UScellular praised for flexible workplace, benefits

Kristy Baron was working two jobs as a waitress, and was a cake decorator as well, when she landed a customer service position at UScellular.

She wanted to return to college, and the company offered a tuition reimbursement program that strongly appealed to her. 

Fast forward 15 years. Baron has since completed her associate's and bachelor's degrees and has nearly finished her master's degree in business — with all the tuition covered by UScellular.

"Candidly, without taking on huge student loans, it was the only way for me to go back to school," she said. 

She's also moved up in the company from an entry-level position into customer care management, operations and information technology. 

Now she's director of sales and operations for Wisconsin and Illinois.

Paid tuition, career advancement and now the ability to work from home are among the reasons UScellular was named a Top Workplace winner.

The Chicago-based company has around 5,200 employees nationwide, including 300 in southeast Wisconsin. Its employee benefits package includes many perks such as medical insurance, a 401(k) with a company match, a Roth 401(k) with a company match, educational assistance, adoption assistance, long-term incentives and wellness programs. 

UScellular is large enough for a career path in many fields, according to Baron.

"It doesn't really matter what door you enter through ... it's a very open space in terms of where your career goes," she said.

Until the pandemic, the company had a customer call center in Waukesha with several hundred employees. That's since been closed and those employees are now working remotely. 

"We did some surveys internally and we heard 'loud and clear' that people wanted to be able to do that," Baron said. "All of those jobs were retained."

The company welcomes young talent fresh out of high school or college, according to Baron, and there's mentorship available early on.

"We take care of each other, too," she said.

"It may sound cliché, but we're not the largest wireless carrier, and we have a really tight-knit working team. It's not so large that we don't know each other by name."

The company has been recruiting through its UScellular.com website.

"We offering many work-remote opportunities with customer care," Baron said, and there's also a new office in Brookfield. 

Her advice for someone in that job interview: "Be your authentic self. We have a lot of different opportunities within the organization."

Telecom is a fast-growing career field. 

"If you are looking to achieve big goals with your education and your career, you will have people along the way who will support you," Baron said about UScellular.