In this Issue: Word From Rob Duncan. . . . . . . . . . 2 A SYKES News. . . . . . . 3-9 People Serving People. . . . 10-11 Employee Relief Fund. . . . . . . . . 12 SYKES In The Community. . . . 13-14 Extra SYKED!. . . . . . . . 15
Denver Office Employees: (LtoR) Angela Noonan, Kirk Jeter and Kelly Barchie visited the children served by KidStreet
A WORD FROM ROB DUNCAN
Dear SYKES North America
Team –
Every year, the region’s lea ders gather to ref lect on No rth America’s successes and opportunities missed. We als o plan for the next year, in order to prepare for people excellence, operational exc ellence and making our bus iness even stronger in the and Canada. This year’s lea U.S. dership offsite was the mo st inspiring we have had to dat because we peeled back the e shields we put up to protec t our feelings but that also us away from creating soluti keep ons that will catapult our bus iness into the future. It sounds counterintuitive, but we have discovered the fastest path to increased business success is throug h injecting more humanity int o our day-to-day operation more trial and error, more s— distance from spreadsheets , mo re real conversations about progress and innovation. We learned to shed the shields we put on every day. Shield that protect us from the fea s r of getting hurt, but probab ly keep us from sharing our ver y best thinking. Imagine what kind of creative soluti ons we could establish to make our business stronger, if we were completely self-aw are of our true authentic selves and didn’t hide our ideas or experience behind the fea r of not being liked? Or, if we are so self-aware, we un derstand that we don’t hav e to win in a situation and someone else lose, just so we make can feel better about oursel ves? Authenticity is complete aw areness of the things that trig ger our anger, or sadness, fear and keep us from sharin or g or expressing our best ide as. Real self-awareness is the way we truly understand ano ther person’s perspective and ideas. Our best, most selfaware selves, combined wit h the authentic, most creati ve ide as of others, could lead to an interchange that would bring revolutionar y busine ss solutions. This year’s offsite taught us to be laser-focused on self-aw areness in order to work more effectively in teams and find the ver y best creative solutions for our business. We came back from our lea dership summit excited for the best year ever for SYKES North America. You’ll be hea ring a lot about the proces s we learned. It’s called Creative Interchange. Check out this recording of Decem ber’s Third Thursday, where other top leaders in North America talk about their new leadership approach that starts with authenticity. Happy New Year to you and your family! Here’s to YOUR best, authen tic year ever.
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SYKES NEWS
Kudos from Clients
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very month, we will be sharing kudos from our clients directed either to an entire team or an individual employee. This month’s quote comes from a financial services customer that Stephany Yaple, one of our Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania Customer Support agents spoke with. Thank you, Stephany, for doing what it takes to earn these words of praise!
Ingredients for Your Recipe for Success
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ore of our SYKES A+ Agents have shared great advice on things that make them successful at their job. Think about implementing these into your routine if you’re not doing them already!
“I wish to commend one of your agents for the way she handled my concern with a Visa gift card that had expired, and I no longer had. She was aware of my situation from a Facebook message that I sent. She called me twice and left a message. When I had a chance and called her back, she seemed to be fully aware of the problem, and I was surprised that I didn’t have to repeat my story to her. After countless interactions between the merchant and Visa, it didn’t seem like I was going to get anywhere. However, when I talked to Stephany, my worries disappeared. She was very courteous, friendly and professional, which is rare nowadays. Ms. Stephany is an asset to your organization and is part of the reason I look forward to doing business with [financial services client] in the future!”
1. Have passion for what you d o. 2. Stay positiv e. 3. Reflect on p ast experience s to help you g 4. Set challen row. ging goals and celebrate those accompli shments. 5. Be patient – good things co who wait. me to those 6. Stay humble . ~ Travis Price, Team Superviso r
Do YOU consistently meet or exceed your metrics? If so, we want to hear from you! This section of the newsletter is devoted to SYKES A+ Agents -- a forum for employees to share and learn what other agents do routinely in order to perform at a consistently high level! Please email the key ingredient of your recipe for success to Home-GetSYKED@sykes.com.
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SYKES NEWS
Holiday Celebrations Across North America
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he SYKES team in Morrilton, Arkansas celebrated the holidays with a 1950’s themed party, complete with poodle skirts, music, prizes and a 50’s diner photo screen. What a great way to end the year!
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Virtual employees in Colorado, as well as those from the Denver regional office, got together for a Holiday Fiesta in the Denver area. Santa Claus paid a visit and gave away presents to children both young and old!
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SYKES NEWS
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anta and Mrs. Clause also brought cheer to employees and their families in Boise, Idaho.
