Allstate To Pay $7.5M In Salaries In 2012

Allstate will pay out $7.5 million in salaries to 230 employees at its newly built call center in Chubbuck in 2012 alone. The company is happy with the figure, as the call center’s local economic impact was one of the biggest talking points surrounding it coming here.

The call center won’t even be fully staffed yet — it has the capacity to take on 500 workers.

Last year, the company paid out $27 million to build the call center. Allstate Service Department Director Randy Perry said a majority of that went to local contractors. The call center has the chance to bring more businesses to town, because as the business grows, they’ll bring even more money to the area.

But the company is bringing more than just monetary value to town, said employee Casey Park. He was hired as as a front line leader as a part of the first wave of workers.

“This is a fantastic company. And you know above that, the people here in the community are just wonderful people,” Park said.

He said the people feel like family, and said he feels like he’s on a level playing field with corporate executives.

Vice President of Customer Contact Centers, Linda Moynihan, said the center just got a review back on the first 100 employees, and the group blew company expectations out of the water.

“There are probably a lot of people (in the Pocatello-Chubbuck area) that were probably a little under-employed, because of the fact that they wanted to be here, and they probably have a lot of potential. And so we anticipated that we’d get really good talent. But across the board, (they) exceeded our expectations,” Moynihan said.

Allstate tried to set that example, Perry said. The new building is Level 2 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified.

“We want to be a good corporate citizen,” Perry said.

The building is equipped with bike racks for people who ride to work, and has showers and lockers inside for them to clean up before their shift. The windows reflect sunlight to bring more natural light into the office and to help save electricity.

The company also tried to be inclusive in its design, so all of the desks are open and there are very few closed door offices. There are open “huddle” centers for group meetings and the walls are covered with local art and inspirational quotes. Perry said the design is appropriate for an office that’s starting off on the right foot.

“It’s really neat because we really feel like Idaho’s going to be a site that the others aspire to look like and act like,” Perry said.

Allstate hopes to bring its number to 230 employees by the end of the year, and reach its capacity of 500 total over the next several years.

Entry level positions start at $12 an hour.