CHESTERFIELD — Just one year ago, 61% of employees at MOHELA reported on a survey that they were happy working there.
This year, 72% said they were — and another 15% were neutral about their place of employment.
That unusually large jump in employee contentment, and the impressive 72% figure, are surely reasons why MOHELA was voted one of the 2023 Top Workplaces in the St. Louis region among large employers.
MOHELA was founded in 1981 as the Higher Education Loan Authority of the State of Missouri, though almost no one calls it that anymore. Though its mission has changed over the years, it is now one of the largest agencies nationwide that service student loans.
MOHELA processes the paperwork for student loan applications, but it also operates a call center where graduates with questions about their loans can call to get answers.
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These questions are often about missed payments or a difficulty in making payments.
“If you can’t make a payment, I’m going to educate you on the options that you may have available to you to help with the payments and maybe lower the amount,” said Ginny Burns, the director of loan servicing and borrower experience.
“Student loans are a lot more flexible than other types of loans with respect to repayment,” she said.
The company also helps students and graduates navigate their way through the student-loan process, suggests alternative methods of payment if necessary and even provides guidance on how to avoid student-loan scams.
MOHELA was created by state statute, so it works on behalf of the government without being part of the government. It has now expanded to service loans for students across the country. The agency is non-profit, which gives the employees a sense of mission, said Human Resources Director Christine Ellinger.
“We have a wonderful, altruistic philosophy when it comes to servicing loans. I think our employees like that. It comes down to helping people,” she said.
The sharp increase in employee contentment came when the company management made a concerted effort to “change our culture from employer-centric to employee-centric,” Ellinger said.
The employees — more than 1,000 of them in 24 states — asked for a relaxed dress code; now they can come in wearing shorts if they want to. They asked to be able to work from home; now almost all of them do. They asked for inclusivity in hiring; now instead of being made to take off work for religious holidays they may not observe, employees are given a number of days off that they can use for any holiday they choose.
Meanwhile, the company also formed the MOHELA Activities Committee, which meets monthly to devise fun things for the employees to do together. Many of them raise money for charity.
They now have a soccer team, a book club — it’s especially helpful for virtual employees as a way to meet and get together online — a Spring Fling week, a Super Bowl competition (employees get prizes for correctly predicting the score) and a “Just Popping In” event in which the company mailed Blow Pops to all employees.
Another new idea has also been paying happiness dividends, Burns said. The Props Committee — that’s “props” as in “giving props” — is using software called Nectar that allows employees to give shout-outs to other employees.
Even better, every employee is assigned a number of points they can give to other employees for a job well done or otherwise acting in accordance with the company’s core values. The points eventually translate into money, which can be used to order items on Amazon.
And when employees are suffering a temporary financial hardship, they can apply for funding from a benefit called MOHELA Cares. These requests are kept confidential and the money is distributed by a third party.
DeAnna Bracy started out in the call center 11 years ago and has worked her way up to now being a specialty servicing relationship supervisor. What she likes most about working for MOHELA is that it has allowed her to do just that.
“They develop the employees and promote from the inside. I love the family culture. I don’t feel like just someone who works here, but I feel like MOHELA is invested in my future and my progress,” she said.
Top workplaces, large category
There were 27 companies with 500 or more regional employees who participated in the survey.
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June 23, 2023 at 11:00PM
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