Getting To Know "My Ryla"
Last week, I announced my new job at a new call center. At the time, I held off announcing the name and giving any details about the job, until I found out about the corporate policy regarding blogging about my job. I'm a big promoter of corporate transparency and as you know I have always been pretty honest about my day-to-day life, but I didn't want to break any rules the first week on the job. I also didn't want to end up like this person and create a major Social Media faux pas.
I'm happy to report that I now work for Ryla, Inc. Ryla was founded in 2001 in Georgia by Mark Wilson just a month after the "September 11" attack on the World Trade Center. In that time of uncertainty, starting a new business might not have seemed promising but Mark Wilson and the team he developed, has grown Ryla, Inc into a company with a 2009 revenue of 100 million dollars. Wilson was named a 2009 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Southeast Regional finalist. Ryla has been listed 3 consecutive years as one of the nations fastest growing companies on the Inc. 5000.
Ryla is headquartered in Kennesaw, Georgia but recently spent 8.5 million dollars to open a regional headquarters, corporate data center and regional customer contact center in Saraland, Alabama. The expansion means over 1200 jobs to the Mobile, Alabama area and was greeted by extensive press coverage, a whirlwind of job fairs, and a visit to Saraland by Governor Bob Riley.
Now, before this article starts to sound like a Public Relations press release, what's it like working there?
So far, not so bad. I'm still in the training environment preparing for a job as a customer service representative for Verizon Wireless. It's intensive training. The attitude at the company is upbeat and positive. Ryla has a corporate culture unlike any I have ever worked for. Having a positive attitude is promoted and stressed throughout the company. There are "cheers" performed in the training class and management stops by often to talk to employees and encourage their work. There is always a sense of duty for the clients that Ryla services, such as Verizon; and you are always aware that without these clients; Ryla does not not exist and neither would your job. Ryla truly wants to live up to their slogan of providing, "The Best Job You've Ever Had".
A lackadaisical attitude won't get you far. When you are at work, you must be professional, be positive, you need to do the job you were trained to do and remember rules are rules. If you can't hack that, you can't hack the job.
My training class started with 60 people and we've lost 3 or 4 in the past week who decided it wasn't for them. Overall, I'm in a class full of some pretty cool people with a diverse background. Young, old, experienced, inexperienced, traveling from all over Mobile and Baldwin Counties to work for Ryla. A few have even expressed interest in coming to see me perform at my next comedy gig and have already sent me MySpace friend requests.
Our trainer is Kate West. She has a background in pharmaceutical sales and started working for Ryla as a contractor, she has since joined the Ryla company full-time. Kate makes the 8-hour classes interesting with personal stories, motivational video clips and she has that positive attitude and a desire to make each of her class graduates ready to hit the ground running. Our class has been dubbed, "The Untouchables"(Each class has a nickname) Several times a night, she yells, "Are You Heated Up?" We reply loudly, "SMOKIN'!". (Yeah, I suggested it)
For a look at what a training class is all about--
Take The Ryla Virtual Tour and click on Training.
Ryla has one of the lowest employee turnover rates in the Teleservices industry, so I'm gonna do my best to provide them with another quality employee without breaking any disclosure rules.
"Did you hear the one about the customer who called in to the call center and asked"...wait--never mind.
UPDATE: MARCH 12, 2010
This entry at On The Road With Dave has become a depository for former Ryla Teleservices employees to leave comments expressing dissatisfaction with the company. It is the policy of this blog to allow free discussion of entries posted; however, this company currently provides me with a paycheck and I appreciate the employment and my creditors and local utility companies appreciate my timely payments of my bills.
If you must leave a negative comment--own it. Leave your name in the comment. Anonymous comments can no longer be approved on this entry. If you hated the job, you can say it, but you'll have to identify yourself. After all, I identify myself with every word I write.
Labels: Alabama, Miscellaneous, Mobile, Public Relations, Social Networking
posted by Dave Robison | 4:24 PM
10 Comments:
Sounds just like Amway, minus the tool scam.
Hey there. Hope the job works out well for you. I grew up in Saraland and live north of there in Citronelle. I had wondered what Ryla was about. Good to find your blog. I am now following you.
Good Luck! After training was over, and I got on those phones, I decided to look for something else.
Training is good for the most part, but after that answering the phones is horrid. I wouldn't recommend this job to my worst enemy.
Yea this job is horribly unorganized. They treat the temp folks like trash. Its not even the job really. Its the people who work there that make it so bad. If you're in college, its a good job. If you're looking for a career, look elsewhere.
This place absolutely sucks! The minions on the phones are worked to death. Ryla just offered a retention bonus where they "tricked" people to stay employed through the end of the year so that they can continue the false advertisement of the lowest turnover rate in the industry. When it came time to pay up, many many excuses arose as to why it would not be paid. There is no open door policy to discuss your grievances. There is no advancement for anyone who is perceived to rock the boat. You often hear people say, "things were not like this when I had a REAL job...." I thought I could fight through it, I had a manager who smoked marijuana on a regular basis and cussed everyone out. I could go on and on and on. I worked on the AT&T project and if they heard some of the things that are said/done to customers, Ryla would lose that contract in a heartbeat. If at all possible, if you can find a job anywhere else, stay as far away from RYLA as possible.
You are so true about the bonus. I had one point and was told I had 5. still waiting for my bonus. Ryla sucks!!!!
Ryla is the worst job I have ever had in my entire life....the management is horrible starting from the very top. If you ever needed something, for example getting the paid time off, (that u earn but has to be approved, which never happens) it was like u were asking for prized jewels...and then after I worked for the verizon project for 4 months(which is a permanent position) they decided to put in a temp project saying that we were ranked the lowest..when really we were never assigned to a supervisor or given a schdule for a month...then we were told that after the temp project, they would bring up back to the verizon wireless project.....yea that never happened.....THIS JOB SUCKS If someone is reading this and considering a job at RYLA-DONT save urself a trip to the medicine cabinet!!!
This job is not as bad as you guys make it out to be. If you come to work, do the job you were trained to do and have a positive attitude you can go far with RYLA. Most people who think it is a bad job are the ones not showing up, calling out, not doing their work,l etc. If it was such a horrible job then you should have left the first week after training, but you probably would not find another job anywhere else. In our current economic situation you are lucky to have a job. Stop complaining.
Ryla is an exceptional place for growth in the customer service arena. I can also agree that if you do the job as you were trained and have a positive (key word) attitude then you can definitely appreciate working for this establishment.
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