What’s Wrong with People? – Maryanne Robertson
This is the second interview in this series What’s Wrong with People? Read Kyle Greene’s interview from last week.
Q: Maryanne, why did you make Chicago your home?
A: I attended college here and was majoring in business. So after graduation, I joined a management consulting firm based here, which was a good fit at the time.
Q: What changed? How did you end up at Kings Family Restaurants?
A: If you can believe it, love played a big part. I was dating Jack, my husband, who was in law school. Most of my consulting assignments took me out of town, often for weeks at a time. Our relationship was suffering, and frankly, I was tired of travelling.
I heard Kings was looking for an assistant manager at one of their large, Chicago restaurants, applied and was hired. Full circle—I worked at that restaurant during college.
Q: How did you end up at the corporate office?
A: At the restaurant, I developed strategies to reduce turnover which got noticed by the district manager and Ralph, our CEO. Ralph persuaded me to join HR to work on a company-wide initiative addressing employee retention. I was surprised how much I enjoyed HR as I learned more about it. My consulting and operations experience helped me take on bigger, more challenging roles.
Q: As Chief HR Officer, what parts of your job do you enjoy most?
A: I’m still drawn to the analytics—workforce planning and working closely with my Benefits Director and Compensation Director. Since Kings has been expanding and busy with acquisitions, employee integration is critical.
Q: What about distractions?
A: Without a doubt, the employee issues that arise without warning. Some days it seems we can’t make progress on all the other initiatives.
Q: So how do you manage?
A: With a great team in place. My directors on the corporate staff are some of the best experts in the profession. And our field HR folks—all talented, experienced and use common sense.
Q: Your husband’s an employment lawyer. Does he ever give you advice?
A: Well he tries, but… Seriously, he knows I have good legal resources—both my General Counsel and outside firm. Frankly, I think I give him more advice about his clients—grounding him in the practical side of business.
Q: Let’s talk about life outside of Kings. What do you do for fun?
A: With twin daughters who are seniors in high school I don’t have much me time. But I enjoy playing tennis as often as I can. In college, I was active in the drama department as is one of my daughters. I’ve helped out with that, and once the girls are off to college, I plan to volunteer with a local theatre company.
Q: You mentioned earlier that employee issues often distract you. Can you tell me more about that?
A: People do some of the most unbelievable things—what don’t they bring to work? For starters there’s pornography, harassment of all types, potential crime, drugs and alcohol, and let’s not forget sex. On the sadder side, HR deals with health, mental health and emotional issues.
Q: Well, I’m sure you have a formula to address each of these types of issues, right?
A: Heavens no. Every situation is as unique as the individuals involved. Human behavior is unpredictable and there’s no way a policy manual gives you all the answers. That’s one reason I formed a networking group with my peers—so we could bounce ideas and frustrations off each other in a safe, confidential manner.
Q: So what’s one of the most unbelievable things you’ve encountered recently?
A: At the risk of betraying any confidences, I’ll decline answering that one for now. But if you pick up a copy of They Did What? you can read a compilation of tales based on real life experiences. And get 15% off the print and eBook with code TDW2022 if you order by December 17, 2022.