Most of the conversations transcend geographies but occasionally, we’ ll host region-specific sessions to cover hard skills related to processes driven by labor law, such as terminations or performance improvement plans.
• To ensure these meetings are productive, supervisors share challenges and develop solutions that improve team dynamics and problem-solving skills.
D. Teaching and Learning from Employees
Customer service can be challenging, so our supervisors perform weekly coaching and check-in conversations.
These discussions shed light. When our agents said they were stressed from a rise in dissatisfied customers, we activated a rapid feedback loop with our training team, which presented guidelines on managing irate customers.
PILLAR 3. I FEEL VALUED
When people see good behavior recognized, they’ re motivated to duplicate it. We’ ve structured a three-pronged approach to acknowledging each team member’ s value.
A. A Focus on Meaningful Recognition
Some forms of recognition matter more than others, depending on the individual. To ensure our people feel valued we cover the following:
• We provide supervisors with the resources to offer a range of rewards so they can recognize employees in ways that are personally relevant.
• We train our supervisors to detect the types of recognition that mean most to individual team members.
B. Health and Wellbeing
We host year-round wellbeing programs that center on physical, emotional, and financial health, such as:
• Programs that include 20-minute yoga breaks and 30-day challenges for mindfulness and heart health. Before the holidays, we offer a financial wellness series, with bonus payouts.
We utilize Zoom and Teams. We find that our chats are very active and drive a lot of engagement. Our hosts are specifically trained and geared to engage people in a remote environment.
• Our HR organization conducts wellbeing assessments with our operations departments to detect signs of stress and attrition and deploy action plans. These programs have reduced absenteeism by 20 % and attrition by more than half.
C. Disaster Recovery
Harte Hanks supports all employees affected by natural disasters through a formalized process:
• We implement phone trees to personally confirm the safety and needs of each employee, as well as their ability to work.
• We offer paid time off and alternative work arrangements. For those who can report to the office, we can provide sleeping quarters and meals. If our agents have been evacuated or cannot work due to widespread power outages, we take that into consideration.
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• We’ ve implemented a platform called ShoutOut through which peers, supervisors, and leaders recognize achievements and bestow points that can be redeemed for gift cards. In 2024, we issued nearly three million award points.
B. Defining Their Role in the Purpose
A person’ s sense of importance is defined by how they fit into the bigger picture. We see purpose and value as topdown achievements in which:
• Individual agents are encouraged to view every interaction as an opportunity to advocate for the customer.
• The stronger the customer support, the stronger the team. We motivate our agents to raise the service bar through competitions, recognition, and regular group updates.
• One act affects many. Our customers trust us with their customers, so we make clear how each call an agent takes should deliver on our promise: and we celebrate business wins.
C. Listening, Asking Questions, and Answering
People feel valued when they are heard. Among the ways we show employees that their voices matter:
WHEN PEOPLE SEE GOOD BEHAVIOR RECOGNIZED, THEY’ RE MOTIVATED TO DUPLICATE IT.