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Client Services Director on the virtual side, Kirk Jeter, held a Secret Santa gift exchange via Zoom meeting with each of his account managers.
he Fort Smith, Arkansas site held a T holiday luncheon to thank support staff for their hard work and dedication throughout the year. S www.SYKES.com
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SYKES NEWS
What the Holidays Mean to Me
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Christmas is all about Family and especially my grandchildren. Being with them at various times - watching them sing in Church and all dressed up in their Christmas dresses. I have three granddaughters who live close to me, and they are my heart. Below is a picture of my granddaughter helping me decorate my Christmas tree and another of two of them under their own tree. Where would we be without our loved ones at the holiday? I wish that if anyone needed my help in being with their families that I could help them out in that way........that would truly be a Christmas Miracle. I’d also like to add how grateful I am to work for such a wonderful group here at Alpine Access/ SYKES, the Sprint CVP program under Vicki Williamson. Could not ask for a more thoughtful, kind and caring group of people. They make the holiday special in many ways for all of us.”
~ Linda Jones, Team Supervisor
“Pictured (above) is one of my Christmas trees, yes I have two. This tree is made up of 15 years of the children’s Christmas crafts and favorite themes… we have everything from Strawberry Shortcake, Blue’s Clues, the Smurfs, soccer balls, basketballs, hockey skates. But the best decorations are the ones they made of their little hands when they were so young. The tree has over 200 ornaments, and every one of them is a memory. The kids decorate this one all on their own – it is so amazing to watch them remember their childhood.” 8 www.SYKES.com
~ Karen Pavicic, Senior Director Telco and Technology Operations
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Superior Service from At Home Team Wins Bigger Account Role for 2016
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ttention Shoppers! No, it’s not a special on aisle three – but there is something exciting happening for a well-known retail giant’s customer service, thanks to Nathanael Robbins and his team of virtual superstars. The retail company took a chance on SYKES virtual services this year, starting with a pilot of only 32 at-home agents. The new client was concerned that virtual quality would not work as expected. Within two weeks, however, the skeptical discount retailer was singing SYKES praises. The client had quickly ramped up to 150 agents with a promise to go further for the holiday. They weren’t kidding – by the weekend after Thanksgiving SYKES had added a total of 1,420 agents to the account in just two months. The rapid growth in confidence and account size was due to the superior quality service SYKES provided for our client and their customers -- not an easy task since
the calls were all to resolve problems with customers’ orders. And just as sure as Santa comes through every December, SYKES delivered. “We really showed our quality and strength Black Friday through Cyber Monday,” said Nathanael Robbins, SYKES senior director of client services. “We were the client’s number one partner for delivering on AHT, CSAT and first call resolution. And our attendance topped 90 percent on mandatory dates – all exceeding client expectations.” In fact, to highlight our success, the client broke protocol and singled out SYKES as their “number one partner” during a conference call attended by some of SYKES’ competitors. “We thrilled the client because everyone at SYKES made it happen, from HR, payroll, IT, team leads and our at-home agents,” says Robbins. “That’s why the client was willing to go out of their way to single SYKES out for recognition.” SYKES will continue to reap the rewards of a job well done after the 2015 holiday season is a memory. Says Robbins, “As a result of our stellar performance, we will ramp down to a steady state of 130 FTEs working in 2016, when we anticipated (and budgeted) only 50. We won more slots against other vendors who had been with the client for years. Thanks to the hard work of our team during the Thanksgiving weekend, we earned a bigger place at the table.” S
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PEOPLE SERVING PEOPLE
Nathanael Robbins Puts Team in Fashion
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athanael Robbins’ mother found her collegeage son lying on a gurney in the emergency room, dressed in his finest. He had been at a black tie dinner at school, where étoufée was on the menu. Unfortunately, the urbanely dressed but unaware Robbins was allergic to shellfish. Having never sampled the creole delicacy before, he helped himself to healthy portions. He soon turned red and, in his words, “swelled up like Fred Flintstone.” Robbins was rushed to the hospital. Family was called. Robbins recalls, “As my mom would later say, ‘I walked into the ER just as the doctor was saying, now I have to cut the tux off him. And my son looked at him and said, doctor, don’t cut the Armani…just let me die!’” Robbins survived (Rest in Pieces, Armani tux), and is currently senior director, client services for SYKES, where he manages at-home accounts for retailers like Abercrombie and Fitch, Bon-Ton and Walmart. His love of retail – particularly fashion – was honed at an early age. And his role model was his mom. “In middle school I’d go to the mall with my mom. She was very fashion oriented, very put together. She could make an old pair of Levi’s jeans and tee shirt look classy. She would put the right accessories together.” Fashion wasn’t the only thing he learned from his mom, however. “Mom always taught me to see people as inherently good.” Since Robbins’ mother was a psychiatrist, she was in a position to understand the human condition. She also set a good example for her son. “My mother did some amazing work with prisoners. She donated her time. She offered counseling service, and she always saw the good in people.” Robbins put his passion for fashion to work, getting a job at the Gap at age 16. He loved working there and looked forward to the new fashions coming out each quarter. His work at the Gap paid for his college education at Michigan State University, where he got a degree in fashion merchandising. He graduated with honors. After college, Robbins wanted to be a fashion buyer. It’s a highly competitive field. “If you’re doing good as a buyer, you’re not leaving. And there’s a line of 1,000 people waiting to take your place, so it’s hard to bust into.”
