We’re in the business of delivering amazing experiences to customers on behalf of our clients, here at Activus Connect, and what we’ve seen work is keeping our Ambassadors energized, focused and enthusiastic to be part of a truly supportive culture.
We’re fortunate in that we have mastered the art of virtual working, with the very latest in communications technologies, information platforms, training, coaching and mentoring programs, as well as systems that enable us to provide outstanding coverage while also accommodating flexible schedules.
But our ability to ensure every call is answered and every customer is served goes beyond the use of software applications and measurement and reporting systems. What it really takes for flexibility to work is the willingness of all members on the team to coordinate their calendars and ensure smooth handoffs when one person is covering for another.
This is a huge benefit for those individuals who wish to enjoy summer fun with their families and friends, with their spouses or partners, their kids, parents, and siblings. One of the downsides of “working from home” is that it becomes “working from the hotel room”, and never really unplugging from the work we do so we can afford to enjoy time away. While it may be impossible to not check in from time to time, depending on an individual’s role and responsibilities, it is entirely possible to coordinate coverage and plan communications to reduce or eliminate the feeling of having to stay connected 24/7.
As business model innovations like ours continue to prove that virtual working with the right people, tools, culture and mindsets can produce superior results, especially in the customer experience space, we are naturally developing ways to help make vacation scheduling and paid time off part of the flow of our services, making “detaching” less difficult.
Without this kind of environment, the thought of taking vacation can increase stress, for individuals, teams and managers, and can lead to unhappy workplaces and poor interactions with the very customers, CX companies are committed to serve. Enabling people to leave for vacation knowing their colleagues have their backs makes the break more joyful from the start – and allows the vacationers to truly slow down, enjoy the beach or the lake, the mountains or the museums – to sleep in and return to work rested and ready to return the favor.
Project Time Off research found that employees who reported that their company encourages vacation (68 percent) are much happier with their jobs than those who work at places where either vacation is discouraged, or managers are ambivalent about taking time off (42 percent).
As more millennials enter the workforce, multiple studies are showing that they value having flexible hours and time off more than their salaries, but it may be the “sandwich generation” that is benefitting most from new ways to work as they are raising their children on the one hand, and taking care of aging parents on the other. We love having a very diverse mix of people, of all generations and backgrounds, and find that our most successful talents are confident enough, creative enough and enlightened enough to know how to give 100% when they are at work, and how to find their own balance by shifting their attention to the loves of their lives.
We have been pioneering in the virtual working world for over twenty years, growing successful businesses leveraging the Internet, better and better desktops and applications, and the highest quality real time communications technologies imaginable – and we credit our tech innovations for driving the super positive outcomes our clients love.
But it is the combination of our people and how they use that technology, and even more than that, the culture of care that keeps our teams connected on a human level that leads to the collective positive energy that makes every day rewarding – including those long and lazy summer days made even more relaxing knowing coming back to work is something to look forward to!