Ruby - Customer Service Employer of the Year

Company: Ruby, Portland, OR
Company Description: Ruby is a US-based, live virtual receptionist and chat company dedicated to helping businesses grow. Trusted by more than 13,000 businesses, Ruby creates the kind of first impressions that win business and build lasting loyalty, 24/7/365. Whether you’re working remotely or in the office, Ruby’s award-winning team and easy-to-use technology keep you in the loop, so you can work from anywhere!
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Customer Service Employer of the Year

Nomination Title: Ruby

Founded by Jill Nelson in 2003, Ruby has been women-led since the beginning. Our leadership team brings together small business expertise, years of experience in delivering operational excellence, and robust backgrounds in technology with a dedicated focus on customer experience.

Ruby's frontline customer service team is at the heart of everything we do. Anyone can answer a phone, but Rubys aim to go above and beyond. Though our virtual receptionists answer more than 40,000 calls a day, we treat every call as an opportunity to "WOW," making meaningful connections through heartfelt expressiveness and relentless positivity. We're the real, live, connection-making extension to our client's in-house teams. And, of course, our virtual receptionists also answer and transfer calls, provide FAQs, take messages, and focus on maximizing customer satisfaction.

Ruby has been on Oregon and SW Washington's 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies list for 14 consecutive years, debuted on the Fortune Great Places to Work list at #1, and has been a Certified Great Place to Work for six years running.

Throughout the pandemic, Ruby’s been committed to being a stable employer with no layoffs. While the company initially froze wages and bonus programs due to the pandemic, we prioritized wage increases for hourly team members in late 2020. Exempt and corporate roles did not receive pay increases in 2020.

Since January 2021, Ruby has increased frontline wages by 10.5% and has accelerated the timeframe for additional increases and promotions based on tenure and performance. New Rubys are eligible for raises after 90 and 180 days. After one year, hourly workers can receive additional wage increases every six months throughout their tenure. In addition, we introduced a new Star Service Bonus program for frontline workers to earn quarterly bonus awards for hitting service targets. As frontline customer service roles are crucial to our business, we wanted to ensure these team members felt valued and seen.

In September 2021, Ruby also doubled down on our award-winning training program. With 56% of Ruby’s corporate employees promoted from a frontline role, we are committed to employee growth and retention. Our Ruby’s industry-leading 15-week training program includes 35 hours of training, more than 60 eLearning modules, and weekly one-on-ones with a dedicated coach. The program covers everything from company orientation, communication skills, call types, and customer service. Ongoing bi-weekly coaching and specialized training modules follow the initial training period.

The goal of these initiatives is to retain and attract talent looking to build a career with Ruby.

Unfortunately, the customer service industry is not known for providing robust training, high pay, schedule flexibility, or prioritizing wellness. At Ruby, we hope to change that by making these qualities core to our employee experience.

With the move to a remote workforce, Ruby introduced a revised connectivity and wellness program in early 2020, including free fitness OnDemand for all employees, even classes for kids!

Additionally, Ruby bolstered our PTO package, offering:

17 days in the first two years
22 days after two years
25 days after four years

All employees also receive 160 hours of unpaid time off plus four floating wellness days every year. On top of that, Ruby increased the company’s $200 annual wellness stipend to $300 and expanded reimbursable expenses to include furniture, tech, and other items to support remote working.

Additionally, Ruby pivoted its operating model from 100% on-site to a flexible model to better meet employees’ needs. Many employees have also taken advantage of opportunities to split shifts to help balance home life needs with work. With this shift, Ruby also introduced an internet subsidy for frontline team members. This level of flexibility is rare in the customer service industry.

Ruby has also invested heavily in improving our internal-facing technology to improve the employee experience. Major investments include:

Rebuilding our proprietary internal software

Improving UX for more intuitive workflows

Adding features and functionality that balance the pace of call volume while still delivering on our customer service goals

The attached scores and statistics share insight into Ruby’s customer satisfaction ratings. They also share details about employee promotions and growth for context about how Ruby’s training programs are working.

As Ruby employees are at the forefront of everything we do, and everything we do is rooted in customer service, together, this data illuminates how Ruby is pushing the industry toward new standards of training, career opportunities, and benefits, and how these areas can also impact customer satisfaction.