Jefferson City HR director enjoys helping employees over 20-year career

Sally Ince/ News Tribune  
Gail Strope assists Capt. Steve Holtmeier, of the Jefferson City Fire Department, November 8, 2019 at City Hall. Strope has been helping city employees as the director of Human Resources for more than 20 years.
Sally Ince/ News Tribune Gail Strope assists Capt. Steve Holtmeier, of the Jefferson City Fire Department, November 8, 2019 at City Hall. Strope has been helping city employees as the director of Human Resources for more than 20 years.

For just more than 20 years, Gail Strope has been serving as the director of human resources for Jefferson City.

Her passion for human resources started when she was working for the Marriott Corporation. Part of her job involved human resources, as Courtyard by Marriott hotels don't have their own human resources employees due to their small size.

"I kind of enjoyed that part of it, so I started doing more and more of that for the hotels, for the staff that was there," Strope said.

When she was ready to leave the hotel business, she knew she wanted a position in human resources. She got one for the Kansas City Aviation Department, which covers Kansas City International Airport. As she worked her way up, she eventually transferred to working for the city's human resources department.

Then, just around 20 years ago, a headhunter reached out to her about an open position for director of human resources in Jefferson City. She took it.

"It was kind of a natural fit for me - because it was the next step for me in my career, but it was also coming home for my husband," she said.

Strope has been here ever since, overseeing the human resources department for the city, which has 435 full-time employees and around 300 part-time or seasonal workers.

All city employees fall under her four-person human resources department including city administration, finance, public works, IT, planning and protective services, the police and fire departments, and transit.

What Strope does varies depending on the season. Right now, she's busy working on open enrollment of employee benefits for city workers. In the summer, she works more with property and liability insurance.

"It's always busy and it's always different, and I think that's one of the things I love about it. It's very fast-paced - the days always go by very quickly, and I get to interact a lot with the employees," she said.

Strope enjoys interacting with employees and doing what she can for them. She said about half of her time is spent with them.

"I think my favorite part is just helping employees and making things available to them that make their lives better," Strope said.

Over her 20 years with the city, she has been part of creating and initiating several changes and new programs, including a wellness program for city employees.

The wellness program promotes healthy habits like eating well and being active, as well as financial management.

"Anything that we can do to make our employees' lives easier, so we always try to look for ways to educate them or to provide them with benefits, those little things to help them out so they can focus more on their jobs and their family, and not have to worry about those things," she said.

Strope has also been a part of multiple studies on compensation and classifications, employee training, a switch from paper to online job applications and changes to the city's health insurance.

There's a lot to cover in the city's human resources department, which is made up of Strope and three employees. They cover employee benefits, recruiting, training, policies and procedures, compensation and safety, among other things.

Strope said the hardest part of her job is juggling all of that with a small staff, but she understands adding staff out in the city is important.

"The city's budget is very tight. There's so many of us that want to do so much more, but we don't always have the resources available to us to be able to do so," she said.

Despite the challenges, Strope enjoys working for Jefferson City.

"Something about the city is really just a great place to work, and I've loved working with the different employees and my coworkers over the years," Strope said. "I'm very proud of how hard our city employees work for the citizens of Jefferson City."