Congratulations to Deb Hanson, CSR 4 at CRC's Austin, Minnesota, office, who was selected as CRC’s September 2021 Employee of the Month. Hanson, who has worked for CRC for over 10 years, was selected as Employee of the Month for a STAR Award card she received in September recognizing her for going beyond normal protocol to report a potentially life-threatening situation to a Louisiana member during Hurricane Ida. Without immediate follow-through, the important outage ticket may have been buried with the many other outage tickets the cooperative received, possibly resulting in tragic consequences.

“It’s natural during times of heavy call volume to want to try and complete calls as soon as possible,” said Kerry Wylie, senior contact center manager at the Austin Center. “But in this case, Deb recognized the danger and knew she had to alert the co-op’s dispatchers about the issue instead of simply just reporting it. During a time of great chaos, Deb showed great judgment and made sure the issue was communicated to the appropriate individuals as soon as possible.”

In recognition of being a CRC Employee of the Month, Hanson will receive four hours of paid time off (PTO). Hanson is also eligible for consideration for CRC’s 2021 Employee of the Year, which will be selected by CRC’s management team in late January 2022.