access to that once a week during the summer, and it’s a
nice way to get fresh, locally-grown produce,” Greene said.
No matter how a company chooses to support employee
health and wellness, it’s clear that the return-on-investment
is high. “Studies have shown that costs associated with creat-
ing family-friendly benefits are more than made up in
improved productivity, employee morale and employee
retention,” according to Giovanna Rossi, head of Family
Friendly New Mexico. And speaking from personal experi-
ence, Wiest said, “Anytime I do an interview, and ask ‘Why do
you want to come to work for Plateau?’ 80% to 90% of the time,
people say, ‘I want the Plateau benefits. I know people who
work here, and I want that.’”
Wiest said employee satisfaction leads to people staying
with the company for decades. “They grow up [here.] This is
where they make their careers.” l
Ashley Spinks is communications coordinator at NTCA. Contact her
at aspinks@ntca.org.
service members. Employees do everything from face painting to babysitting to cleaning up after the event. Finally,
TBTC has an elective donation program wherein the company will match monthly donations to Thrive Southern
New Mexico (an organization similar to United Way)—and
LaFave said nearly 98% of employees voluntarily participate.
Hancock County, home to NineStar Connect (Greenfield,
Ind.), was recognized in 2017 as an Indiana Healthy
Community. NineStar, a community partner of the initiative, has joined with local health care provider Hancock
Regional Health to bring health and wellness awareness
programs to its worksites. NineStar further sends newsletters—full of information on wellness, mental health and
physical health—to employees’ homes.
Arvig has embraced the rural community in which it
does business. One of the benefits, Greene said, is that the
area is full of farmers. Once a week, Arvig acts as a distribu-
tion point for extra produce. “Farmers grow extra produce
and … they bring their extras to town. Employees have
Fall 2018 RURAL TELECOM
Plateau has organzed
or supported many
local community
events focused on
wellness.
