About a week ago, I finished up as SVP of Client Services at Indeed after nine years, three months and one day. In that time, a few things happened:
- We grew from one employee (me) to 600+ the week I left
- We expanded our locations from one to 13 globally
- We made huge gains in client satisfaction (NPS) and retention
- We created specialized teams focused on important client segments (SMB, mature accounts), internal service excellence (training and development, product support) and new contact channels (chat, social)
- We changed the conversation in recruiting to be more about metrics and ROI
All of the above are great, measurable things where we moved the needle, and I am proud of that progress and those accomplishments. But when I spoke to my employees to give them the news that I was leaving, what choked me up the most was talking about the culture we created of always helping and supporting one another no matter what.
Every week when I met with our new hires, they would always comment on how nice their new teammates were. This always made an impact on me. When an employee would falter, his or her teammates would step up to help. If a tough client call resulted in some tears, the employees around that person would quickly huddle and provide support. And when a new employee took his or her first client call, the floor would always erupt in applause.
So yes, the metrics matter. The client experience, NPS and retention matter. And every day, we walked in the door promising to one another to deliver quality for our clients worldwide. But at the end of the day, the culture of supporting one another and “being nice” is what mattered most to me. I know it will continue.
Many have asked me why I left Indeed if the team is so wonderful. It’s a great question and I think about it a lot. I am very lucky to have built such an incredible group, and I believe deeply that they will expand on our legacy to get even better. But I am ready to do it again, to bring that focus somewhere else, to find nice people all over again.
Thank you Indeed Client Services team. Stay nice, and good luck.