Little Rock’s USAble Life invests substantial time and resources toward developing employees for future professional and personal success. From the very first day an employee starts, the process of development begins.
“We don’t just invest time in our employees, we invest in their education and professional growth,” said Christine Bingaman, senior director of human resources. “We start new employees with a comprehensive onboarding program for both employees and managers focused on connecting them throughout the organization for success.”
From there, the company supports a variety of career-track and other educational programs designed to help employees determine where they want to go and provide them the tools to get there, such as offering tuition reimbursement for those pursuing higher degrees and online teaching programs.
“We have strong programs in leadership development such as our Pathway to Leadership program for up-and-coming leaders,” Bingaman said. “Through the Management Development Cohorts program, the management team participates in development opportunities, including an action-learning project designed to drive positive change throughout the organization.”
| Neat Things We Do |
| • “Excellence in Action” award program offers compensation for employees going above and beyond. |
| • Best-in-class 401(k)program offering both traditional and Roth IRA options with 100 percent corporate match on the first 6 percent contributed and 100 percent immediate vesting. |
| • A volunteer time off program that allows employees to give back to the community via the charity of their choice. |
On the job, USAble strives to create pathways by which employees can make their feelings known on the work environment. The firm’s Finding Inches program gives employees a vehicle to propose ideas for making each day more efficient and enjoyable.
“This program has facilitated communications and improved work processes across the organization,” Bingaman said. “Employees have an active channel for their voices to be heard and there are financial rewards for ideas that are implemented.”
The company is also sensitive to employees’ work-life balance, allowing many to work flexible schedules and supporting personal time off policies that help workers meet their family obligations.
“We care about our employees professionally and personally. Our employee programs and approach toward customers are built in support of making a meaningful difference in the lives of our customers, our employees and in our communities.” — Christine Bingaman, senior director of human resources
Most notably, USAble Life measures the effectiveness of its employee-forward policies and processes by conducting an annual engagement survey. Employees provide input on what is working well and where they would like to see improvements. Results are rolled to executive and leadership teams who then roll it to all employees. Each department has open discussions of the findings and creates action plans based on feedback from the survey.
“Employees know they have a voice and that the company is interested in their feedback,” Bingaman said. “We use this feedback to evaluate and make changes to our policies and programs each year. When needed, we host employee focus groups to gather more information on a given topic. We always ask anyone leaving the organization to complete an exit survey to help us learn more about why they are leaving and what, if anything, we might need to address or improve.”
The company’s efforts resulted in USAble Life receiving the WorldatWork Alliance’s 2016 Work-Life Seal of Distinction award for creating a positive work environment.
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