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QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

  • 1.  QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 10 days ago
    Edited by Nicole Milliken 10 days ago

    Dear Community,

    Tracy here from the WEM Community with your Question of the Month as we celebrate the kickoff of WEMay!!

    My question is - What's the most EPIC employee experience youโ€™ve had and why did it leave you buzzing?!

    So this month I thought it would great to get to know some of your work experiences. Was it the epic team celebration after crushing a tough project? That time your wild idea actually got the green light? Maybe you went on a memorable trip, participated in a great presentation, or attended an unforgettable conference. Whatever your "I'll never forget that!" work moment wasโ€”funny, touching, or downright amazingโ€”we'd love to hear about it! 

    I'll kick it off and I'm also totally cheating and sharing TWO because life's too short for just one good story! ๐Ÿคฃ

    STORY #1: Picture this - me as a bright-eyed Travel Consultant on a "Shearings Coach Educational" to sunny Spain! ๐ŸŒž Coach, ferry, hotel tours... sounds ordinary, right? PLOT TWIST! That handsome coach driver who navigated us through Europe? Yep, he ended up becoming my husband! Fast forward to now - we just "celebrated" (air quotes intentional ๐Ÿ˜œ) our 33rd Wedding Anniversary!

    STORY #2: First week at Genesys (17+ years ago - where did the time go?!) and I'm jetted off to America for this rather large department meeting. Classic newbie scenario - knew absolutely nobody, European teammates nowhere in sight (thanks, delayed flights!). There I am, looking totally lost in Pittsburgh airport when I spot the magical sight of Genesys backpacks. ๐ŸŽ’ I basically stalked them (in the least creepy way possible!) and struck gold - the Spanish team adopted me on the spot! They were my airport angels and showed me right away that Genesys people = awesome people, a fact that's still 100% true today!

    Your turn! Spill the tea on your favorite work moments! Bonus points for stories involving unexpected romance, rescue missions, or ridiculous coincidences! ๐ŸŒŸ๐ŸŽ‰

    Also, I hope to see you in the WEM Community for our WEMay (4th year running!) - our annual month-long event where we shine the spotlight on all things Workforce Engagement Management!


    #CoffeeTalk

    ------------------------------
    Tracy
    Genesys
    ------------------------------



  • 2.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 9 days ago

    The first one sounds like the plot of "My Life in Ruins" - Awesome Movie



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    Wayde Masters
    Demand Forecasting & Resource Officer
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 9 days ago
    Edited by Tracy Vickers 9 days ago

    I wish we had a 'Haha' button instead of 'Like'!!

    And yes, I totally agree with you ๐Ÿ˜ฑ I blame it on the Sangria and Paella!

    -----------------------------
    Tracy
    Genesys
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 9 days ago

    Hi @Tracy Vickers,

    We might need a community for sharing our 'Epic Employee Experience' stories I believe. After 15+ years of experience a person has a lot to share...
    Your stories were great.

    Story- 
    Back when I was fresh into job-hunting-six months of experience and a hopeful heart-I had an interview that felt straight out of a tragic comedy. It was a group discussion round, and I was absolutely crushing it (or so I thought). The weird experience, I had was a  post the discussion round, my friends were selected for the next round and I was not.
    Even my friends looked at me, wide-eyed, because even they knew-I was the better communicator among us. So when the interviewer's assistant handed me "We'll get back to you," Oh, I was in pure denial. I couldn't let it go. Fueled by pure confusion, I walked straight up to the interviewer to double-check.
    I took a breath of relief when he confirmed, "Yes, that was a mistake and you're in." He use to narrate this story to everyone in our team later. #Gold.



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    Ashiesh Sharma
    BT plc
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 9 days ago

    What a great story @Ashiesh Sharma - I love the way you fought your corner and didn't just take it!!

    Excellent work ๐Ÿ‘



    ------------------------------
    Tracy
    Genesys
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 9 days ago

    Wow! You knew it didn't feel right and double checked! LOVE that for you!



