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What’s it like working for one of the top 50 military spouse–friendly employers? Navy, Coast Guard and Army spouses employed by Verizon reveal how the company helps them tackle the everyday (and not-so-everyday) challenges military families face.
Maribel Beckwith
IT Systems Engineer
Maribel Beckwith fled her Manhattan office and ran for her life the day of the attacks on the World Trade Center. Emotionally traumatized by the experience, the Navy wife and mother couldn’t bring herself to return to a traditional office.
Beckwith didn’t lose her job. Instead, after consulting with our Employee Assistance Program, she became one of the company’s first full-time telecommuting employees in 2002. The arrangement ended up being long term. “The flexibility has allowed my son to maintain some sense of stability and not have his personal world disrupted,” Beckwith explains. “It has also allowed me to fulfill my responsibilities to him, to the military, and to my job.”
Kaye-Loni Barclift
Retail Sales Representative
Kaye-Loni Barclift joined Verizon in 2013, and her Coast Guard wife is frequently deployed. Safety and health become bigger concerns during those periods because Barclift has epilepsy, and the possibility of suffering a seizure at work or alone at home during her wife’s deployments frightened her.
But she didn’t have to be scared for long. Barclift decided to get a service dog, and her manager made arrangements that allowed the dog to accompany her at work. She appreciates the support she’s received from her manager and colleagues.
Tawanda Perry
Retail Store Manager
Tawanda Perry, whose husband is in the Army, began her Verizon career 10 years ago as a sales representative. She has relocated twice during that time, quickly finding new Verizon positions after each move.
“It eases your mind that you can still contribute to your family financially and have options when you move,” says Perry. “They’ve given me the option to be mobile and still be a career woman, a mom and a wife, and that’s a blessing in itself. The support Verizon gave me really did help,” she says. “Issues like these are harder when the head of the household leaves, and the family structure changes.”
