This is the seventh in a series of articles about the Best of Reston Award winners.
In 2005 NII Holdings surveyed its employees asking if the company was a good partner within the community. After receiving an overwhelming "No," the management set up a Social Responsibility Committee.
The company's vice president for operations and human resources, John McMahon, said the company was not involved in the community on any level prior to the survey. After the survey, the management realized that its employees wanted more out of their work experience than just a paycheck. "They wanted an opportunity to get involved in the community through work," said McMahon.
A part of the reason why NII had so little community involvement in the past is that the Reston-based company is a telecommunications business serving markets in Latin America. NII, a company of 140 employees, broke away from Nextel in 2002, and the new company needed time to establish itself in the business community before it could do work in the local community. "It was a natural evolution. Our operations are in Latin America and we didn't really have time" to concentrate on the local community, said senior financial analyst Melissa Graham.
Since initializing the Social Responsibility Committee, NII has contributed volunteers for a variety of projects in the local community. They included building homes with the Habitat for Humanity, blood drives with INOVA Health Systems and various projects with the Ronald McDonald House Charities and Reston Interfaith. "It is a diverse list of activities, so the employees can find something to do that appeals to them," said Graham.
McMahon said the company decides to work on projects that encourage team building, teamwork, are happening in the local community and are non-political, non-religious and non-partisan.
Also, the company supports individual employees who decide to get involved within the community. NII gives the employees time off from work when they get involved, and at times makes a donation towards the organization.
Graham said the projects help NII build relationships with the community, and there has been high employee participation in all of the projects the company undertook. "Helping to build a house is a day off from work and getting your hands dirty," said Graham. She added that it is a chance for people who work in different departments within the company to meet one another outside the work environment.
"I HAVE REALLY ENJOYED working with NII Holdings," said Sally Krahn, the house operations manager with the Ronald McDonald Northern Virginia House. Krahn said NII contacted her with a wish to do a service day, helping to clean the house and paint bathrooms and rooms in the house. "They were all over the house. They didn't rest," said Krahn. At the end of the day, Krahn handed NII representatives a wish list for the house. The list specified that the house had some television problems, so the employees at NII purchased new television sets and DVD players for all eight rooms at the house. "As if that wasn't enough, they then came, removed the old TVs, and installed the new ones. It was really fabulous," said Krahn.
According to Krahn, the volunteers from NII were well-organized. They had an idea of the services the Ronald McDonald House offered, and they brought supplies that could help with the needs of the house.
Another local organization which benefited from the efforts of NII employees was KidsRFirst, based in the Reston-Herndon area. The organization provides school supplies for local school children. "They are helping to support kids in the community," said Susan Ungerer, the founder and president of KidsRFirst. She said it was extremely important to her organization to have the support of local businesses as KidsRFirst — a former Best of Reston Award winner — is trying to build a corporate base for donations. "NII is a newer corporation for me to learn about, but they are doing wonderful things in the community," said Ungerer.
NII'S WORK in the community transcends to national and international issues. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the company helped rebuild lives of four families who evacuated to Fairfax County, donating $5,000 to each of the families. With its market far-removed from Reston, NII does a number of community projects near its market base. McMahon said that through its work with the World Education Fund, the company recently helped build a school in Mexico. Executive Assistant Genie Graham said another school was opened in Brazil.
McMahon said there were many reasons why businesses should get involved in local community projects. "At a minimum, employee satisfaction," he said was a reason. He said that the honor of being a Best of Reston Award recipient validates that the projects NII is involved in, are the right projects.