Encore Connected Week: Fulfilling Our Mission and Values at Work and in Our Communities
For our third annual Encore Connected Week in November, colleagues around the world embraced the theme “Our Mission, Our Purpose: It Starts with Us.” As part of this multi-day celebration of our Values, Encore teams worked together to identify organizations and causes in need of support, and we couldn’t be prouder of the impact they made.
From donating essential items such as food, clothes and personal care products for those in need, to extending holiday gifts to children from underserved communities, our colleagues united across the globe to make a local impact and show that “We Care.” Here’s a snapshot of their efforts:
Encore Connected Week also encouraged colleagues from “behind-the-scenes” functions — those who fill vital support roles for our company — to share how their work connects with our Mission to create pathways to economic freedom and our Values: We Care, We are Inclusive and Collaborative, and We Find a Better Way.
Some live our Mission and Values by using their work to strengthen collaboration and inclusiveness among colleagues, while others protect consumer data, streamline consumer support processes and train new cohorts of account managers to work empathetically with consumers.
For example, Amene Ayub uses her role as Vice President of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to help colleagues feel belonging at work.
“When we have a workforce that feels that they belong, that they’re valued and that they can be their authentic selves at work, they’re able to bring their best selves forward and do their best work for their consumers, communities and colleagues,” she said.
Sukumar Suresh, Facilities Leader at Midland Credit Management (MCM) in India, said he and his team empower their colleagues to help consumers by creating a positive work environment.
“Our intent at all times is to ensure a workplace environment that is clean, safe, comfortable, and one which welcomes people from diverse backgrounds,” he said. “Such an environment not only evokes a sense of belonging, but also inspires care and collaboration. My team and I wholeheartedly believe that happy employees will always serve our consumers with a smile.”
Others see their role as indirectly serving and protecting consumers so that they can keep working toward financial freedom.
For example, Jenelle Vinci, Senior Operations Manager at MCM in Troy, and her team process and digitize thousands of payments and documents a day, helping consumers and account managers alike. Jenelle’s team looks for better ways of doing things and collaborates with other teams across various functions.
“Although we work behind the scenes, I think we have probably one of the biggest connections to our consumers,” she said. “There are so many different ways we can change how we do things and make them easier for our consumers to get to their end goal of paying off their accounts. By us all coming together and collaborating and being able to think outside the box and do things better, that actually helps the business rather than just keeping things siloed in one office.”
Nissan Palacio, Senior Manager of Global Cyber Threat Management, also stressed collaboration as an essential part of his team’s role in protecting consumers.
“We collaborate a lot with our key stakeholders and business partners globally because cybersecurity is not a one-person effort; it’s a whole-company initiative,” he said. “Cybersecurity starts with our employees. We really try to focus on collaboration and partnership and being inclusive to achieve our one common goal of securing our consumers and colleagues.”
Lucía Sánchez-Ocaña Leyun, Cabot’s Chief Risk & Compliance Officer, EU, said her team lives Encore’s Values by collaborating with other functions across the business.
“We make sure that everything we do is in compliance with rules and regulations, and that we’re able to identify risks and manage them,” she said. “We find the best way to do that is by collaborating and being inclusive with our colleagues. We make sure that we not only find synergies between the teams, but also that we create a really good atmosphere that makes this company a great place to work.”
Working behind the scenes to help Encore live its Mission and Values also means training new cohorts of account managers to lead consumer conversations with empathy and respect.
“I’m very passionate about developing our account managers’ habits for them to achieve both professional and personal success,” said Nikole Akers, Senior Manager, Operations and Training & Development, MCM in Roanoke. “We’re helping them learn to build dynamic conversations that our consumers aren’t accustomed to. These conversations help our consumers feel better about their situation, help our account managers understand consumer circumstances better, and create a safe environment to entertain possible solutions for our consumers.”
To hear more about how our team is united behind our Mission, check out this video: