Kettlemans' director of HR explains how they're reframing benefits through wellness and custom schedules to build workforce loyalty
At Kettlemans Bagels, traditional work hours are a thing of the past. With operations running 24/7, the company has had to rethink scheduling entirely, particularly for its leadership team.
Shubhankar Purandare, director of human resources, says flexibility is not only built into their system, it's essential for keeping teams productive, engaged and retained.
The company offers managers the ability to shape their schedules around personal obligations and caregiving responsibilities, especially during high-demand periods like the holidays. Purandare points to a common solution they offer during busy seasons.
“We often tell our employees, ‘Why don’t you come in early morning six o’clock, get everything set up, work for a couple of hours, then you’re out and then you’re back in again at like three or four,’” he said. “Once we're able to give that flexibility, managers are much more productive, they're much more psychologically balanced.”
This kind of split shift helps managers balance family responsibilities, such as childcare, without compromising operational demands. Purandare believes this trade-off pays off in the long run, noting that the positivity spreads through the team. As a result, the energy created by engaged leaders is “infectious” and carries across the shop floor, he said.
That same philosophy extends beyond store operations. For non-operational roles, Kettlemans supports hybrid work and encourages staff to work from locations near their homes when possible. For example, when a snowstorm recently hit the eastern Ontario area, leadership staff simply shifted to nearby stores instead of commuting long distances, ensuring work carried on without disruption.
On the benefits side of the organization’s structure, Purandare underscored how the company has taken deliberate steps to modernize and expand its employee benefits, particularly around mental health and wellness, after finding the existing Employee Assistance Program (EAP) lacked depth. Working with their provider, they pushed for a broader, more inclusive model that supports not just employees, but their families as well.
The upgraded support now includes immediate-access hotlines, free therapy, financial literacy coaching, and confidential services designed to address issues that many staff may feel uncomfortable discussing directly with a manager. Purandare noted these topics are often “stigmatized in the workplace,” so the company intentionally built privacy into the design of the program to encourage use.
Wellness offerings have also been adjusted to reflect the demands of the job. Since many staff are on their feet for long hours in repetitive roles, Kettlemans redirected some of the benefits budget into physical care services like massage and chiropractic treatment. Instead of overhauling the entire program, Purandare says they focused on tailoring what already exists.
“It’s not necessarily reinventing the wheel, it’s just about knowing your team, what they want, and then customizing your current plan to suit that better,” he said.
Purandare says employee expectations around work-life balance, mental health, and wellness have shifted significantly in recent years and employers need to respond if they want to keep talent.
“We’re seeing more and more employees refusing to work for reasons associated with not just mental health, but well-being in general,” he noted.
In response, Kettlemans Bagels has overhauled its retention strategies, starting with how it collects employee feedback. Traditional stay interviews weren’t landing while virtual surveys failed to capture honest responses. The solution was to strip them down, meet employees face-to-face, and ask fewer, more open-ended questions. That small change brought out more genuine engagement.
“We could see the emotion when the feedback came in,” Purandare said.
Alongside that, Kettlemans has introduced informal emotional check-ins, conversations with staff over coffee about how they’re doing and what support they might need. While there’s no strict timeline, the company aims for about once a quarter. These conversations often lead to targeted support through the employee assistance program.
Compensation structures are also being redesigned to reward loyalty. In addition to performance-based bonuses, employees now earn more based on years of service. A loyalty program, modeled after the company’s customer rewards system, is in the works to formalize these tenure-based incentives with both monetary and non-monetary rewards.
Wage fairness is another focus. With multiple minimum wage increases in Ontario, Purandare said Kettlemans has taken extra steps to close pay gaps, especially for employees not directly impacted by the legislated hikes.
“We carry over that delta plus add an additional 20 cents,” he noted, explaining that the company ensures all staff benefit from wage adjustments, not just those at the minimum.
Looking ahead, the company is also considering shifting its benefits cost-sharing model. While the current structure is a standard 50/50 split between employer and employee, Purandare says they’re exploring a move to 60/40 or even 70/30 to provide additional support.
While compensation adjustments are only one part of the retention plan, Purandare ultimately believes culture has to come first.
“It takes a long time for a culture to change and it has to come from the top; HR leaders are always in a position where they are the speaking voice for the organization to get that buy-in from them and then set that tone,” he said.
“Working your culture and knowing your team will really affect your transparency as well as the accountability factor… Your employees will be much more responsive.”
