Honoring the Best of the Best
New, Returning Companies Top WICT’s List
by K.C. Neel -- Multichannel News, 11/16/2008 7:00:00 PM
If there was one thing that the best programmers and operators put a lot of thought and energy into this year, it would be their efforts at expanding and supporting flex work, according to the PAR Survey sponsored by Women In Cable Telecommunications and Working Mother Media.
Many companies exhibited grassroots innovations to leverage their own technologies to allow workers to become more productive and efficient, said Working Mother Media analyst Joanne Cleaver.
| Best Operators |
|---|
| Cox Communications |
| Time Warner Cable |
| Comcast |
| WideOpenWest |
| Suddenlink Communications |
| Best Programmers |
|---|
| Discovery Communications |
| The Weather Channel |
| MTV Networks |
| Turner Broadcasting System |
| Scripps Networks |
“Companies can use their own flex work initiatives as a marketing tool to promote their own technology and they can also use them as powerful recruiting and retention tools,” Cleaver said.
Cox Communications has about 1,200 cyber call-center agents right now and plans to expand the program in 2009. Comcast’s divisional human-resources departments are being charged with finding areas where flex work scheduling can meet division goals.
Philadelphia-based Comcast has about 850 virtual customer-service representatives and hopes to double that by the end of 2009. Wanting to get it right the first time, Time Warner Cable is still finalizing its policies and procedures for virtual call-center workers, said senior vice president of human resources Tom Mathews.
This year’s best companies are a mix of repeat winners as well as newcomers. Cox Communications has been the No. 1 operator on the PAR list since the survey launched in 2003. MTV Networks, on the other hand, was new to the survey this year and still managed to make it into the top-five programmers list. Suddenlink Communications and WideOpenWest joined this year’s best MSO list for the first time proving that smaller companies can provide top-notch programs and initiatives generally attributed to larger companies in the past.
WideOpenWest focused on its work/life balance initiatives to help employees juggle both home and work responsibilities, said Janice Turner, the Englewood, Colo.-based cable overbuilder’s vice president of human resources. WOW provides concierge services and employee assistance programs including helping find pet care, day care and legal services.
Suddenlink Communications is only two years old, but the St. Louis-based MSO has managed to create a very strong base of female executives. Two of the company’s three top-level executives are women, according to executive vice president and chief financial officer Mary Meduski. There are also a handful of female senior vice presidents, and the VP roster is filled with women at both the corporate and regional level.
Suddenlink has always been female-friendly, Meduski said. But the top brass found that many of the programs it had in place weren’t formalized, so the company set out this last year to take on that process, instituting a succession-planning process and some pay-equity programs.
Time Warner Cable has made great strides in recruiting and retaining women in technology. Women now comprise half of the New York-based MSO’s IT project managers and 43% of its business-to-business client support staff. Its pilot tech networks for women are so successful, the operator plans to launch them companywide next year.
While keeping up with rapid growth, top U.S. cable operator Comcast is moving into place programs that detect emerging talent and leaders. The company has taken several corporate initiatives and crafted them for the field, said vice president of human resources Grace Killelea.
Despite a year of major changes, including going public and installing new top management, Discovery Communications retained a high proportion of women, Cleaver said. Women continue to spearhead major new lines of business such as key elements of its new “green” programming. A new initiative at the Silver Spring, Md.-based programmer — Hot House — is an open “front door” designed to attract new programming talent to the company.
The Weather Channel Cos. is among the industry’s most consistent companies at measuring all its pay, promotions and hiring decisions to ensure there are proportional numbers of women and women of color involved, Cleaver said. Though it already has a healthy proportion of women and women of color, especially at the senior level, the programmer has redoubled its recruitment efforts, said executive vice president of human resources Lisa Chang.
MTV Networks debuts in a top spot on the best programmers list propelled by its nearly unmatched proportion of women who run lines of business, Cleaver said. Indeed, 60% of the company’s senior vice presidents and above are women.
MTVN executive vice president of human resources Catherine Houser said mid-level managers are quick to identify promising women in their departments and advocate for them.
Turner Broadcasting System continues to fine tune the programs it’s put into place over the last several years. The company’s KEYS (Knowledge Energizing Your Success) internal business-incubator program is now in its third year and has served as a model for other companies that have launched similar programs.
Turner Women Today and Black Professionals at Turner pioneered the programmer’s Circle Mentoring program, matching groups of up to 10 mentees with a pair of executives. The mentees learn how to form productive peer networks that outlast the formal group setting, and they also benefit from executive coaching and guidance, according to Loretta Walker, Turner’s chief human resources officer.
Scripps Networks looks at its employee benefits and programs much the same way it does it networks. Just like programming lineups that require constant tweaking to keep the interest of viewers, Scripps’ human resources department is constantly rejiggering and coming up with new programs to make sure the company is meeting the needs and desires of its employees, said Scripps executive vice president of human resources Christopher Powell.
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