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Despite the enormous competition, Robbins was on track to get a job with Neiman Marcus, when he learned of an at home job with Alpine Access. Despite the allure of a coveted job with the luxury department store, Robbins accepted the job at Alpine. “I made a list, and the pros of working from home outweighed the cons.” He rapidly advanced, moving from agent, to escalation coach, QA, team lead, account manager and now senior director of client services. In an industry with high turnover, one of Robbins’ claims to fame is that the nine people he hired while account manager for Abercrombie and Fitch are still with SYKES. “We were looking for a type of person. A good work ethic, and people who had knowledge of the brand and who shopped the brand. We clicked. It was chemistry.” Perhaps it was more than mere chemistry at work. Like a good cook – which is another of Robbins’ talents, a skill taught him by his grandmother – he brought the right personal elements together to make his team cohesive, another reason for its members’ longevity at SYKES. He cultivated the essential ingredients by building personal relationships with his team members. “I would also say, ‘hey, how are things going?’ I would try to learn something personal about them. I would want to know if their daughter was starting in 6th grade, for example. Or if they had a sick child, so I could ask how they were doing. You have to have a human connection.” Shades of his mother’s influence, perhaps? He also found ways to coach his people instead of dictating to them. “If your handle times were too high, you can’t just say, ‘okay, get it down.’ You ask, ‘what can I do to help you?’ You give them achievable, measurable goals, breaking it down into steps. You offer specific tips. My favorite thing about being a team lead was being able to partner with someone who wasn’t meeting a metric, work with them, and see them get better.” One big secret Robbins relies on is the principal of “QTIP.” It means “Quit Taking It Personally.” It’s a skill he picked up from his days handling escalated calls from angry customers. “I taught myself that they are not yelling at me,” he says. “It’s just the situation. I’m just the vessel of their frustration. You just take it, cleanse and move on. So I
always tell my team, ‘you’re going to get yelled at. Just remember: QTIP.’” For all his success, Robbins misses his retail days. “I miss the touch of retail. I miss it everyday. If my calendar and time allowed it, I would get a job as seasonal holiday
help, just to get back in the mall for the touch and feel of it.” Still, he takes enormous satisfaction with what he is doing now. “I get up every morning for my people.” For Robbins, being all about his team is always in fashion. S
“ Mom always taught me to see people as inherently good.”
Note: No apparel from Armani was harmed in the development of this article. www.SYKES.com
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SYKES EMPLOYEE RELIEF FUND
ERF Testimonials “My wife recently suffered a stroke, which made her unable to work for several months, creating a quite a financial hardship. My family and I were very pleased and blessed to be able to get some relief from our bills during my wife’s recovery, when the Sykes Employee Relief Fund was able to step in and assist. Thank you for being there and helping our family in a time of great need.”
“For the past few months I have stressed wondering if the power or the internet was going to get cut off, if we were going to get to eat a meal, be able to get the kids to school due to gas and if we were going to get a foreclosure call from the bank. I kept going to the local food bank to get food, which was only enough for one week, and you can only go once a month. The electric company kept giving us an extension, which was extremely gracious, and I made a $ 40 payment when I could. My internet bill had gotten to be over $500, and it is monthly around $160. I would write a check to the internet company knowing there was no money in the bank just to keep it on so I could work. When I would get a notice of the check coming through the bank needing to be covered, I would go write another one to the internet company to keep covering them. This caused me to keep getting returned payment fees or late fees. At times, I wouldn’t get them a check in time and would get assessed fees of $90 for getting it turned back on. Finally, they told me that I had to pay $215, or I would get cut off for good, no longer allowing me to work. I didn’t want to ask for a hand out but I had no choice. I went to our local Christian Ministry and asked for help on the electric bill. They were able to assist enough to keep us on one month. At that point, I knew it was time to do something. I had no choice. There was a car company that kept sending me emails wanting to sell me a car. It just happened to be that the same car company was the one that paid bills on the Ryan Scarcest radio show. I emailed them back and told them I couldn’t purchase a car and that I know they paid people’s bills on that radio show, and I asked for assistance. Once I sent them that email, they never sent me another email, not even to sell me a car. I was extremely shocked that they could send me emails on a daily basis asking me for money, but when I send them one asking for some
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“After battling health issues, the death of my father and a car accident with a drunk driver this year, I got behind on my rent. As a last resort, I applied for and was awarded a grant that covered almost all of my debt. This means that I can now focus on healing mentally, physically, and emotionally, without having to worry about being homeless. I don’t have the words to describe my relief and gratitude.”
