True Blue Stories: Messages of Gratitude in the Midst of Crisis

by Patty Isnor in Blue Ocean News, Patty Isnor

As we navigate these uncharted and rough waters, we find ourselves continually grateful for our employees and their commitment to our clients and each other. When we made the decision a month ago to transition more than 90% of our workforce to a work-at-home environment, we knew that one of our biggest challenges would be sustaining the Blue Ocean culture. To that end, we established a channel for employees to share “True Blue Stories” – messages of thanks to one another in recognition of their hard work and outstanding efforts.

Below you’ll find a handful of these stories and notes – we hope you’re as inspired as we are to read them.

 

Does She Even Sleep?

“It’s really hard to not list dozens of people because it is impressive how quickly we were able to move and how everyone worked together to make this all happen. But Jacqui needs to be recognized for all that she has done with getting everyone laptops – the work needed to get these imaged, deployed and trained has been HUGE. She has been constantly helping agents with issues and questions. She worked all weekend, and I swear she is working every day until late at night – I’m not sure when she sleeps. I’m not quite sure how we would have managed without the work she put in! She is AWESOME!”

 

A Social Distancing Hero

“Caleb has been a first-floor hero! He packed up all agent stations for one client and made sure that the team was good to go in just one day! He has also been working with the tech team to move physical computers around on the first floor to make sure that agents who have to stay in office are able to work safely – at a distance – all while trying to help manage the high volume we are seeing. We couldn’t have done everything without him!”

 

Tech Team to the Rescue

“The work from the technology and information management teams in all that it has taken to be ready to move everyone from our physical offices to an at home solution has been extensive. Everyone on the team has had to work together to make this happen. Barry definitely deserves a special call-out for his leadership, expertise, proactive measures, and strong actions when things didn’t go as planned. Thank you to everyone. It inspires me to watch all of our people kick it into gear.”

“I think it goes without saying this week that the entire tech team deserves a kudos and praise. They have been helping people around the clock with their work at home issues. It is easy to get frustrated on our end, but I cannot imagine the level of work the tech team is going through. A very big thank you! Keep up the great work.”

 

Stepping Out of Comfort Zones

“#trueblue shoutout to Shawn. While helping handle a high volume of emails caused by Covid-19, Shawn noticed that they were encountering a lot of emails about delivery times( for our eComm grocery client,) which was beyond what they were trained to handle as an agent. Shawn reached out to me about this challenge, eager to help beyond their basic email training and learned how to handle customer inquiries about timeslot availability and how to extend delivery passes where appropriate. Many thanks to Shawn for going above and beyond to enhance their contribution to the project.”

 

Investing in a Solution

“Madison identified a technical blocker with one of our associates working from home. She not only sought out a computer part after-hours and purchased it with her own money, but also dropped back into the office to deliver it, deferring reimbursement of the outstanding amount spent until later.”

 

Truly on Our Side

“Dear Cathy, I want you to know how incredible of a director you are for Blue Ocean. In just a weekend you sensed the urgency that many businesses didn’t fully comprehend at a time where uncertainly was the theme. You were proactive in your concerns instead of reactive, and that has made a massive impact not only on your employees, but their families and the community. I can just imagine the hours you put into making this happen, and I’m just so impressed with your work ethic and dedication to all of us. We are all so incredibly lucky to have someone like you on our side. Thank you so much for this.”

 

A Beacon of Light

“I wanted to give Michelle the recognition she deserves. She’s our main point of support and she has been a superstar of a manager over the last few days (and quite frankly the entire year). Keeping us the most up to date in a timely manner on this ever-changing work-at-home situation when it came out of nowhere, adapting our processes for success, and making sure we’re all on the same page while all working separately. She is a beacon of light when we are feeling the crunch and leads us with the utmost dedication and faith!”

 

Once again, we offer our genuine thanks to every Blue Ocean team member for their dedication and flexibility. We couldn’t do it without you.

Comments are closed.