Staff come first at telecommunication company
Few sectors have been upset more by the COVID-19 pandemic than retail. Thousands of retail employees lost jobs. At the height of the pandemic in April, employment in Houston’s retail sector fell by 26,000 jobs, or 9 percent, from the previous year. Houston’s telecommunications sector was down 1,700 jobs that month, or 12 percent.
But T-Mobile, a mobile phone service provider with large retail operations, decided it would transition its retail employees to remote work or pay them to go home and do nothing.
“We fundamentally believe in people before profit,” said Dom
Coleman, T-Mobile’s market director for North Houston. “If we treat people right, then profit will come.”
That attitude propelled TMobile to No. 4 on the Houston Chronicle’s TopWorkplaces survey.
The company, headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., has locations throughout Greater Houston and about 1,000 employees in the region. During the business shutdowns to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Coleman said, TMobile continued its focus on service as it shifted employees to working at home.
Customers not only want to buy cell phones, they also want network services and help with cell phone plan comparisons.
“Our focus has been safety and (customer) experience,” Coleman said. “The economics of our business are such that we’re essentially a subscription service. You pay your rent, and then you pay your cellphone bill, because you need to be connected.”
The company, he said, is “hypercompetitive” from a compensation standpoint. The company pays employees’ tuition for qualifying colleges and programs, and it contributes between 80 and 89 percent of the cost for medical, dental and vision benefits. T-Mobile also expanded its employee resource programs for childcare and emergency financial assistance during the pandemic.
T-Mobile leaders said they aired on the side of caution and told staff to stay home if they were sick. At times, that meant stores had to close because too many staff members were in quarantine. But, Coleman said, it was most important for the company to listen to employees and customers.