Economic Growth in Rural Missouri
Upper management at the call center where I work had been promising a surprise to be revealed yesterday. I didn't think much of it. They do drawings and such on a regular basis. We've even played Bingo with numbers announced via the instant massage type system used by management for one way communications.
I knew yesterday morning that the surprise was big news when I saw that everyone sitting on the other side of the building had been taken off the phones. They were gathered in the middle towards one side of the building. Applause erupted several times.
To put this in perspective, only once in the whole time I've worked there has there been an announcement that warranted off-line time to be rolled out. When it happened before, a new program to allow for "flex" days that allow us to miss days without it going against our records. That program is very employee and family friendly.
To make more obvious the fact that this was no small news, I recognized the vice president of operations for the company standing the the group that was forming on the side of the building were I sit. I remembered her from previous visits because she is the upper management lady the does cartwheels when she visits the new hire classes. She explains that she learned to do a cartwheel when she turned fifty, so it's a inspirational thing.
What our site manager announced was nothing short of amazing. Our site has preformed so well over the two years since we opened that the company was able to pitch to our client a request for hirer wages.
See, I work for a company that specializes in providing customer support for other companies. Most of the sites, located around the country,are call centers and a few do other things. This arrangement is good for both companies. Our company makes the investment in building faculties and buying equipment. The cost in cables alone for all the computers is staggering. The client pays for us to take care of their customers so they can do whatever it is that makes them money.
Where I work, we just support one client. As I have said before, we provide support for a mobile phone company. We have been given the responsibility of supporting their retails stores. As the only vendor site to do that job, it is a pretty big deal.
What does this mean? More money for everyone across the board. Woo Hoo!
Each and every person at our faculty got an instant raise. Every new employee will be hired in at a higher training rate and go up to the new base rate upon completion of training.
Along with the awesomeness of the extra money, it is exciting for our area to have an instant economic boost for our area.
Our community is rural. We have factories and farms in the outlying towns.
When we moved here two and a half years ago, the first thing we noticed was the abundance of both rent-to-own furniture stores and payday loan places. I've lived many places, but I'd never seen so many of those two businesses in one area before. The longer we lived here, the more I realized the significance. This is a middle class area where there are jobs to be had, but pay matches cost of living with little to spare and many jobs are temporary or seasonal in nature.
My collages and I not only have a cushy job inside with climate control and office chairs, we now have a couple dollar advantage over most jobs in our area.
I am celebrating the win for the local economy. Hundreds of workers making more money means hundreds of dollars more spent, most of it locally, creating more opportunities.
Go Capitalism!
Very cool! Congratulations on your raise.
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Thanks. I had to share the news with my bloggy friends.
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