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    Nicole Milliken
    Senior Online Community Video Specialist
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    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 9 days ago

    @Tracy Vickers your stories are truly epic, mine is the typical hazing plus a bit of Morphie's Law, a few years ago on my first day as a resident where a client apart from being new, a communications link goes down and when I investigate they tell me it is the first time in many years that this service has gone down, in fact it had never gone down before, I met Jesus, Jehovah, Buddha, the Justice League, the Avengers and many more with those words and solving the fault hahaha

    #CoffeeTalk



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    Cesar Padilla
    INDRA COLOMBIA
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 9 days ago

    ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚ love it and can absolutely relate to that!



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    Tracy
    Genesys
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 6 days ago

    I'm not sure how epic this will sound unless you're a fellow Disney nerd, but for me, it was pure magic - with a dash of humiliation.

    Years ago, I was a bright-eyed new leader attending the annual Disney Leadership Convention, eager to soak up wisdom from anyone who'd talk to me. It was held at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort, and I had packed my schedule with every breakout session, panel, and keynote I could possibly attend. I was determined to squeeze every drop of pixie dust out of the experience.

    But here's the thing: I cannot be late. Like, it's a deep physiological response. So there I was, racing through the convention center, eyes glued to my itinerary, speed-walking like the fate of the free world depended on it. In my haste, I forgot the first tenet of Disney cast safety: "Safe-D begins with Me."

    And that's when it happened.
    I plowed full force into someone - actually knocked them down - papers flying, bag askew, a human whirlwind of apologies. Flustered and mortified, I helped him up, apologized about a thousand times, and dashed off to my next session. There was a speaker I couldn't miss: a Disney legend. The last living connection to Walt himself.

    I made it just in time, slightly winded, and took a seat in the front row, still shaken but excited.

    Then the speaker walked in.
    It was him. The man I bulldozed minutes earlier.

    Marty. Freaking. Sklar.

    My stomach dropped. My face flushed. He spotted me instantly, gave me a grin, and with perfect showmanship said, "Well, I'm honored that you were so excited to hear me speak," and winked.

    I wanted to crawl under my chair.

    But instead, I sat up straight, took a breath, and hung on his every word. I don't remember what sessions I missed that day, but I remember everything Marty taught me - about creativity, legacy, leadership, and yesโ€ฆ remembering to slow down and breathe.



    ------------------------------
    Amy Sessions
    Division Manager, Utility Customer Service
    City of Clearwater
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    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 6 days ago

    That's the kind of thing that changes your life, doesn't it?



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    George Ganahl GCCX-AI, GCP, GCSME, ICCE, ICHD, etc.
    Technical Adoption Champion
    Genesys
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 5 days ago

    Amy - that is awesome, put a smile on my face as I ran through the scenario reading it!

    I had a similar 'knock them down' experience, I was sent on a Skiing educational to Kitzbuhel in Austria, I don't ski at all! so they started us on the 'nursery slope' where I couldn't stop and ploughed into about 10 people and sent them flying!!! Apologies resulted in me becoming an expert in apres ski and never touched the slopes again!



    ------------------------------
    Tracy
    Genesys
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 6 days ago

    I have one that will probably seem a bit infantile...but it changed my life and career.

    I started with Interactive Intelligence March 8, 1999 (EIC 1.2f for those counting).

    My background was Microsoft networking working as an MCT teaching the MCSE track, so I didn't even know what ACD or IVR or Tip and Ring meant when I interviewed to be come an instructor...I got hired on potential.

    At the time there was a developer who loved egging new hires into trying the Milk Challenge (drink a gallon of milk in under an hour, then hold everything in for another hour). Many had tried, all had gloriously failed. Not knowing any better, I thought, "Seems easy enough," so...I did it. Beat the challenge. Ruined his fun for a bit (though quite a few tried in the years after and all failed, so he got to enjoy the fun again).

