SHERBURNE – One day the White House, the next ... Sherburne, NY? Might seem like a bit of a stretch for some, but not for Frontier Communications CEO Maggie Wilderotter.
“I like to visit our markets on a constant basis and hear directly from our employees how we can do a better job,” said Wilderotter, who made her second visit to the Sherburne plant service center Tuesday since becoming the communications company’s chairman in 2004. Just days earlier, the high-profile executive met with President Obama as part of a national telecommunications task force in Washington.
Wilderotter’s visit to the growing Chenango County call center comes in the midst of an employment boom – the company is adding about 50 new jobs locally. “We’ve tripled the size of our company in the last year,” Wilderotter said, referring to Frontier’s acquisition of Verizon’s landline telephone business – and its 10,000 employees and 4 million customers. That sudden expansion has led to more work for the Sherburne facility, which handles repair, dispatching and assignment support for Frontier operations in 27 states.
Locally, Jim Currie, vice president of field operations for Frontier’s northeast region, says the company is about “halfway through” the hiring process for those 50 new positions. In May, Frontier hosted a career fair at its 14 Classic St. office – and more than 300 hopefuls showed up. “The job market is not that great right now,” Currie acknowledged, “and these are good-paying jobs with excellent benefits.”
Frontier, a Fortune 500 company well positioned to be the nation’s leader in telecommunications offerings, has several other call centers across the country. So why Sherburne? “We put the work where the job gets done,” Wilderotter said, recognizing the Sherburne office as “the best in the United States ... because of their expertise, we’re bringing more work here.”
While other telecommunications companies shift some of their work overseas, Northeast Region President Ann Burr noted that Frontier’s workforce is “100 percent United States.” She credited Wilderotter’s customer-focused strategies for the company’s continued success. “We’re good at picking the right people for the job,” Burr said of Sherburne’s workforce in particular. “No matter how big we get, we’re still very local.”
Wilderotter, who operates from headquarters in Stamford, Conn., met with Frontier employees in shifts yesterday, asking them for their input on making the company’s processes even more efficient. “They actually thanked me,” the CEO said, adding that it’s always a pleasure for her to visit here, calling Sherburne her “flagship” call center.
When the current hiring process is complete, Currie said Frontier’s jobs in Sherburne will number 225. But Wilderotter hinted the company isn’t done growing. “There are always opportunities for growth,” she said, pointing to Frontier’s evolving video offerings and expansion of broadband Internet access into more and more rural communities. “They’re very good at what they do here,” she said.