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Home work: Utah firms accommodate employees' schedules

Published in The Deseret Morning News

9/2007

For office-dwelling employees, slow periods at work may be spent surfing the Internet or walking to get a cup of coffee with colleagues. For Colleen Walker, down time is marked by folding laundry or strolling down the hallway of her Orem home to chat with her husband.

After working for a decade at 1-800-CONTACTS' Draper call center, the customer service agent took advantage of a company program that has allowed nearly half of the company's 300 call center employees to work from home.

1-800-CONTACT's flexible scheduling program has allowed Walker to adjust her schedule almost a dozen times over the past year, most recently settling on weekend graveyard shifts.

The schedule allows Walker to have dinner with her family, bathe her two children and get them into bed before heading into her home office to answer calls and respond to customer e-mails into the wee hours of the morning.

"That's the beauty of working from home — it can look very different for different people," said Walker, whose husband also works for 1-800-CONTACTS.

The company began testing the program in the summer of 2004 with 10 to 15 employees. It became more widely available in July 2006, and now some 150 customer service agents work from their own homes.

"We've always really wanted to try to be as flexible as possible with our different associates and their different needs," said Dave Walker, 1-800-CONTACTS' vice president of operations.

Many of the company's at-home employees are parents, like Colleen Walker, who wanted to spend more time with their children and also continue earning a paycheck.

"We just thought it would be really silly to lose a great employee after training them and after having them do so well for us for a school schedule or for a life-changing event, like having a child or having them move far away," Dave Walker said.

After many years as a manager in the call center, Colleen Walker decided to cut back to part-time work after the birth of her second child. At another company, she said, she may have had to quit working altogether.

By allowing your employees to work from home you get more diversity, because not everyone can work in the middle of the day in the call center," she said.

1-800-CONTACTS has been repeatedly recognized for its efforts to build a supportive environment for its employees, most recently with the Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility.

Other Utah honorees included Prince, Perelson & Associates, Cooper Roberts Simonsen Architects, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, Intermountain Healthcare, Jones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough, McKinnon-Mulherin Inc., Redmond Minerals Inc. and SelectHealth.

"I think the recognition serves as a validation of our strategy that if we take care of our team, our team will take care of our customers," Dave Walker said of the Sloan award. "We've had that philosophy in place since the company was founded."

In addition to its at-home program and flexible scheduling, the 11-year-old company tries to keep its employees happy with an on-site restaurant (where much of the cost of meals is subsidized), a fitness center, movie parties and barbecues.

The company's efforts are indicative of what good employers across the state are doing to support their workers, said Lynette Rasmussen with the Utah Department of Workforce Services' Office of Work and Family Life.

"What's happening is employers are asking their employees, 'What do you want? What can we do to help you?"' Rasmussen said.

Flexible scheduling remains at the top of workers' lists, though there are a host of initiatives that companies can pursue, she said.

"It's not just one thing, it's a variety. It's from tiny things like having book clubs or walking groups or health clubs to the big huge things like on-site child care."

Each year, the Department of Workforce Services recognizes Utah companies of all sizes who create exceptional workplaces. The Work/Life Awards are given to micro, medium and large employers who make special efforts on their workers' behalf.

1-800-CONTACTS has been honored in the large company group for the past four years, alongside employers such as America First Credit Union, ARUP Laboratories and Regence BlueCross BlueShield.

The good companies and the best companies have always cared about this and they always will, Rasmussen said.

With such a competitive job market in the state right now, Dave Walker said it's particularly important that companies take care of their employees.

"The unemployment rate is so low that great associates are such a scarce commodity that if you don't, other companies are going to take them," he said. "(Employees are) savvy enough to be able to identify companies that give lip service to that and also companies that are putting a lot of time, money and effort into that."

1-800-CONTACTS' efforts have certainly paid off for Colleen Walker.

"I don't anticipate ever leaving, because it's perfect," she said. "Not only because they take care of us, but it's fun to work for a company that is good for its customers, that's a good value, because you can really believe in it."