Striking it RICH: The Atlas Team
Welcome to the first post in our “Striking it RICH” blog series! This series will feature Atlas clients, vendors, employees and supporters who embody one or more of our company’s Core Values:
Relationships
Integrity
Collaboration
Humor
This month’s post features the entire Atlas Professional Services team, who, during the trials and tribulations of the COVID-19 pandemic, have fully embraced our Core Value of Collaboration.
Starting March 19, some members of the Atlas team began working from home, in response to social distancing recommendations. Now under a state-wide stay-at-home order, only 12 of Atlas’s 36-member team are going in to the office – working at a safe distance, of course – with the rest working from home.
“When we had to make the shift to work-from-home, we were initially concerned about how the team would function being separated from one another and wondered if we’d be able to keep up with everything,” said Atlas Director of Operations Kim Shimer. “But the opposite has happened. Everyone on the team has kicked it up a notch and is jumping in to do whatever needs to be done. I’ve been really impressed.”
Collaboration During Separation
Shimer said the Atlas team has been staying connected using tools like Microsoft Teams and Zoom. The company used these tools prior to the coronavirus outbreak, which made for an easier transition when the stay-at-home order came.
“We’re not cancelling anything,” Kim said. “All customer-facing and internal meetings we typically have, we are keeping in place and just doing them over Teams so we can keep in communication and in contact. I think that’s really helped.”
And Atlas hasn’t been using Teams and Zoom only for work-related conversations.
“Humor and collaboration are so central to who we are, so we’ve been doing virtual hangouts and happy hours with the whole team,” Kim said. “We drop the business talk and take some time to joke around and catch up to make sure we are all doing well with the changes that have impacted everyone overall.”
Client Satisfaction Always Paramount
Over the past few weeks, Atlas has been inundated with requests from clients seeking help in setting up their employees to work from home. Rather than buckle under the pressure, the team maintained a 99% client satisfaction rating on a record-high 150 surveys completed during the last 30 days.
“Right now, we’re not doing onsite visits unless they’re critical, so employees who were doing those previously are now stepping in to help with service tickets, which have doubled,” Kim said. “Everybody is working together and contributing.”
A couple of the many positive comments we’ve received from clients include:
“Curtis was the best! He totally knew what I was talking about and got me up and running so fast I couldn’t believe it. He made sure I knew what I was doing so I wouldn’t have any issues going forward and can work remotely with success over these crazy weeks ahead. I really appreciate his expertise!”
“Your whole team ROCKS! They are always so very helpful and show so much patience with people like me who are not computer literate. That is so appreciated. They go above and beyond each and every time, all the way down to the person who answers the phone and puts in the tickets for our practice. Keep up the great work.”
In Closing
To sum up with words from the late, great Babe Ruth: “The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.”
Virtual high-fives all the way around for the Atlas team and its commitment to collaboration relationships, integrity and humor!
