Submittable Enhances HR Operations and Ensures Compliance with Mineral

CLIENT CASE STUDY

Company

Submittable logo

Challenge

Submittable is a rapidly expanding, multi-state operation. It must empower its workforce while maintaining compliance and competitive employee management best practices — all with limited internal HR resources.

Key solutions

Submittable leverages the Mineral Platform in multiple ways to ensure its HR operations and employment practices are fair and compliant. By leveraging the Smart Employee Handbook, Mineral’s extensive content library, and live discussions with HR experts, Submittable can focus more of its resources on the good work it does.

Results

  • Mineral’s capabilities allowed a new HR hire to grow into a confident, capable HR professional.
  • Smart Employee Handbook ensures that the company can swiftly and compliantly expand employment into additional states.
  • The use of the Mineral Platform saves the company from hiring at least one additional full-time HR employee.
  • Mineral Experts provide one-on-one professional advice on sensitive, nuanced questions
  • Weekly communications from Mineral provide relevant insight on timely topics.

Submittable is in the business of making good things happen — its tagline is “Get to the Good Work.”

At its core, Submittable is a social impact platform — a place that helps nonprofits, government agencies, organizations, businesses, and individuals through the busywork of launching, managing and reporting on social impact programs (scholarships, employee volunteering, grants, corporate giving, etc.). In one shining example, the State of Minnesota leveraged the Submittable platform to distribute a one-time payment to frontline workers during the pandemic.

Founded in 2010, the company has grown to over 200 team members and has employees in 27 states. It shouldn’t be surprising that a company built around sharing good things would also want to share some good with its employees. Mineral® is one key way Submittable is paying it forward.

“It’s the reason I have my job.”

Mineral provides a comprehensive library of resources, including legal updates, industry insights, and HR best practices. This invaluable knowledge repository empowers HR professionals to proactively address compliance issues and adapt to shifts in the regulatory landscape. But for Jacki Odgren, HR Generalist for Submittable, it offers something additional — entry into a new career.

“I initially applied for two different jobs at Submittable, one being this position in HR. I wasn’t hired because I didn’t have HR experience with multi-state compliance, but they did offer me the other position. Within a few months, though, the HR position opened up again, and I was invited to apply for the HR role. The manager knew we had Mineral through our company’s HRIS, Rippling. She said she felt that I didn’t need to necessarily have the experience, just the resourcefulness and the right tool — which is Mineral. So, you could say that Mineral is the reason I have my job.”

Smart Employee Handbook builds confidence.

When Odgren joined the department one year ago, her first task was to update the employee handbook. “I was brand new to HR and was honestly a bit nervous at the start,” she recalls. But the Smart Employee Handbook builder made it easy for her to confidently dive into her new position. “The Mineral Platform is super user-friendly,” Odgren adds. “We had expanded our operations to additional states, and the handbook builder walked me through all the steps I needed to update our handbook for compliance.”

As the company continues expanding to additional states, Odgren frequently revisits Submittable’s Smart Employee Handbook to ensure it remains current. “When I add a new state, Mineral offers up all the local laws and policies,” she says. “I could simply accept them all and be done, but I always compare our corporate policies to see if ours are already compliant. Another thing I appreciate is that whenever a rule or law changes, the handbook references an alert number that links to text showing us the differences between the old and the new. I can simply click to accept the changes. It gives us confidence that our handbook is always accurate and compliant.”

“We had expanded our operations to additional states, and Smart Employee Handbook walked me through all the steps I needed to update our handbook for compliance.”

— Jacki Odgren

HR Generalist, Submittable

Mineral Experts add the personalized touch.

For more complex or nuanced issues, Odgren often turns to the Mineral Experts, certified HR experts who provide personalized guidance. “I reach out to the Mineral Experts a couple of times a month,” Odgren says. “Most recently, they helped me with a parental leave question and some changes we were considering to our corporate travel policy. It is super helpful to talk to a real person, explain our situation, and get professional advice specific to our circumstances.”

Tapping into a library of resources.

The complexities of HR compliance can be overwhelming, even for large, experienced HR teams. Mineral simplifies this process for Submittable by providing a comprehensive library of resources, including legal updates, industry insights, and best practices. “The HR Compliance Library is my first stop with any questions I have or to help answer our management team’s questions,” explains Odgren. “From issues like relocation assistance to separation laws, I turn to Mineral first because I know I’ll get the correct answers with minimal effort.”

For example, Odgren recently tapped Mineral to learn about anti-harassment training rules for the states it operates in. “The Mineral Platform has resources that broke compliance down by state,” she says. “Right there, I got my answers.”

As Odgren embraces her new role, she’s enjoying another offering from Mineral — weekly communications that Mineral sends to users who opt-in, covering common HR questions and providing platform links to answers and related resources. “I learn a lot from these email alerts and newsletters,” she says. “And I feel like it keeps me more in touch with the HR industry overall.”

Growing with confidence.

Submittable is growing quickly, and the growth places additional demands on Odgren. “I feel confident,” she says. “Having Mineral is like having additional team members in our HR department, simplifying and streamlining the tasks involved when a company is in growth mode. Without Mineral, for example, ensuring state compliance and maintaining our employee handbook could be a full-time job in itself. Without Mineral, I’m sure we would need to hire additional HR staff.”

Odgren says she would definitely recommend Mineral to other HR professionals and frequently sees her peers making the same recommendation. “I was recently in a LinkedIn meetup where someone asked about HR resources to help a multi-state employer, and someone recommended Mineral. And I completely agree – it’s a powerful tool, and I can’t imagine doing my job without it.”

“Having Mineral is like having additional team members in our HR department, simplifying and streamlining the tasks involved when a company is in growth mode. It’s a powerful tool, and I can’t imagine doing my job without it.”

— Jacki Odgren

HR Generalist, Submittable

For more information on the Mineral Platform or how to expand your HR and compliance offering with certified HR expert advice, contact our Mineral team.