on your day-to-day operation to improve your bottom line, then it was worth the expense.” Well, she came back with that one thing, and it has improved our ability to fill our vacant positions as well as our head count for growth.

Our city’s government had an expectation of a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week response on parking enforcement complaint calls and service. APA needed to expand hours of operation to meet these needs, which called for the budgeting for 10 new parking enforcement officers. In addition to those positions, we needed more event staff as well as additional facility maintenance technicians. Upon her return from the SHRM conference, Christina reported that she discovered a software that would help us with our recruiting efforts. Although there is a cost to it, the “squeeze was worth the juice” on the Applicant PRO that she learned about. This application filters dozens of hiring sites (like Indeed) to our requested needs. It has proven to be a very powerful tool. The organization could not interview the many applicants fast enough!

In closing, as with any organization, you can invest in equipment, material, in brick and mortar, but it all comes down to people. The people that become your employees, the employees that become your work family. I believe if you treat your employees well, they will be happy to come to work and put forth a good effort every day. Many questioned me if the cost of creating a human resources department would be too expensive. In the short time that Christina has been with APA as the Human Resources Manager, we more than doubled our work force. I am convinced that it cost far more not to have a well-functioning, professional human resources department. With Christina’s department’s efforts, this parking organization was able to exceed its revenue numbers and continues to grow with quality people.