Cablefax The Magazine August 2023 - 16

HR EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR
Charter's HR
Triple Play
HR Chief Paul Marchand Strives to Keep
Workers Happy, Productive, Engaged
By Mike Farrell
It's a pretty simple equation-happy employees
equal happy customers-but sadly, not
every business can see the correlation. For
Charter Communications EVP, Chief Human
Resources Officer Paul Marchand, finding new
ways to keep employees engaged, focused
and yes, happy too, has been a mission for the
past several years.
Marchand came to Charter in 2015 from PepsiCo,
right around the time the cable company
was about to make arguably the most transformative
acquisition in its history-the purchase
of Time Warner Cable-a move that quadrupled
the size of its workforce and spread its
influence to every corner of the country.
Marchand describes his early days at Charter
as focused on integration, making sure best
practices and operations gelled throughout
the organization, adding that he was fortunate
to be part of a company that already had a
" high caliber of leadership and a proven playbook
that served as a wonderful foundation for
the HR function and for people at the company
to progress in a positive way. "
A few years later, after most of Charter's
integration work was behind it, the pandemic
came and with it a whole new list of
concerns.
Under Marchand, Charter implemented
several programs to ensure employees'
health and safety, established in-home and
on-site testing for COVID-19 and modified
practices and policies so employees that
needed special accommodations received
them.
As pandemic restrictions lifted, Charter
continued to focus on employee growth and
education, implemented a wage hike that
raised minimum hourly pay to nearly triple
the federal limit and expanded ways that
workers could access the training needed to
rise through the ranks.
" Our macro plan is to grow the wealth opportunities
of our frontline workers to get
them from renters to homeowners over time, "
Marchand says about then 2020 decision to
raise the minimum wage at the company to
$20 per hour over a two-year period. Charter
had earlier raised its minimum wage to $15
an hour in 2018, more than double the federal
rate.
Marchand has also been instrumental
in initiatives for underrepresented college
students through Spectrum Scholars, which
is about to announce its third class. He has
also launched programs to recruit and hire
veterans (Hiring Our Heroes and the US Department
of Defense Military Spouse Employment
Partnership.)
Charter EVP, Field Operations Tom
FAST
FAX
Charter ended 2022 with 101,700
employees in 41 states.
Last year, Charter hired 3,080 veterans,
a 26% increase over 2021, and veteran
representation at the company is 9%,
nearly twice the national average.
Charter's minimum hourly wage of $20 per hour
is nearly triple the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
Charter's employee assistance programs have helped contribute to a nearly
24% reduction in annualized employee turnover.
Monaghan says Charter realizes its front-line
workers are critical to its success, keeping
customers connected and maintaining the
more than 800,000 miles of network plant
across the country. " It takes highly skilled
employees to do this work successfully, and
Paul and his team have been great partners
in helping us redesign our benefits, training
and career progression opportunities in order
to build an experienced workforce and
serve our customers, " he says.
Other plans underway are to expand
Charter's Tuition Assistance program and
continue to pay the full cost of employee
health care. And field operations employees
with exceptional performance levels can
complete online coursework to advance to
the next level and can receive a $500 bonus
and at least 10% wage hike upon successful
completion. Career progression programs
are also offered in the Customer Service,
Network Operations and Sales & Marketing
areas.
16
August 2023
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Cablefax The Magazine August 2023

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