Unique job field, multiple career options, stability, opportunities to help people … Sound good? Then Ozarks Electric Cooperative might have a job for you. Ozarks Electric is an electrical distribution cooperative headquartered in Fayetteville. It was incorporated in 1938 with the purpose of bringing electricity to portions of rural Northwest Arkansas and Northeast Oklahoma. Since its incorporation, it has grown to serve the electrical needs of approximately 72,000 members throughout Northwest Arkansas and a portion of Northeast Oklahoma. Ozarks Electric likes to say they are in the“ quality of life” business, the quality of life of their customers, also known as members, and the quality of life of their employees.
Mayra Esparza, 25, is one of many employees who assist members with service problems. Esparza, a Member Relations Representative, works in Ozarks Electric’ s call center, and is usually on the front line when electrical service is disconnected.
“ I had to learn how to productively talk to people on the phone,” she said.“ Sometimes they are upset when they call and you have to calm them down before you can help them. Experience has been a great teacher.”
The Member Relations Representatives, unlike those in other call centers, do not work from scripts, Dixon said. That gives employees flexibility to get to the root issue quicker and to answer questions more accurately.
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One day might be business as usual for Ozarks Electric, but a change in the weather could lead to power outages with all employees working to restore electrical service. For most members, a temporary loss of electricity is little more than an inconvenience. For other members, it is a significant event.
“ It’ s all hands on deck when something like that happens,” said David Dixon, Ozarks Manager of Human Resources.“ Outages become the top priority and all our employees do what they can to bring everyone back on line.”
Restoring the power takes a well-coordinated effort between all Ozarks Electric’ s departments.
Esparza graduated high school and attended college for two years in Kansas before relocating to Northwest Arkansas. She said she has found a career she enjoys in the call center. Esparza’ s job responsibilities include functions other than speaking with members. Among other tasks, Esparza regularly reviews member records to proactively identify any billing or service inconsistencies. Such reviews, in turn, help keep small problems from becoming bigger problems.
“ It’ s a safety net. She’ s looking for a flag, something unusual in the bill,” Dixon said.“ It might be a spike or drop in usage or some other outof-the ordinary change.”