TOP LARGE EMPLOYER
CarShield is driven to succeed Yet company maintains casual, fun vibe, with hands-on management BY TIM BRYANT
Special to the Post-Dispatch
O’FALLON, Mo. — For a company with more than 800 employees, CarShield pivoted with remarkable speed to workfrom-home mode when the coronavirus pandemic began rolling across the nation in early March. Within days, its information technology staff devised laptop computer adaptations. Within two weeks, the company’s headquarters here and its satellite offices in St. Peters were hosting just 10% of CarShield’s employees. Employees described CarShield as a nimble company with passionate owners who move fast and have built an exciting, fun workplace. CarShield — a provider of vehicle extended service contracts — is ranked first among the region’s large companies in this year’s Top Workplaces survey. And CarShield moved quickly to protect employees when the coronavirus pandemic hit, imposing an early travel ban, said Mike Carter, the company’s general counsel. “We got well ahead of it,” he said. “Everybody was in a new ballgame without any rules.” By mid-June, the company began to allow employees to volunteer to return to the office. Carter, who has been with CarShield almost from the company’s founding in 2005 — first as its outside lawyer — said the owners have always made employees’ well-being a high priority. Rick Brettelle, Nick Hamilton and Mark Travis — the owners — are handson but approachable bosses, Carter said. “They’re not remote,” he added. “They grew up here. Their kids go to public school here. They’re always at the office.” Carter said that CarShield’s rapid employment growth recently is likely to continue. Some workers who had left for 4
HILLARY LEVIN PHOTOS, HLEVIN@POST-DISPATCH.COM
Andrea Schaeffer, left, a paralegal, and Mike Carter, the general counsel at CarShield, are shown outside the company’s office in June.
CARSHIELD Address • 503 Pearl Drive, O’Fallon Website • carshield.com Phone • 800-974-9385 Founded • 2005 Description • Extended vehicle service contract marketing firm
RIGHT: Trophies from community and minor league sports teams that CarShield has sponsored are displayed in the entry hallway at CarShield.
TOP WORKPLACES • ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH • 08.02.20
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