Services with a SMILE

Renton’s Employee Service Center aids work-life balance

BY DEBBY ARKELL

At the end of a long, busy work day, it can be hard to look at all the good things accomplished if there’s still a mile-long list of things to do before getting home. Typically, such a list can mean fighting traffic, stewing in long lines, and returning home just in time to throw a quick meal together before collapsing into bed.

Not so for employees at Boeing in Renton, Wash. The Move to the Lake project at Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ Renton site is bringing to employees more than a new work location and a new way of working together. It’s also providing employees the Employee Service Center, a one-stop shop of convenient new services. Now Renton area employees can run many personal errands on site, and take care of Boeing business when it’s convenient for them—on their lunch breaks or before or after work.

“The Employee Service Center will address employees’ personal needs and offer time savings to employees,” said Harold Adams, Airplane Programs Human Resources leader. “By conveniently locating key services on site and reducing the number of errands employees need to run on personal time, the ESC will really help with employee work-life balance.”

The Employee Service Center, which opened its doors July 15, is the first of its kind in the Puget Sound region. It offers a single storefront for Boeing-related products and services such as recreation information and discount tickets, Community Relations information, a Pride@Boeing instant recognition display and several kiosks with commonly used forms.

Hourly and salaried employees also can meet with representatives from Career Management Services—and, if union members, IAM/Boeing Joint Programs (Quality Through Training Program and Health and Safety Institute) and the Ed Wells Initiative and SPEEA-Boeing Partnership—to help them find training opportunities and improve their employability.

TotalAccess and Benefits representatives are on site as well, and Boeing has contracted with a company called dock3 to vend its services at the ESC.

“dock3 is a work-life balance program designed to save employees time and money by bringing routine local services and household products to the workplace,” said Gavino Teanio, dock3 district manager. “Our partnership with Boeing is our first in the Pacific Northwest, and we’re excited to be a part of Boeing’s Employee Service Center.”

Services available at competitive prices to dock3 members include dry cleaning, digital photo processing, Kodak film development (available in August), outbound shipping, packing and shipping supplies, DVD rentals, and seasonal products. Membership with dock3 is free to Boeing employees.

Financial services are available, too. A representative from Boeing Employees Credit Union is on hand for employees’ banking needs. Employees also have direct-dial and computer access to TotalAccess, State Street and other resources.

Other amenities on hand for factory employees or visitors include computer resources, notary services and self-service copier, fax and printer.

The organizations represented in the service center, including the Move to the Lake Project team, have created “a unique offering for Renton-area employees,” said Kathy Lee, project manager for Human Resources, Move to the Lake.

Move to the Lake is an initiative that enables the Renton site, located at the south end of Lake Washington, to convert unused factory space into office space. The initiative’s goal is to bring the people who need to be near the airplanes as close as possible to the products they design, build or support, to make more efficient use of assets and streamline production processes.

With all the time employees are likely to save by using the Employee Service Center, their next errand may be to set up a vacation. A Boeing Leisure Travel agent will happily assist them with this at the ESC.

“The Commercial Airplanes strategy puts people first,” said Carolyn Corvi, 737/757 Programs vice president/general manager. “The Employee Service Center is a great way to help employees manage their personal time as efficiently as possible, and help them with easy access to Boeing programs and services.”

A similar, highly successful service center currently is in operation on the C-17 program in Long Beach, Calif., and Shared Services will implement by fall a walk-up concept on the first floor of the 10-20 building in Renton, featuring both workplace and personal services.

debra.j.arkell@boeing.com