YellowStarr Financial: Refocusing on Employee Engagement

This case offers students an opportunity to observe employee engagement through key events that took place at YellowStarr Financial Services before and during a software platform migration. Steve Keldan, who served as CEO of YellowStarr, founded the company in 2002. Lisa Murphy was hired as the Human Resources Director for YellowStarr in 2011. In her first few years, Murphy was challenged with building a human resource team that could manage more than 100 new employees for the growing company. In 2015, YellowStarr needed to undergo a software platform migration with FinanceConnect, its proprietary customer data web-based software that presented retirement plans, investment options and pricing in a simple, easy-to-navigate way. As Human Resources Director, Murphy was tasked with the duty of supporting the migration from an employee standpoint, which meant hiring new talent, minimizing employee turnover, and promoting a healthy, positive culture that encouraged employee engagement. Before and during the migration, Murphy made decisions that appeared to both help and hurt engagement. Implementations included fewer training initiatives, relaxed dress code, and employee-led activity committees. As of 2018 with the migration project almost complete, YellowStarr faced high employee turnover rates. No longer having to deal with the firefighting associated with the migration, Murphy needs to decide what steps to take both short-term and long-term to improve upon YellowStarr’s employee engagement so the company is an employer of choice for new and existing employees.