assistance due to my hardship, they don’t want anything to do with me anymore. They were not even nice enough to reply with sympathy. I was shocked and hurt. I waited a few days and sent them another email letting them know that I was disappointed in the company and the way they had treated me and my family, not upset about not getting money but the emailing. I let them know that I would never wish on any of them to have a hardship like mine, nor to be treated the way they treated me. I wished them a blessed day. Still no email back. I am still amazed at how they treated me. Some people and companies are so heartless. It’s very sad. A week went by, and I thought ‘you’re going to have to try the relief fund at work.’ This is the last option. I applied, I prayed and I prayed. I got an email a few days ago. It was all I could do not to fall to my knees. I started crying and praying, thanking God for the blessing. We are not going to lose our house, our power is not going to get cut off, nor our internet. It is going to allow us to get caught up, so the money I get from working, as well as my husbands can keep us going and afloat. We did not choose to have a sick child, nor did we choose for my step son to have a drug addict for a mother. What we did choose was to make sure our daughter got the care she needed and to make sure that my step son was raised in the right home. This was an extreme financial burden. Life happens. Fortunately, there are relief organizations like this one to help those that are truly in need. God is good. Everyone will have their judgement day. Those who have deep pockets, so deep they can’t get to the bottom, refusing or turning their head the opposite direction of those in need, will regret the decisions they made. We thank you, The Denver Foundation and all those that donate, for all of the help and support you have provided our family. We pray that God blesses you for all that you do for others.” S
SYKES IN THE COMMUNITY
Holidays Made Brighter for KidStreet with Help of Denver Office
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t’s become a tradition for the SYKES Denver corporate office to collect toys for KidStreet families around the holidays. This year a group of SYKES employees were welcomed into the classrooms to stay and play!
“I was so fortunate to be given the opportunity to visit KidsStreet and deliver the toys that many of our SYKES employees were generous enough to donate,” said Kelly Barchie, employee relations specialist. “The families from KidsStreet will be incredibly grateful, and I feel so blessed to have been a part of that. Seeing the children’s faces was a gift in and of itself. It’s easy to forget during this time of year that the holidays are about giving, and I am honored and humbled to have the chance to interact with those incredible children. The work that is being done there is valuable beyond words. We got time to play with the kids and make this holiday a little brighter for them (and more so, for us). This will surely be the greatest joy that I feel this Christmas.”
KidStreet is designed to maximize the health and development of young children who are dependent on medical technology by promoting independence for the patient and family and by fostering peer interactions. KidStreet serves children in the metro Denver area from six weeks to four years of age, who are affected by conditions including renal failure, cardiac disease, cystic fibrosis, neuromuscular disease, prematurity and seizure disorders, among others. Client services director, Kirk Jeter appreciated the opportunity to visit as well. “I truly enjoyed the visit to KidStreet. You can tell it is a very special place trying to make a change in these children’s lives. The staff was welcoming, perseverant, engaged, and pretty much one big family. They have really created something magical.” S
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SYKES IN THE COMMUNITY
Allentown Site Adopts Family for the Holidays
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he Allentown, Pennsylvania site embraced the mantra that this is the “season of giving” by adopting a local family through the Salvation Army. Along with their mom, Christina, age 2, Nariyah, age 5, and Lilyana, age 8, attended the site’s holiday luncheon earlier this month. They were treated to a fabulous lunch, sang Christmas carols with employees, and Santa Claus even paid
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a visit bearing gifts! Santa will also make a special delivery to their home with presents on his sleigh for the entire family. The site also gave them a gift card for their Christmas dinner, and one of the team leaders even donated a bed for the girls. Fun was had by all, with Lilyanna saying “this is the best day of my life!” S
EXTRA SYKED!
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