    The main reason it is memorable is that it opened the door of every developer in the company; everyone knew me, and I could walk into any office and ask questions about any aspect of the platform, and get all the answers I needed. Even to this day at least one of the developers still with Genesys calls me "Milkman". I honestly don't think I would be where I am today had I not participated in the "game" (and won).

    I had a special profile pic in the system for a good while :-)

    Also, when that original instigator left Genesys a few years ago he brought me the milk jug which he had kept in his office for more than 20 years.


    ------------------------------
    George Ganahl GCCX-AI, GCP, GCSME, ICCE, ICHD, etc.
    Technical Adoption Champion
    Genesys
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 5 days ago

    Haha, brilliant! not sure I could manage that - but Milkman might be your new name ๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ˜†๐Ÿ˜‰



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    Tracy
    Genesys
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 5 days ago

    Many decades ago my company offered a white-water rafting experience where you could bring friends, family, etc. I went with a a couple friends and there were 6 people to a raft. So it was me, my supervisor, a co-worker and spouse, as well as 2 of my friends in our raft. Those who went from my organization were very competitive and decided to race.

    The guide (in kayaks) took us on the medium-level paths with some breaks of calmer waters. During the calmer waters, some of us had super-soakers and we proceeded to ambush other rafts until getting back into the rapids. While we were racing our other co-workers, in the faster-moving rapids, my co-worker fell out of the raft and his wife paddled harder onward and yelled, "Keep going; he's insured!". We lost the race because we couldn't stop laughing so hard, but we knew he safe because we saw one of the kayak guides pick him up and later returned them to us. Best time...



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    Nicki Dehn
    Senior Cloud Partner
    AAA Club Alliance
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    Original Message


  • 15.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 5 days ago

    That is awesome and totally something I would say, hahaha.

    Excellent story!



    ------------------------------
    Tracy
    Genesys
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 16.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 4 days ago

    When I was young in my career, I was the chair of the Employee Engagement Committee. A year into the role, The Company I worked for was nominated for local industry awards, and the C-Suite was invited to a local award show and banquet where they would announce the winners. The night of the event, my VP was sick and asked if I wanted his ticket. I got to attend the show with the CEO, CFO, head of HR, and a few VPs.

    It was a cool experience. The event was fun and it was nice getting to know some of the colleagues and leaders I normally don't get to engage with.

    Towards the end of the night, we ended up winning the award for "Best Workplace Culture," which was unexpected, but it really highlighted the impactful work the committee and I were doing! 



    ------------------------------
    Matt Lawson
    Genesys - Employees
    Online Community Manager
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    Original Message


  • 17.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 3 days ago

    I bet that was a great night, did you have to be on your best behavior all evening?



    ------------------------------
    Tracy
    Genesys
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 18.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 3 days ago

    Absolutely! I felt the pressure.



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    Matt Lawson
    Genesys - Employees
    Online Community Manager
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 19.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 3 days ago

    It's not much of a story, but I met my husband at work so that takes top billing of all employee experiences for sure. 

    Setting that aside, when I was promoted to manager, I received a congratulatory email from the then-president of the company. This was a BIG deal. While he's one of those types that unassumingly drops comedic gold now and then, he's not exactly what one would call a people person. It held extra meaning for me, because over the years I've somehow cross paths with him in the middle of the worst moments a handful of times. This one was probably the worst of the worst: One afternoon a meeting ran long and I had to run out the door to pick up my kids before the pickup deadline. I got to the car, which was parked two lots over, and realized my keys were still sitting on my desk. I proceeded to run back to the building, releasing of stream of colorful expletives along the way. About half way there I looked over and lo and behold, there he was, about to get into his car and just staring at me. I wanted to disappear. I ran inside, got the keys, ran back out... he was still there to watch my less than graceful sprint back to the car. 



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    Emily Kammerer
    Manager - Telephony Systems
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    Original Message


  • 20.  RE: QOTM | May: Favorite Employee Experience

    Posted 3 days ago

    That's priceless ๐Ÿ˜„๐Ÿ˜‚



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    Tracy
    Genesys
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


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