FeatureTel recognized for exemplary workplace practices
Receives prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Award
APEX, N.C. (November 17, 2010) – VoIP provider FeatureTel, offering managed, hosted VoIP business telephone service over private networks, announced today it has been honored with the 2010 Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility.
This prestigious award recognizes employers and worksites of all sizes and types across the country that are using flexibility as a strategy to increase workplace effectiveness and enhance business and employee success.
“We are thrilled and honored to receive this recognition for our workplace practices,” said FeatureTel Founder & CEO Paul Levering. “Providing a flexible work environment for a balanced life for our employees just feels like the right thing to do. Our employees are our most important resource. Like the lesson taught in the story about the goose that lays the golden eggs -- you take care of the goose. When employees have needs, we respond with reasonableness and understanding with a focus on long-term goals.”
FeatureTel’s workplace flexibility practices include telecommuting, flexible schedules, and play and schoolwork space for employees’ children, among others.
“With flexibility as a policy of sorts, there isn’t always a set guideline for every situation,” he added. “So, sometimes it takes a little more effort to address each situation. But the payoff is greater. Addressing each person and need uniquely results in greater employee satisfaction. And happy employees create happy customers.”
The Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility are part of the national When Work Works project, an ongoing initiative of Families and Work Institute in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce and the Twiga Foundation, with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
The selection process is rigorous. First, employers’ flexibility programs and practices are measured against national norms from Families and Work Institute’s National Study of Employers. Employees are then surveyed confidentially on their access to flexible work options, the supportiveness of the culture and on nationally tested measures of workplace effectiveness.
“As a recipient of the 2010 Sloan Award, FeatureTel ranks in the top 20% of employers nationally in terms of its programs, policies and culture for creating an effective and flexible workplace,” states Ellen Galinsky, president of Families and Work Institute (FWI). “In addition, what makes this honor so special is that employees have corroborated this, affirming that it is indeed an effective and flexible workplace.”
FWI’s nationally representative studies of employees and employers have found that flexibility is a key ingredient in creating effective workplaces that can yield important work-related outcomes. In fact, employees in effective and flexible workplaces report having greater engagement on the job, greater job satisfaction, greater desire to stay with the organization, better overall health, and lower stress levels.
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About FeatureTel
Founded in 2003 in Apex, N.C., FeatureTel is a fully managed and Hosted VoIP, voice and data communications service company, providing businesses across the Carolinas with a cost-effective, feature-rich alternative to traditional voice communication solutions. Eliminating the need for investment in a telephone system, FeatureTel customizes voice, Internet and data solutions delivered to a wide range of clients over private networks. FeatureTel was the first Hosted VoIP carrier in North Carolina to receive the Competitive Local Exchange Certification (CLEC) by the state’s Utilities Commission, has been recognized as a Top 25 Phone Service Provider by the American Cities Network of Business Journals for each of the past four years, and was named to the 2010 Inc. 5000 ranking of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. 919-459-2300. info@FeatureTel.com
About When Work Works
The Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility are part of the When Work Works project, an ongoing initiative of Families and Work Institute in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for a Competitive Workforce and the Twiga Foundation, with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The project shares the results of research on creating effective and flexible workplaces that meet the needs of the 21st century and provides resources and recognition to employers nationwide. www.whenworkworks.org
FeatureTel contact:
Sandy Scherer
MSS Communications
919 795 1762
When Work Works contact:
Tyler Wigton or Kelly Sakai
Families and Work Institute
(212) 465-2044 x224 x211
