Path to Good

Join Jen, Sally, and Maggie, along with special guest Liz, in an insightful conversation about navigating the intricate landscape of global expansion. This episode delves into considerations when expanding your business globally, emphasizing the preservation of your company culture throughout the process.

The hosts explore key aspects of global expansion, from the strategic recruitment of international talent to the significance of cultural awareness training. Learn how to create an inclusive environment that fosters a sense of belonging among your global team members.

Drawing from their personal experiences, the hosts share invaluable tips and highlight real-world examples, providing you with practical insights into the challenges and successes of expanding your company on a global scale.

To learn more about VIPdesk and our global BPO services visit our website vipdesk.com

Making the decision to outsource your customer service can greatly impact your brand. In this episode, Sally, Maggie, and Jen provide valuable insights on outsourcing, including a comparison between outsourcing in the US versus off-shore options.

During their conversation, Sally, Jen, and Maggie explore some critical components of an exceptional customer experience and the importance of providing one. They share some valuable insights, recommendations, personal encounters of elevated service, and simple yet effective ways that businesses can enhance the overall customer experience.

At VIPdesk, we design solutions as unique as the brands we serve contact us at vipdesk.com to learn more.

We're thrilled to speak with Tom Hering, co-founder and managing partner of certifying agency Benefit Corporations for Good. He is the co-author of the book, Putting Soul Into Business: How the Benefit Corporation is Transforming American Business for Good and 25 Building Blocks to Create a Conscientious Organization. Tune in to hear about why it's so important that your business has a purpose people identify with and find out how your company can certify as a Benefit Corporation for Good. 

To find more information on how to get certified please visit https://benefitcorporationsforgood.com

To find out more about VIPdesk and how we can help your organization transform your customer service visit vipdesk.com

Sally, Jen, and Maggie discuss their experience running a Women-Owned Business. They share statistics and trends impacting women in the workplace including the impact of COVID, pay equity, and what you can do to attract top talent and make your workplace more friendly to working women. To learn more about VIPdesk Connect and how we can help you visit our website vipdesk.com 

Jen, Sally, and Maggie discuss trends they're seeing for 2022 from the perspectives of Human Resources, Recruiting, and CEO. Remote and hybrid work, employee mental health, and the continuing impacts of COVID will all be factors. They outline what you should look out for and consider as you prepare for a successful year. 

Jen, Maggie, and TIffany from our People and Culture team attend the Society for Human Resources Management Conference. They discuss some of the great things they learned including a renewed focus on team member mental health, Diversity Equity and Inclusion, and the importance of having empathy at a time when many team members are experiencing burnout. 

Sally and Jen speak with customer service expert John Goodman, Vice Chairman of Customer Care Measurement and Consulting. John has managed more than 1,000 customer service studies and has written multiple books on customer experience. They discuss the newly released Customer Delight study, a first-of-its-kind scientific, large-scale study on customer delight. The study, sponsored by VIPdesk, examines the value of creating delight, what causes customer delight, and how businesses that fail to do this are likely missing out on their most powerful marketing strategy.

Jen, Sally, and Maggie reflect on the annual awards ceremony, an event to honor the accomplishments of the team. After a difficult year for everyone, it's even more important to take a little time to recognize the team for all that they do. They offer tips and suggestions for how you can plan a virtual celebration that gets the team involved. Visit our website vipdesk.com for more information and to view our blog series on remote work. 

Now that working from home is here for the long term Jen and Maggie provide some tips as well as things to consider while recruiting for remote positions. How do you showcase your culture? What are the technical considerations and how can you get creative and flexible with how your team works and where you hire?

It's customer service week! A great time for you to show some extra appreciation for your customer service team. We share a classic episode with some tips and fun and easy ways you can celebrate.

Jen, Maggie, and Jeff are joined by Jason Dichter, Principal, BPO Sales at Zendesk to discuss trends in the customer service industry. How Zendesk and VIPdesk support companies of all sizes with growing and evolving customer service needs and whether remote work is the new normal for our industry. 

Sally and Jen are joined by Jeff Kramp, VP of technology to discuss technology needs for working at home. Now that remote work appears to be here for the long term what considerations should a company take in terms of equipment, software, and security, 

Jen and Sally interview their client, Salena Scardina, the VP of Customer Experience for Herff Jones. Herff Jones along with their partners, Marching Order and StageClip,  worked to provide a first-of-its-kind virtual commencement solution for schools and universities who could not come together in person to celebrate their graduates' achievements due to COVID-19. They discuss how virtual commencements came to be, how important it is to celebrate achievement even when we can't be together in person, and why VIPdesk was the right partner to support them. 

We're thrilled to be named a Top Workplace by the Washinton Post for 2020. Sally and Jen are joined by VP of Operations and Client Services, Val to discuss the exciting award. The team offers tips for how you can focus on culture, listen to your team, and implement changes that can help you become a top workplace. Visit our website vipdesk.com to learn more about our company and read our blog series on remote work. 

Maggie, Sally, and Jen are joined by special guest Kelly, our Director of Client Services. The team takes a moment to reflect on the current state of our world which leads to a discussion about small things you can do to destress and find calm during your day. With many of us working from home, it's important to give your team tips and resources to support their mental and physical health during times of unprecedented stress. The team discusses what they do to find moments of peace and avoid burnout.

