Earlier this month Source 1 Solutions transitioned to fully remote IT support and services, with little fanfare, based primarily on the strength of our Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) preparedness. Even still, our team has been working overtime. We’ve been putting ourselves to the test and helping our clients scale up their remote operations. For instance, our Senior Engineering team recently deployed 800 VPN users for one of our global clients, accomplishing it all overnight. Our Global Technical Support Center experienced a 38% uptick in support tickets with 95.7% first call resolution in the first week of “Safer at Home”. Remarkably they maintained a 98.13% overall achievement of SLA which, I have to say, is incredible.
All of this has been happening while the world outside work has become increasingly challenging.
By the middle of last week, I knew the team needed a real break, and we needed to get creative.
So, last Friday, at 12:00 PM EST, our entire global team joined a scheduled GoToMeeting. Joining from Florida, California, England, Ireland, and NY, among other locations. Our team was expecting a routine corporate update.
Instead, the management team and I had a surprise in store. At noon doorbells around the world began to ring. Everyone on the team was receiving a pizza and beer delivery. No matter where they were.
There was no agenda. No business to discuss or work to consider. The only agenda was to eat lunch and chat with colleagues, no, scratch that, chat with friends.
We talked about the hard things – the quiet streets of Queens, the lockdown in the UK, the challenges of balancing work and kids at home. We just hung out. We saw each other’s kids, dogs, cats (and a lone bearded dragon). We told work stories, and life stories, and there was even a magic trick. It was a gift to see our team relax, mingle and laugh.
I am sharing this because companies, large and small, are rapidly scaling up their technology, allowing employees to work from home. And, many of us in technology leadership roles are being asked for advice on remote best practices – on technology preferences, on how to work effectively, on how to track productivity – but Friday’s lesson is just as important. Many companies globally do not typically have their teams working remote and my best advice is for Leadership to “THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX” to maintain the culture and togetherness of your teams, as best you can. Let them know that you care about them and their families. Reassure them that if we continue to work together, our company will be “Safe”, and that our Vision to – Keep Cities Safe so people thrive, has never been more important.
Giving your team an opportunity to decompress and interact on your time (not their personal time) is tremendously beneficial. Pizza and beer are just a bonus.
