In the April edition of our TaskUs Core Value Champions series, we have two spectacular employees that deserve credit and attention for their hard work. Fernan Delbo and Leila Bondoc are exemplary TaskUs team members and both consistently demonstrate the core value: Do more with less. At TaskUs, we appreciate their hard work and love having them as part of the TaskUs family.

Name: Fernan Delbo

Job: Online Researcher/Discount Deal Hunter

Core Value: Do more with less

Fernan is an incredibly hard working data entry representative. He’s been with TaskUs since January and is constantly creating innovative ways of improving work processes and becoming more efficient. Additionally, his personal speed and accuracy is admired and respected by his fellow team members.

Always striving to improve the way we work, Fernan repeatedly tweaks the way he works in hopes of improving life for his team. For example, one of his innovations was creating an excel formula that automated a complex discount process. He also helped reintroduce apps in chrome like LinkClump and Popchrom, which greatly helped us improve our online research processes. As on online deal hunter at TaskUs, he consistently exceeds expectations as his average number of merchants per week with a total of 80-100 (goal is 75).

We can always count on Fernan to continually help his teammates improve the quality of their careers at TaskUs. It is a pleasure having him on our team and in the TaskUs family.

Name: Leila Bondoc

Job: Team Leader/Transcriptionist/Trial Specialist

Core Value: Do more with less

Leila has had 15 years of work experience in various industries involving paralegal work, marketing, advertising, HR, writing, SEO and has even taught Math, English and Science at the International British Academy for 3 terms before deciding to focus on a career in Business Process Outsourcing — Transcription.

Joining TaskUs in 2010, Leila leveraged her vast experience, natural mentoring abilities and leadership skills to rise quickly within our organization and attain the title of Team Leader on her transcription campaign. Her accomplishments and consistently strong results are a result of her ability to fully utilize every resource available.

As an advocate of open adoption, art appreciation and healthy lifestyle, Leila is very active within her community both at home and work. Leila paints, draws, practices wood carving, and yoga during her free time. Leila is also the proud mother of a four-year-old son, Samuel. With that being said, part of her free time is spent roughhousing and goofing around with Samuel.

Leila is an incredible asset for the TaskUs team and impactful mentor within the TaskUs family. We are thrilled she picked this career, when she had so many other skills and choices.

Despite being the guts or heart of any successful organization, operations rarely takes the spotlight at tech panels. We decided to change this. Thursday, March 21st, TaskUs was joined by operational masterminds from Uber, Savings.com, ScoreBig and ZEFR for an evening that focused solely on operations. The result was an event filled with great networking, food, drinks and most importantly, insights from some of the brightest operational minds in Silicon Beach.

We kicked the evening off with an hour of networking before heading into the theater at the TaskUs Santa Monica office for the main event: an hour long panel and Q&A with William Barnes (Uber, LA GM), Thomas Swalla (Savings.com, CFO), Joel Milne (ScoreBig, Co-Founder) and Tae Lee (ZEFR, Head of Operations). TaskUs CEO, Bryce Maddock, kicked the evening off with an introduction for the panel moderator, Michael Carney of PandoDaily.

The response to the “Scale To Sale Operations Panel” was overwhelmingly positive and attendees were quite clear that we need to host more events like this. Hence, we have already begun planning another event for this summer. If you would like to recommend panelists, speakers, topics or themes for our next event, please email us: info@taskus.com. We look forward to receiving your suggestions and planning another incredible evening.

This year’s marathon was overshadowed by terror and tragedy. Another reminder of the seemingly insurmountable challenges that our world is faced with. From acts of terror to climate change to pathetic partisan grid lock in our world’s capitals, it is almost enough to make you give up hope. But then we see images of people running towards a blast to help the injured, we see a city and a nation come together in grief and we see the innocent face of an eight year old child, who lost his life in Monday’s blast, holding a sign reminding us “No More Hurting People…Peace.”

Our future lies with today’s youth. Kids around the world like Martin Richard will save humanity. But we must invest and support them on their journey.

At TaskUs, we have chosen to invest heavily in children’s education. In the Philippines, the country where we have our largest offices, the TaskUs Foundation paid for four amazing children to go to great schools and extra circular activities last year. This year alone, we raised over $7,000 from our friends, family and clients. I’m proud to say that Jaspar and I are going to donate an additional $13,000, so that we meet our $20,000 fundraising goal. With these funds, we will support eight amazing children to get the education they deserve.

