JSEC Employer of Choice 2021 Announcement

Compliance Monitoring Systems in Missoula employs 38 people statewide. It has been in business for 11 years, providing drug testing, alcohol monitoring, GPS monitoring, employment testing, and misdemeanor and pre-trial supervision. They have contracts across the state with the Montana Department of Corrections, Child and Family Services, some small rural counties and tribal nations, and the federal probation office.

Program Manager Jake Henry nominated the business, saying CEO Jodine Tarbert is extremely generous with time off and remote work, and recognizes the importance of family life. He believes CMS’s benefits of healthcare, dental, PTO, and retirement are outstanding, considering the size of the business. Employee development, leadership coaching, classes and workshops are some of the ancillary benefits of working for the company.

“Everything is team oriented and focused,” Jake said. “We cover the entire state of Montana and COVID has allowed us to connect more across the state with our other rural areas and employees there.”

New employees are interviewed by some staff members to ensure everyone is happy with the new hire. Internal office relationships are so strong than the entire staff in one office shared a Thanksgiving meal together with their families.

The nature of CMS’s work is undeniably stressful. Staff recently went on a “field trip” to a Missoula business called Unhinged, where they were encouraged to break bottles and tiles, and then held a short leadership discussion over lunch.

Staff support includes weekly one-on-one calls for coaching and development. Books such as One Minute Manager and Monday Morning Leadership are encouraged reads. Seminars and online courses are available and employees wanting to advance are often coached and developed into a position of leadership.

As for community involvement, CMS is member of the DUI task force in Missoula and works in many counties to set aside funding to pay for clients’ monitoring, especially this year with COVID and many people being out of work. In one recent month, CMS funded more than $5,000 worth of monitoring for clients who otherwise would be unable to afford their court-ordered program and likely would have had to stay in jail. CMS works with local service providers in each community for counseling and treatment. The business has donated countless hours and expenses to start programs in smaller counties and is currently working on assisting a tribal nation in the southern part of the state. All training and resources to begin the program are free.

In his nomination for the company, Jake Henry wrote, “I will always recommend that people work for CMS and will continue to be a part of this team that grows closer and more effective every day as we all help our communities and clients through hard times.”

onXmaps, Inc. employs more than 170 people statewide. It has spent the last 11 years developing its passion for the outdoors and technology. “We aim to awaken the adventurer in everyone,” according to Laura Orvidas, CEO.

The app company began by providing GPS map overlays of public and private land boundaries for hunters – onX Hunt. It expanded to include onX Offroad with 400,000+ mapped trails and roads. onX Backcountry was released at the end of 2020.

onX’s innovations extend beyond its apps to the benefits and environment it offers its employees. Beyond competitive salaries, incentive stock options, comprehensive medical benefits, insurance, paid time off and paid family leave, the company allows employees to use their 401(k) company match to help pay off student loans. It also offers discounts for industry-leading outdoors brands and paid company outdoor excursions. There is also a Get Out, Get Active stipend, which employees can spend on outdoor-related activities and equipment, such as purchasing National Park passes, a mountain bike or cross-country skis to use during lunch breaks, or attending an avalanche safety course.

 With a commitment to collaboration, onX offers the onX Incentive Plan, rewarding team members with a yearly bonus for meeting and exceeding the company goals. During the pandemic, onX has provided employees with a stipend for setting up their home offices and assisting with expenses brought on by the shift to working from home. Staff is reimbursed for their Care.com memberships to provide additional support with senior care, child care, pet sitting, tutoring, special needs care, house cleaning, and more. When working in the office, staff are welcome to bring their dogs, “which, of course, ups the collective joy level on a daily basis,” according to Janine Unruh, Manager of Employee Experience.

Reflecting its mission of providing access to the outdoors for everyone, the company is also steeped in a culture of inclusion, focusing on an Equity Pay Initiative and opportunities to attend seminars on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Personal and professional growth is fostered through bi-weekly “Lunch and Learns.” Topics have included how to be a responsible risk taker, what it means to exercise your stock options, learning how to fly fish, and understanding unconscious bias.

Employee career paths are nurtured. Geospatial employees who commit to self-study and mentorship have advanced into software development engineering roles. onX also contributes funds for staff continuing education. All team members also have unlimited access to LinkedIn Learning’s educational material.

Staff is encouraged to give back to the community. Each team member is allotted a stipend to contribute toward a community organization of their choice. Many employees go the extra mile and use their volunteer time off to contribute to environmental cleanups and conservation efforts.  In response to the increased needs in the community during the pandemic, onX enacted a program whereby team members donated their paid time off to local nonprofits. In 2020, onX was chosen as one of the top five employers for Missoula in Motion.

Major focuses of onX are its Public Land Advocacy and Land Access Initiatives. Since onX builds technology to help give people their best days outdoors, it works to protect and secure access to the outdoors. That means working with land-management officials and analyzing mapping data to provide numbers that support a national call for public land funding. It provided funding to improve public land access in specific locations.

“Through the collaboration of onX and our dedicated partners, we secured hunting and outdoor recreation access on 14,473 acres, as well as facilitated easier access to an estimated 9,778 additional acres of hard-to-reach public lands,” Janine wrote in her nomination of the company for the award.

JSEC congratulates this year’s exceptional employers.