Giving Something Back

By Sarah Underwood

Chris Valka is a quality assurance analyst at Hewitt Associates. He's been with the firm for two years, working on client projects at oil field services giant Halliburton Dresser but also dedicating a significant number of working and leisure hours to community projects. "Because of my background in the not-for-profit sector, community work has always been close to my heart," he says. "There is no way to describe the feelings it gives me. The rewards are huge. Imagine helping to change disadvantaged children's circumstances to improve the rest of their lives. It's about love in every sense of the word and, for me, it's a passion."

Valka moved out of the not-for-profit sector because, with a wife and children, the hours and salary just couldn't meet his needs. He admits that his intention of working fewer hours has backfired, but says that client work, combined with community projects, gives him "the best of two very busy worlds."Hewitt formalized its community service and charitable contribution programs in 1998, when CEO Dale Gifford announced Hewitt Time for Hewitt Concerns and gave associates the opportunity to use up to two days of work time a year for service to the community. Valka reckons that about 30% of employees use the two days, but says that the scheme is flexible enough for him to dip into the pot and take extra time when he needs it. Education and human services are the company's key pursuits, and Valka takes a keen interest in both, chairing a committee that steers work in Hewitt's Southwest region as well as being personally involved on particular projects.One Saturday a month is devoted to Habitat for Humanity, a program that brings together towards 80 Hewitt volunteers to blitz houses that are inhabited but are in very poor shape.