A team-oriented, collaborative culture is one thing to accomplish at a small office, but when there are thousands of employees located across the globe, things start to get a little messy.
Rather than viewing this as a challenge, Tek Experts views this as a positive. By asking its employees to come together and solve problems through differing perspectives, the IT and business solutions company maintains an approachable culture where every outlook is valued.
We spoke with three team members to learn how the company’s global impact affects the culture at a local level and how the decision-making process is designed to include everyone.
FOUNDED: 2009
EMPLOYEES: 4,000+, 500 locally
WHAT THEY DO: Tek Experts provides business and IT support solutions, including software support, relationship management, sales support, security support and software development services to large enterprise IT companies and their customers.
WHERE THEY DO IT: Colorado Springs
GLOBAL IMPACT: With seven international hubs and services in more than 100 countries and in 40 languages, Tek Experts employees have the opportunity to learn about different cultures as well as travel and transfer between locations.
Henry Martin, USA Site Manager
Henry oversees all operations in the U.S., including both locations in Colorado Springs.
BEYOND WORK: Henry loves playing games with his family, especially pingpong, pool, darts, cornhole and cards.
What are some ways your team solves problems in a way that reflects the culture at Tek Experts?
When I came on board, I started asking who we are as an organization. Many people had various answers, but I wanted to make sure we all agreed and could support who we were as an organization. The leadership team then broke up into groups to discuss the topic with their teams, and we all came back together to review our findings.
After about three months of discussions, we put together the framework of who we all agreed we wanted to be and then rolled out the initiative to the rest of the site. It was a fantastic exercise in defining our culture that gave everyone the ability to share their ideas.
What are some activities you’ve done with your colleagues to build camaraderie?
The local leadership team gets together weekly for happy hour on Thursdays. Not everyone is able to attend every week, but we all make an effort to attend as much as possible. Additionally, we have an annual leadership event where all the senior leaders get together to review performance and talk about the future direction for the year. This year that meeting was held in Sofia, Bulgaria. The executive team then takes the ideas from that meeting and travels to our other locations with the messages of what came out of that session.
Because it’s a global workforce, we all look at challenges in a different way, since many problems surface differently in various parts of the world."
What’s something about Tek Experts that would surprise someone?
We have the standard perks, but one that is hard to measure is the fact that we are working in a truly global environment. I work alongside people from Bulgaria, China and Costa Rica, and I get to see so many different elements of business that I had never considered in the past.
Because it’s a global workforce, we all look at challenges in a different way, since many problems surface differently in various parts of the world. It so interesting to hear someone’s perspective from Vietnam or Nigeria, for example.
Erika Robinson, MS Team Manager
Erika is responsible for forming, developing and leading a team of support engineers as they provide customer service.
BEYOND WORK: Erika enjoys cooking and trying new recipes.
How is Tek Expert’s culture different than previous companies in which you've worked?
The one major difference is our leadership team. They all believe and live the core values — this is not a “do as I say, not as I do” company. As a result, our leadership empowers me as a leader to select — not just hire and fill a seat — the correct talent for our business. This difference creates a solid foundation for Tek Experts to withstand any obstacles and succeed.
Tell us about a moment when your leaders demonstrated a commitment to your core values.
On the first day of my line of business, leadership from the global level down to my direct manager were willing to answer all questions — the tough questions included — provide insight. They took immediate action to implement solutions. Within two weeks, you could sense the morale change on our production floor. This change is reflected in our customer interactions and has resulted in our survey scores skyrocketing. But it wasn’t just one conversation — they continue to follow up by checking in with the team and making themselves accessible.
Within two weeks, you could sense the morale change on our production floor. This change is reflected in our customer interactions and has resulted in our survey scores skyrocketing.”
What actions have you taken to foster culture?
If one of my team members is struggling, I connect them to someone that is succeeding in that area, which helps both members grow. Also, in our team huddles, we discuss challenges or difficult service requests and, as a team, decide what the next steps should be. Now, my team members have started reaching out to each other on their own.
Crystal Childers, Global Recruiting Coordinator
Crystal coordinates recruiting activities, including interview scheduling, the offer process, reporting and anything else to make the recruitment process run as smoothly as possible.
BEYOND WORK: Crystal hikes in the mountains with her dog, Scarlett, and also really enjoys doing karaoke with coworkers.
Did this job turn out to be what you expected it to be?
It has exceeded my expectations. I have gotten so many opportunities to learn, whether it’s new systems, how to share my knowledge with others, using Excel and even about other cultures when I meet new people from our other sites. I have learned so much and continue to learn and grow both personally and in my career. You just have to be vocal with your manager, and they will take care of you.
Tek Experts empowers you to be an active part of the culture — it’s amazing. Everyone’s voice matters, and that isn’t something you see in a lot of companies.”
What's your favorite part or element of your company's culture?
I love the openness. The CEO comes to town and wants to hear how things are going from all of the employees. Our site managers have a doughnut and fruit session where we can tell them our ideas and they implement them. We have weekly town halls by department, and it’s an open floor so we can ask questions and raise any concerns we have or make announcements. Additionally, Tek Cares, which is our employee engagement and community outreach team, is open to all employees, not just management.
Tek Experts empowers you to be an active part of the culture — it’s amazing. Everyone’s voice matters, and that isn’t something you see in a lot of companies.
What are you doing in the office that reflects the kind of culture Tek Experts has?
We just rolled out a new assessment center initiative this year. At first, the flow was a bit difficult to get down and we wanted the process to be as smooth as possible. So as a team, we got together after every assessment center and talked about what went well and what didn’t, and from those meetings we have streamlined the process.
It’s amazing because the team we have comes from all backgrounds — some of us have years of experience and some of us only have months — but all ideas are heard and considered regardless. It’s a really awesome thing to be heard and feel that your input matters, because it does. My team is amazing and we all empower each other to do better every day — we are truly a little family.
