Hurray for taxes-They’re bringing jobs to Clay County

Hurray for taxes

They’re bring jobs to Clay County

By Frank Bradley

Sentinel writer

In a sluggish economy with many people still out of work, Clay County is experiencing a bit of good fortune brought about by an unlikely ally–taxes.

Drake Enterprises, one of the largest suppliers of income tax preparation software in the nation has opened a customer-service calling center hiring 23 employees with the possibility of doubling that workforce.

Last week, I took a tour of the company’s recently renovated workspace from what used to be the Super D Store and talked with several of Drake’s new employees who were about as happy as a bevy of freshly-fed tickled pigs.

Men and women, who had been out of work for a year and a half or more, feeling the pinch of not having a steady income, had noting but praise for their new job, which most of them started about six weeks ago.

Alan Keling, who is vice-president of the company in charge of Customer Service, told me that the new employees were still undergoing training and would be for several more weeks until they become thoroughly familiar with this year’s new tax software, which will soon be provided to tax-preparers throughout the country. It will be the job of the men and women in this call center, like it is in Drake’s other customer service centers in Franklin and Sylva, to provide technical assistance to independent accounting firms helping them install and trouble shoot the new software. They will also assist these firms with e-filing.

Keling said it is important that these customer service reps have good communication skills and computer literacy. In the early stages of their training, these reps take simulated calls until they become confident in handling inquires. The next training step is to take live calls when they are tethered to an experienced person to help coach them along.

“The rep could be getting a call from a CPA in Manhattan one minute, and then from someone in Brownsville, Texas, the next,” Keling said. “If they get a call about something that is too difficult for them to handle, it will be bumped up as a call escalation for someone more experienced or to their supervisor.”

Keling said there had been several towns vying for the new call center.

“Hayesville won out for three reasons,” he said. “There was a skilled labor pool. The county has a great reputation for its public schools, and the county reached out to us in a welcoming way. The county and town governments, the Tiger family, who owns the building have been extremely friendly and helpful to us every step of the way.”

He said the company, which has its headquarters in Franklin, feels really good about being in Hayesville.

Phil Drake, the owner and a native of Franklin, is very dedicated to western North Carolina, Keling said. That he wants to do as much as he can in providing economic opportunity for the region.

Keling told me that Phil Drake’s father was an accountant in the 1950’s, and that when Phil went to work for him in the 1970’s, he convinced his dad to buy an IBM computer, an expensive investment at the time, with which to do automated tax preparations. Phil programed the computer and the process worked so well that soon other accountants wanted to use it. So Phil developed the software and started selling it.

Drake Enterprise was one of the first accounting firms to do electronic filing back in 1986. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) wanted taxes filled electronically and encouraged software companies to participate. Keling said that in 1986 there were a total of 20,000 tax returns filed electronically. Of that total, 5,000 of them were filed through Drake. He said last tax season, there were 8 1/2 million federal  e-files and six million state e-files processed through Drake.

According to Keling, Drake Enterprises has about 600 employees, half of which work with the tax-preparation software, and the other half in such enterprises as a book store, theater, and communications. The Verizon store in Hayesville is owned by Drake.

Keling said the call centers are busy mostly from November, when the software goes out to independent CPA and accounting firms and remains busy throughout the tax season. I asked him if the call centers would shut down after that. He told me, no. These employees will be working or training throughout the year, he said. The company has too much invested in them to lose them through turnover. During the summer months, they are busy making outbound calls to customers.

“We keep them busy and productive,” Keling said.

Of the several employees I talked to, Suzanne Galloway Hedden said Drake is a wonderful company to work for. “They are nice people,” she said. “I intend to give it one-hundred percent. It is wonderful for Clay County.”

Elwanda Burrell of Hiawasee said she moved back to the area four years ago after retiring from A.T. & T. “I hadn’t worked until now,” she said. “I had never heard of Drake, but they have very good training and they never treat you like you are dumb.”

Adam Benedict, who lives in Young Harris, told me he once owned a construction company in Highlands, N.C., but when the construction business dried up, he looked around everywhere to find work. He said he was mowing grass, painting, doing any odd job he could find. “I had never done tax work,” he said. “I was a carpenter, but I was familiar with the computer and I find this work interesting and challenging.”

Tracy Hogsed, who lives in Hayesville told me she had been out of work for a year and a half. Prior to that, she had worked at an auto parts store in Cleveland, Georgia. She said she liked the work here and was glad to have a job.

David McMahan, who is the manager of the Hayesville call center said currently the day shift here starts at 10 a.m. and runs to 4:30 p.m. During the tax season, the work hours will be from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Workers start at $9 per hour and get increases based on performance and experience.