The Longchamp name has long been synonymous with luxury. Founded in 1948, the French leather goods brand, famously known for its La Pliage bags, has branded boutiques along with shelf space in upscale department stores around the globe. Longchamp employs 3,500—220 of whom work in the US and Canada for Longchamp USA.

Even with over 75 years of market success, Longchamp understands that it must continually innovate to remain relevant with its customers—and its workforce. That commitment to innovation led Longchamp USA to partner with Mineral.

Mineral is an ideal HR toolkit.

When Stacie Gibson joined Longchamp USA four years ago as the Vice President of Human Resources, the company did not have a formal human resources department. “There were two hard-working HR generalists, but not a ton of direction,” she recalls. “I was hired to help build the HR department and its team. The company’s benefits broker introduced me to Mineral. I instantly understood the value of the Mineral offering—both in helping us get started and in the ongoing maintenance of a modern, compliant HR department.”

Gibson came from a large enterprise where the HR department had multiple resources providing services such as learning and development curriculum, safety training, and compliance tools. “To simplify things for us, I wanted to bring as much as possible under one umbrella—and that’s precisely what Mineral provides—an umbrella of valuable resources,” she says.

During the pandemic, for example, Gibson had to pull together work-from-home and paid-time-off policies quickly. She tapped into the Mineral Platform and found policy and procedure templates she could quickly take and adapt. “They’ve got a framework for almost any situation,” she notes. “Saves a ton of time.”

Gibson says Mineral provides more than valuable information. For example, her team can download printable posters for display in its retail stores. “Mineral is our first stop, our go-to destination for anything and everything regarding HR,” she adds.

It’s like having an employment attorney on staff.

An in-house HR department must work hard to remain in front of changing workforce rules and regulations—particularly when multiple jurisdictions are involved. “Without Mineral, we’d have to have someone on our staff continually monitoring for changes and using Google to research employment questions—and so much of the information on the internet is incorrect or outdated. More likely, we’d need the help of an employment attorney,” Gibson says. “Mineral Experts is like having an employment attorney on staff. Mineral saves us that cost and gives us much more confidence than Google.”

Longchamp USA receives most of the Mineral services it relies on through its insurance agency at no additional cost. When asked to put a value on what the company gains with Mineral, Gibson is quick to say, “Mineral saves us staff time and resources—and helps Longchamp USA preserve its good reputation. If I didn’t have access to the Mineral Experts, we’d need to run most of our questions through an employment attorney, and they easily charge $300 an hour.”

“No HR professional has all the answers,” Gibson says. “And honestly, our job shouldn’t be to know all the answers. Our role should be developing meaningful policies and procedures that promote employee engagement and help each employee reach their potential. The Mineral Experts offering lets us focus on reaching those goals because we know the answers to our questions are just a phone call or an email away.”

Employee retention rates up by 5%.

Longchamp USA invests in employee professional development initiatives designed to improve retention rates and increase engagement. Mineral plays a vital role in these initiatives. “One goal is to promote from within to grow the next generation of leaders,” explains Gibson. “To help them succeed in their new roles, we give them access to leadership training courses through Learn. We’re also developing comprehensive learning plans for every employee, using Mineral’s employee training content, so they can map their future with Longchamp USA.”

The efforts are already having a significant impact, Gibson says. “Our retention rates are up 5%, increasing from the previous year.”

Folding in multi-state compliance, harassment training, and more.

With operations across nine states, Longchamp USA faces a complex compliance landscape. “We need to be certain we maintain compliance, and that can be challenging when multiple jurisdictions are involved,” Gibson says. “The HR Compliance Library is a tremendous asset for us. I can quickly research each state’s requirements to ensure we’re meeting, or exceeding, those requirements.”

Smart Employee Handbook Plus, a premium solution available through Mineral, allows Longchamp USA to produce handbooks for each state in which it has a presence. “I’ve previously assembled a handbook without a tool like Mineral,” notes Gibson. “It was arduous—and expensive. We had to hire an attorney to help with the process, costing the company tens of thousands of dollars. And that doesn’t even include the cost of keeping it updated. Using Mineral’s tool, handbook development is fast, accurate, and cost-effective.”

Similarly, workplace harassment training requirements vary by state. “With all the variability, it would be too easy to make an error without a resource like Mineral,” adds Gibson. Longchamp takes advantage of the premium Workplace Harassment Prevention offering to gain access to courses, tools, and other resources, ensuring its continuing compliance with harassment prevention mandates across states.

In addition, Longchamp USA leverages Anonymous Reporting by Mineral to help the company manage and take action on reported incidents in a secure and timely manner. Providing employees with an easy, anonymous way to make a report creates more transparency, instills greater confidence in the company, and keeps it ahead of costly legal challenges.

Fashioning the future.

Thanks to its partnership with Mineral, Longchamp USA is well-prepared for the growth and challenges that may lie ahead. Indeed, Gibson says that the most significant benefit Longchamp USA realizes from the Mineral Platform is confidence. “Human resource management is complicated, challenging, and crucial to get right. With Mineral, I feel like we can address any issues that come our way. We are confident in our compliance and proud of the opportunities and protections we provide our workforce.”

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.”

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.”