When Sarah Thomas saw a job posting in 2015 for a customer service position in an office full of puppies and foam rocket battles, it seemed almost too good to be true.
Six years later, Thomas, now a managing team lead in Redtail’s customer support staff, can’t imagine wanting to work anywhere else. It would seem Redtail CEO Brian McLaughlin’s dedication to turn customers into “raving fans” has a similar effect on many employees.
“The people, all the way from the top down to your everyday, front-line employee, we’re not a number. Every person matters,” Thomas says. “It’s a family environment.”
Since launching in Sacramento, California, in 2003, Redtail is now one of, if not the most, popular CRMs among financial advisors. The company has more than 100,000 active users across 30,000 advisory firms,
Its popularity among financial advisors is rivaled by its reputation with employees. Redtail’s office life of dogs, racing slides and free meals is
But with the coronavirus pandemic forcing employees to work remotely and cancelling popular events like volunteer visits to dog shelters or the annual team-building trip, how is McLaughlin keeping that Redtail spirit alive?
“I think openness and transparency, from the top to the bottom, is what’s key,” McLaughlin says. “I really opened up communication during this time.”
When national lockdown orders began, McLaughlin started hosting weekly Wednesday updates to let everyone know over Zoom what was going on with the company financially, any product updates or new releases, and anything else coming across the CEO’s desk.
Redtail has hosted several virtual events for staff, including karaoke, game nights and cooking courses.
“Redtail will send us the supplies that we need for the events and then we all do them together,” Thomas says. “We have one tonight, a comedy night where we’re having one of our team leads do a skit as well as some other comedians.”
McLaughlin has also found ways to keep giving back to the Sacramento community while in-person volunteering isn’t possible. For example, on “Takeout Tuesdays,” Redtail will buy dinner for every employee and their entire family — but only from a local restaurant and only if the employee posts about the restaurant on social media.
And during the summer’s social justice protests, Redtail contributed $5 for every $1 donated by employees towards organizations working with the Black Lives Matter movement to increase diversity in science, technology, engineering and math.
“We want to show as a leader that we can give back to the community every day,” McLaughlin says.
“There was that period where we missed each other,” Thomas says. “But we adapted and pivoted so quickly. Our culture is thriving in the work-from-home environment right now.”
Though McLaughlin can no longer walk around the office in shorts and flipflops with a coffee in hand, checking in with each team, he’s managed to translate his unique executive style to the virtual environment, says Alison Hawkins, Redtail’s director of customer service. He makes the staff laugh with an array of Zoom backgrounds and video filters, tries to connect with dogs and children in the background, and sometimes makes surprise phone calls to employees.
“That can scare the heck out of an employee who doesn’t talk to Brian on the regular, but he just wants to check in,” Hawkins says. “Like, he called me for my five-year anniversary out of the blue.”
McLaughlin insists he’s not trying to micromanage; he just likes to surprise people and liven up their day.
“It’s just who I am,” he says. “I want to touch base and make sure they are happy, make sure they are taken care of.”
No one can say they were completely prepared for the pandemic, but McLaughlin was able to draw on what he learned in 2019 when he faced every technology executive’s greatest nightmare: a data breach. After finding out in the middle of the night, the entire development and operations team came together to figure out and fix the issue.
It was the first data breach in Redtail’s history, and changes to compliance audits and internal reviews and procedures will help ensure it never happens again, McLaughlin says as he knocks on wood. He was most impressed with how his team came together in a moment of crisis.
“It shows you how much they’re bought into what we’re doing,” McLaughlin says. “Was it stressful? Hell yeah. I can’t deny that. … But it’s a testament to how Redtail operates. We have each other’s back.”
“When times are tough we pull together, we support each other,” he adds, “so that when times are great we can play.”