Sally, Jen, and special guest, Othmar, our VP of Sales and Marketing discuss the future of the workplace. Now that many companies have transitioned to working from home what does it look like if/when we transition back to the workplace? To what extent is remote work here to stay? They also discuss other changes and challenges that come with remote work including maintaining a strong culture and attending conferences. Visit vipdesk.com to learn more about us and see our blog series on remote work. 

Jen, Sally, and Maggie discuss some creative ways to save money while working from home as well as some ways you can still get some of your favorite products delivered without always relying on amazon. They discuss the importance of finding small moments of joy in things like icecream delivery as well as some great discounts you can take advantage of. Check out vipdesk.com for more blogs and podcasts in our work from home series. 

Discounts mentioned in the episode: 

Skullcandy.com indy truly wireless earbuds currently 30% off

www.avcommsolutions.com mention vipdesk at checkout for a discount on headsets

Sally, Maggie, and Jen discuss ways you can fight loneliness and find moments of joy while working remotely. Including leveraging your employee assistance program and finding creative ways to connect. They also discuss some techniques from Shawn Achor author of The Happiness Advantage. Visit our website vipdesk.com for more of our blog and podcast series about remote work. 

Sally, Jen, and Maggie share their tips and best practices for staying connected to your team who may be new to working from home. Please visit our website vipdesk.com for more information including our remote work blog series. 

In this episode we discuss our new reality, most companies are transitioning to remote work and are unsure how to best do this. We have had a large remote workforce for years so in this episode Sally, Jen, and Maggie share some tips and best practices for getting your team set up for success at home. We are also posting a series of blogs on the topic of remote work on our website vipdesk.com 

It's the first episode of season 2 of the Path to Good podcast. Sally, Jen, and Maggie announce that VIPdesk has received its B Corp certification! They reflect on the process, what it means to them both personally and as a company and offer advice to any company out there interested in starting their own B Corp journey.

Jen, Maggie, and Sally discuss Sally's journey. From her beginnings, reaching out to a concierge company she thought sounded interesting to how she made the decision to start VIPdesk Connect. They also discuss how this history really leads to the company culture they're building today and started them on this path. 

Sally, Jen and Maggie discuss the importance of friendship at work with our very first guest, Mo Fathelbab, author of The Friendship Advantage: 7 Keys to Building Relationships that Transform Corporate Culture and Drive Productivity. The team discusses the importance of building trust, the ways in which we foster strong relationships in a virtual environment and how we make time for some mischievous fun. 

Today Jen and Maggie discuss their favorite holiday, customer service week! No matter what your business does you probably have a team doing some sort of customer service, this is a great time to show them how much they are appreciated. Jen and Maggie share some ideas for fun ways to celebrate and some unique things they have done over the years. 

Jen recently attended the Society for Human Resources conference, the theme was Building Better Workplaces which fit right in with the Path to Good concept. Jen and Maggie discuss the inspirational keynote speakers including Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS shoes. They also discuss the trends they are seeing in the industry including an increased focus on wellness and creative benefits beyond the normal health, vision and dental insurance.  Finally they decide that they should be speakers at the conference next year to discuss their focus on building an even more amazing workplace for our team.

Jen and Sally talk to Maggie, the recruiting queen, about factors that are most important for recruiting in this tight labor market. They discuss four critical elements 

1. Creating a strong profile - what skills do you need to hire for vs what can be trained 

2. Offering fair compensation - this has been one of the most important factors in reducing attrition

3. Having flexibility - the ability to work from home shows trust in the team

4. Culture - there are many other companies that do what you do, highlight what makes you unique

The also discuss the results of their recent Ofactor Trust Survey and how important trust is to any organization. 

Sally, Maggie and Jen discuss the growth of the company. How they balance recruiting new team members with developing and promoting current team members. They talk about the benefits continuously providing team members with training and development opportunities and how they are trying to get ahead of the growth by hiring now for positions they will need in the future. 

The VIPdesk team travels to Nashville to attend the Workhuman conference. A conference all about bringing more humanity to the workplace. Jen, Sally and Maggie reflect on the things that most stood out to them including the importance of having friends at work, bringing your whole self  to work and most importantly, the fact that they didn't go to the conference just to see George Clooney.  

Jen, Maggie and Sally discuss the inevitable stress that comes with any business and how they deal with it (lots of laughing helps). They discuss client expectations for elevated customer service and how they spring into action when the best plans for recruiting and training occasionally go awry. 

Sally, Maggie and Jen discuss paying a living wage (it involves a 90 page research paper created by Maggie) and how they go about finding clients who agree with their values. They also discuss ways they develop a career path for the teams and how they recognize team members both internally and publicly. 

The team reflects on the company annual awards ceremony held earlier that day.  The annual awards honor the accomplishments of the team and are broadcast live to the entire company. Sally, Maggie and Jen discuss why they love the ceremony, their favorite awards and the rise of the "special secret awards"

Sally, Jen and Maggie reflect on 2018 initiatives including new roles, peer recognition programs, the WorkHuman conference and making the Inc 5000 list. They also discuss what they are looking forward to in 2019 including working with other companies that share our company values.