Blog

ATR is always looking for great people to join the company, are you interested? Should you be? 

Staffing 360 recently spoke with Sarah Yacono, a member of ATR’s recruiting team. She has been with ATR for nearly 6 years and is focused exclusively on matching great IT contractors with positions at one of the leading financial service companies in the U.S..

We asked her why she liked working at ATR.

Some of the things Sarah mentioned are pretty standard – competitive salary and very good benefits, rewarding work, great coworkers and supportive management. “I really enjoy the camaraderie and team mentality that exists at ATR. I have built some very solid relationships with both my coworkers and our management team, and it makes a difference in how successful I can be and how much I enjoy working here. It may sound like a cliche’ but it is a really open and comfortable environment, and we really do work collaboratively!”

One other thing she mentioned that caught our interest: ATR’s Voluntary Time Off program.

A little background. The way it works is pretty straightforward, each internal ATR employee gets a week/40 hours of time to donate to the charitable organization(s) or cause(s) of their choice. Do you want to build a house with Habitat for Humanity or travel overseas to help build a school? You need a week to do so. Or do you want to mentor children by reading to them each week at the library? Or do you prefer helping them learn about business with Junior Achievement? In these cases, you need a few hours for multiple weeks. Either way the program works for you. Of course you have to make sure that your work is covered, the way you need to for any planned absence but once you’re set, you’re set.

Sarah has used her time to work with the Santa Cruz Habitat for Humanity for the past 4 years. She has built houses – laying pipe, framing doors and walls, putting up drywall, hammering, painting, etc. (read more about it). She has also volunteered at the Silicon Valley chapter’s ReStore, taking in donations, cleaning, organizing, loading and more. Sarah has chosen Habitat for Humanity but you really can use it however you want and as much of it as you want, up to 40 hours per year. You can support the same organization again and again or switch it up each year. Others at ATR have donated their time to the Alzheimer’s Association, The Make a Wish Foundation, the Fremont Library, The Lion’s Club and more.

How great to be able to leave work early to read to children and still get paid? How nice to be able to help build a house for someone in need and still have your vacation time to take a family trip? As a firm, ATR is a generous supporter of many worthy causes and the ATR family has raised a lot of money in a lot of different ways across its offices in the U.S. as a team effort, and that’s awesome. But this is different.

Sarah told us, “I feel appreciated at ATR and the VTO is one of the reasons. It’s hard to find time to give back when you are working a full time job. This makes it much easier.” Sarah also commented, “I like that the VTO program supports people’s individual efforts. It gives us the chance to support a charity of our choice, not what someone else thinks is worthwhile.”

Andrea Brenholz, Chief Marketing Officer for ATR expanded on this idea saying, “It multiplies not just the amount of ATR’s charitable donations, but more importantly the breadth. Our employees are reaching more, and more varied, organizations than ATR as a single company could ever do, and having a bigger, more widespread, impact.” Read more about how ATR’s internal employees have made a difference using their VTO here. Sarah ended our conversation by telling Staffing 360, “I love working in the staffing industry and I may be biased, but I think ATR is a great place to work and the VTO program is one of the reasons why. I think it really demonstrates the values and culture of ATR. We genuinely care about the communities we live and work in and want to make them better and stronger in whatever ways we can.”

As the VTO program shows, one effective way to do that is to support the individual efforts of ATR’s employees. In this way ATR is not just making our communities better, but also demonstrating that they value their employees. The company works to support them as people in innovative and rewarding ways, and the VTO is one good example of that commitment in action.

If you’re looking for someplace to work that sees you as a person, not just an employee, ATR may be the place for you! Submit your resume here.