Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 8, 1990 TAG: 9007050199
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: BRISTOL LENGTH: Medium
Just ask the 1,700 company employees in Southwest Virginia, northeastern Tennessee and parts of South Carolina.
It took awhile, but Smith has met one of his first goals: to shake hands and talk with each employee.
"From these visits, and from talks with customers and community leaders, I've been able to get a good flavor of how we as a company perceive ourselves, and how we are perceived out in the community," he said.
The feedback he got from employees indicated they believed "we're continuing to build on a very strong foundation," Smith said.
He said he planned to keep the Southeast Group competitive by focusing on its team members, not only giving them continuing training in their jobs but cross-training so they can step into other jobs when necessary.
That has come in handy already, with the June loss of 42 employees at United's long-distance operator facility in Johnson City, Tenn. United had been providing long-distance service in Virginia and Tennessee for American Telephone & Telegraph since 1983, but AT&T recently exercised its contract option to take back those operators.
The job cuts forced no layoffs. All 42 employees found other jobs within or outside United, retired or took special early retirement packages, Smith said.
Smith said his company will continue to search for the most efficient ways to do business, noting that a study of the group's long-distance operations is to be completed in mid-1991.
"Technology drives our employee levels," Smith said. "As technology advances, quite frankly, it takes less people to do some of the functions."
That has been seen in recent years with the closing of local United offices in its Virginia service area.
The group's Virginia customers are in the counties of Washington, Smyth, Wythe, Bland, Carroll and Grayson, and cities of Galax and Bristol.
As for consolidation, "we do not at this time have any short or intermediate plans to consolidate the Southeast Group with any other operating group in United," he said, defining intermediate as three to five years.
United, now with seven groups in 17 states, has consolidated some of its companies. A Texas and Midwest group merged, as did an Indiana and Ohio group. But with more than 310,000 customers, the Southeast Group has more than those divisions had before the mergers, Smith said.
But future consolidation is possible, he said.
"We have a responsibility to make sure we are positioned to meet our customers' needs and wants."
Smith denied rumors of a move for the Bristol headquarters to Johnson City, noting that he is building a home in Bristol.
"If we were going to move to Johnson City, I suspect I would be building in Johnson City."
If economic development is a major need in its service area, he said, the best thing United can do to help is have the best telecommunications technology in place to serve business and industry.
The first things potential industries ask about is availability of broad-band capability, digital switching and fiber optics, he said. United is getting these in place. Eighty-five percent of its customers now have digital technology, he said, as compared to 50 percent nationally.
The 10-cent per minute long-distance rate within Tennessee will go to a nickel in November, a rate 8 cents lower than in Virginia and one he said was possibly the lowest in the nation. "Our company is working hard to bring that rate down."
United cannot deploy fiber-optic cable in its Virginia counties yet, he said, as it is doing in the more populous areas of Tennessee. But it is continuing to replace analog switches in Virginia with digital ones loaded with the latest software.
Smith, 47, worked for the Southeast Group from 1978 to 1985, holding jobs in data, planning, customer service and industry relations.
He had spent the intervening years with United's Ohio and Texas companies, most recently as vice president and general manager of the Texas Division of United Telephone's Midwest Group.
by CNB