Culture brings intention to what we do. From the partners we serve to the associates who work with us, we share a set of core values that guide our actions, words, intentions. The Culture Awards are meant to recognize the individuals who most embody our core values and exemplify our culture. They happen once a year and honor five associates as Core Value Champions, five as Culture Champions and one as a Superhero, someone who embodies all our core values. Today we are recognizing the winners of the 2020 Culture and Values Awards!
This year we got 184 nominations, up from 153 last year. All 184 of these people have touched the lives of others at PartnerHero and made big, positive impacts on their teams and our partners. We are thrilled to honor their contributions.
Heather Casey, PartnerHero President and COO has these words to share about the awards, “our culture is at the heart of what we do. Without it, we wouldn’t have a company. Our unique culture is why partners choose to work with us and why so many talented people have chosen to dedicate their time to working here. The winners of the culture award are one example of why it is such an honor for me to work here at PartnerHero.”
Be Humble: Alex Lindsey (USA)
Alex couldn't be more approachable. He moved into a QA role this past year with the Etsy team. This sort of position can come with a stigma from certain associates, as receiving feedback on your work can feel ultra personal. With Alex, the idea of the existence of this stigma is impossible. He approaches his work with such care and consideration that even his constructive criticism comes across as empowering. He never shies away from receiving feedback himself, as he always finds he can perform better. I can't tell you the number of times Alex proactively creates docs and resources for the team to use to make our lives easier. Any time I ask him for support on a project during a meeting or sync, he'll show me that he's already started drafting something up. The contributions he brings to the team are endless.
Take Ownership: Alma Soriano (Spain)
Alma has been a Team Lead on Udemy for two years and as soon as I joined the program it was very apparent that Alma was someone that embodied the “Take Ownership” value. She is seen as a natural leader in the team, even as she works as a peer with her former Lead! If I assign Alma a task I am certain it will be completed. Alma regularly takes on extra responsibilities proactively before I can even ask. She is seen as an SME and will remind or coach the other Leads on tasks that are done less often. If she sees a mistake or a gap, she will fix it and then mention it later. Alma never ‘passes the buck’.
Care for Others: Shannon Cassedy-Gray (USA)
Shannon's supportive and caring nature makes Sana Benefits partnership that much more exciting and enjoyable to work for. She's even brought me out of my own shell as a more introverted individual and compelled me to open up more with my colleagues. I look to Shannon as a leader and role model of compassion and empathy - something that we at PartnerHero continuously strive to embody.
Embrace Growth: Alair Larios (Honduras)
"Alair has sought out an opportunity to grow beyond her role to be able to deliver solutions to her team and her partner. She has committed considerable effort and time to learn about instructional design and measuring training effectiveness to help launch a new training initiative.”
Manifest Trust: Ana Clara Junqueira (Brazil)
"I want to thank Ana for the amazing support and care she has shown me and my teammates. I couldn't think of anyone who better embodies the values of the company, especially the trust and care she placed on our team. Also, I think the ownership she demonstrated by helping and supporting us through the day-to-day issues and more stressful and delicate situations was incredible and has only increased my admiration and respect for her and PH."
Each one of these people has gone above and beyond demonstrating their commitment to our 5 core values. Here are some highlights about each from their nominators:
Isabel Coronado (Honduras): “Isabel is always willing to take feedback and act on it. She is highly collaborative and works well on team/group projects. She always has a good word for her associates or her colleagues. If she is not certain about something, she asks for advice.”
Alexandru Radu (Romania): “Alexandru Radu “Embraced the growth of a new office, always remained reliable and responsive, took on and managed multiple roles and responsibilities, dealt with times of stress and strife whilst keeping his head high and remained humble and kind throughout.”
Tara Kennedy (USA): “Tara is an absolute r o c k s t a r ! She challenges the status quo on the daily and helps everyone around her level up. Some people have that spark that causes those around them to subconsciously grow faster, try harder, and pay more attention, Tara is one of those people.”
Sara Storrer ( Brazil): “Sara has had a huge impact both for PartnerHero and our partner. I always tell her, I really don't know how you do so much: projects, helping others, growing in the company (from customer support representative to Escalations Specialist) in so little time. She takes ownership for her actions (and for the team's) and is always willing to change and thrive. I can see humbleness there. She is a very trustworthy person and we can rely on her for anything. She is always ready to share her perspectives on things and always goes the extra mile to solve the difficult situations we escalate to her. When things are wrong, she doesn't sweep them under the rug. She proactively goes there and gets things done, she fixes things, she makes our job great by providing real and honest feedback when necessary and tries to show others ways to act differently in order to succeed. She is a true leader.”
Shon Paunan (Philippines): “Shon quickly noticed several opportunities to improve the operations of this pod and began putting plans and changes in place to address them right away. She is accountable for the performance of this team. I also see her jumping in to program-level tasks, and she truly feels like part of the leadership team despite the time gap. She is confident and truly shows perseverance. Her family was impacted by the flooding in the Typhoon and she had to evacuate her children, but all the while she was sending me updates via WhatsApp on herself AND her associates. This was a very difficult time for Shon but she did not let her team down, she was there as a strong leader even while she was struggling."
The winner of our 2020 SuperHero award is a person who embodies all the PartnerHero core values. The winner this year is Claudia Alvarenga. On normal days and in times of crisis, she has stepped up to the plate to help not only PartnerHero associates but also their families and communities. 2020 was a strange year for many and PartnerHero was no exception. When the world shut down due to COVID we had to quickly pivot to working from home and in the fall a series of natural disasters hit two of our hubs, Honduras and the Philippines, requiring a massive rescue and aid effort. Claudia was instrumental to keeping PartnerHero employees safe and cared for throughout the ups and downs of 2020. Here are a few words that were shared about this person during the nomination process:
“I’m nominating Claudia as a Culture Champion because she embodies all of PartnerHero’s values. Her heart is so big and she is constantly thinking about everyone’s well-being and how to help. This was demonstrated during the multiple hurricanes last year where she showed her ability to act fast under pressure to ensure the well-being of all of PH associates. She took ownership and pulled up her sleeves to find ways to help. Even after the hurricane, I was impressed by her logistics planning for care packages. I had not even thought about everything we needed in the process of getting back home, but Claudia had. On top that, she took the time to check in regularly to make sure we not only doing ok physically but that were mentally ok as well. Claudia is the type of person that you know you can trust to be there for anything.”
“Her nickname is (mama) mother in spanish and I can't think of a better nickname for her. Some articles define mom as ¨the one who you can always count on above everyone else¨and definitely Claudia is someone you can always rely on. She goes above and beyond to make sure all of our needs are taken care of. If you ever need advice, work or not work-related, you can count on her and of course she will give you great advice.
When we were hit with both hurricanes Eta and Iota in Honduras she worked long hours making sure every single one of our associates who we knew were in dangerous or affected areas were safe. The best part of all this is that she even made sure their family and pets were doing ok too.
I could go on and on about how she is a true leader and how she embraces all of Partner hero´s values but I wouldn't be able to finish today.”
“Claudia is ALWAYS helping others. Anything from ordering your favorite lunch to assisting you in a time of crisis, Claudia is on speed dial. She makes it easy to work with her and goes out of her way to assist. Claudia truly is the office mama taking care of everyone.”
Thank you to everyone who nominated peers to win an award this year, we couldn’t have recognized the important work that each winner has contributed without your nomination. And, of course, thank you to all the winners for representing the best of PartnerHero culture.
