Inspiring creativity in a remote team means bringing your whole self to work.
As a product manager and musician, I’ve seen that small moments of openness can cement your team’s—or band’s—ability to collaborate.
I came back to Olark after a year at a different company. Although I was glad to be back, I felt distance when working with my teammates.
For awhile, I struggled in silence. Since Olark was a fully remote workplace (for years before that was a trend), no one could really see my challenge. But the barrier was there, quietly disrupting our flow. I had to surface it.
On the Thursday of our engineering retreat, I found my new calling as a professional wrestler fighting my way to the top of the Luxor Hotel, in a live streamed pay-per-view event. All this to claim the coveted contract and millions of dollars. My teammates were right there with me, each showing off their skills in their gambit for the top prize.
Only it was a virtual Luxor, and we were playing The World Wide Wrestling roleplaying game (RPG). It was as ridiculous as it sounds, and we had a blast!
Our game day was one segment of a re-imagined retreat, after COVID-19 put the brakes on our in-person gathering in Vegas.
We stand in solidarity with our Black community. We are committed to action that advances justice and racial equity. As individuals and an organization, we recognize our privilege and are committed using our position to further change in our society. For next steps, here is what we are doing:
Many years ago Olark put our donation matching program in place. This program was spearheaded by a member of our DevOps team back when we were a tiny company. Since its inception we've made it more streamlined, but still run it with a shoestring amount of effort.
I’ll never forget the second day of my first remote job. The first day was the usual — signing all the things, attending all the things, logging into all the things. But when the second day arrived, I had no idea what to do.
In 2018, holiday ecommerce sales reached $126 billion, with shoppers spending a record $7.9 billion online on Cyber Monday alone. If you own or manage a small business this sudden surge in website traffic can put a lot of pressure on your customer service team; fortunately, though, there are steps you can take to prepare!
No question, the holidays are big for your business. Those sales can make up 20-30% of annual revenue. But that spike in business, as you know, comes with a spike in customer service requests!
If you own a small business, the holidays are an exciting time. The National Retail Federation says we can expect to see overall holiday sales increase by as much as 4.2% this year, thanks to job growth and higher average wages. That means shoppers are ready to spend more — you don't need to rely on sales, discounts, and promotions to meet your holiday sales goals. Instead, you can focus on streamlining online purchases with a quick website tune-up.
It's officially November — which means it's time to get ready for holiday shopping season!
All-hands support is an Olark institution. We’ve been sharing responsibility for chat and email support across everyone on our team — everyone, including developers, designers, marketers, and our CEO — since our company was founded in 2009. It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s always been worth it. How have we made it work?