By Brian Gray
It's no secret that recruiting qualified candidates for jobs in Vermont and elsewhere has gotten more challenging in the last two years. In this highly competitive hiring environment, it's no longer enough to recruit on the merits of the job and salary alone. Today's job seekers are also looking for more meaningful work that reflects their personal values and provides the opportunity to balance work/life responsibilities.
At the Energy Co-op, we are proud of our position as a member-owned cooperative business, guided by responsible business practices that put people before profits and provide the best value and benefits possible for our members and employees.
WHAT IS A CO-OP?
Cooperatives are voluntary organizations, open to all persons able to use their services and are willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political, or religious discrimination. Our hiring practices place a high priority on recruiting candidates that share these values.
Cooperatives are democratic organizations. Our members and employees actively participate in setting our policies and making decisions. Since our emphasis is not on profits, we re-invest our capital to support overall cooperative principles, such as:
- Growing the co-op while maintaining reserve capital to secure the organization against unexpected events such as the recent pandemic challenges.
- Benefiting employees through fair wages, generous benefits, and performance bonus opportunities.
- Providing education and training for our employees.
- Curating relevant news and information on legislative initiatives, energy trends, rebates, and efficiency products for our members.
- Supporting our community and the well-being of our members with the resources generated by our successful business practices.
- Placing a high value on the environment, reduction of fossil fuel use and saving money for our members and employees.
- Demonstrating a commitment to work/life balance.
We recognize that the trends shaping our economic and cultural landscape are highly influenced by the increased opportunities that qualified candidates have in today's job market. In the end, our goal is to offer our current and future employees that "something more" that our co-operative principles offer.