Thank you all for your incredible support. We are changing the future of our world, together.

At TaskUs, we have six core values: Inspire Others By Believing In Yourself, Teamwork Makes The Dream Work, Do More With Less, Continuous Self-Improvement, Always Strive For Excellence and Work Hard, Have Fun. These core values are what we look for in every TaskUs team member and we’ve even permanently posted them in every TaskUs office on the walls, Santa Monica, San Francisco and Bacoor. With that we are pleased to announce our new blog series “TaskUs Core Value Champions”. Each month our management team will nominate TaskUs team members they feel embody a specific core value and why we are inspired by them.
Thus, we are thrilled to announce March 2013’s TaskUs Champions:

Julius Charles Cañete and Charisse Rementilla
Core Value They Exemplified: “Work Hard, Have Fun”
Team Leader: Mike Gonzales

Julius and Charisse are outstanding team members. Meeting their client’s expectations on a daily basis with solid marks in all performance categories: data accuracy, productivity and attendance. Julius’ family suffered a terrible loss earlier this month. The strength and composure Julius showed during this trying time is truly remarkable and inspiring to all of his teammates.

Charisse is consistently one of the top performers on her team. Attributing to 35% of her team’s total monthly production, Charisse has demonstrated data accuracy consistently showing growth as she rocketed from 64% in data accuracy to 92%! Considering the client’s expectations are for data accuracy to be at 80%, it is clear to see how Charisse is inspiring her fellow team members by believing in herself.

Considering the terrible circumstances surrounding the loss of his sister, Julius’ achievements and performance are remarkable. In the midst of serious life challenges, Julius has remained a steadfast performer amongst a very talented team. His productivity has continued to climb as it jumped 30% from previous months. Like Charisse, Julius also surpassed his client’s data accuracy expectations with consistent marks of 85% accuracy.

Recently, Julius and Charisse had the opportunity to have fun with their teammates after a long work week. They packed up their gear and headed to the beach for some team bonding. As evidenced by the pictures, the team had a great time and demonstrated the TaskUs core value “Work Hard, Play Hard”. We are incredibly fortunate to have Julius and Charisse in the TaskUs family.

This is just one of the many stories that inspire us on a daily basis. We look forward to announcing future monthly recipients of the TaskUs Core Value Champions Award.

Changing primary education in the Philippines will take a considerable amount of effort and time. However, we are incredibly happy to report immediate impact and change made by the TaskUs Foundation. It was only a year ago that we even conceived the notion of starting a fund to help improve the primary education of our employees’ children in the Philippines. With one short fundraising campaign in anticipation of running the LA Marathon, we were able to raise $16,000 for the TaskUs foundation to benefit three amazing kids: JT, Bea and Jeru. Here is a brief update of the immediate impact and progress made by all three:

JT

Using funds allocated by the TaskUs Foundation, JT was able to immediately transfer to a better school and finish the 2nd Grade. Despite an extended absence due to Kawasaki Disease, he finished as a bronze medalist (academic reward in the Philippines for high academic marks). The TaskUs Foundation also awarded JT the opportunity to enroll in extracurricular activities and programs like Kumon (advanced learning program) and Piano lessons. With another bronze medal in Kumon and a perfect piano recital in December that earned him a silver medal, JT exemplified one of my favorite TaskUs core values: Always Strive For Excellence.

Bea

At the ripe age of 3, Bea is already off to an amazing start. With Kinder-I (first year of Kindergarten) completed, I am thrilled to report Bea racked up a number of accolades: honor student, Best in English, Best in Mathematics, Best in Science and Best in Writing. If school was the academy awards, you could call her Daniel Day Lewis, she’s a lock! As an aspiring bronze medalist in Kumon, she has quickly learned how to read and asserted herself as a candidate for more awards this May. Thanks to her natural talents and the TaskUs Foundation, Bea’s future is very bright.

Jeru

Last, but definitely not least, Jeru continues to amaze all of us with his natural ability and incredible thirst for knowledge. With funds from the TaskUs Foundation, Jeru has enrolled in a private school where the teacher to student ratio is 1:2. Each student at his school is afforded a tremendous amount of care, focus and attention from the educators. With these new educational opportunities, Jeru has received one silver and six gold medals for achievement in Mathematics, Spelling, Science, Speech and English. However, his curiosity is not limited to the classroom. Jeru has also enrolled in extracurriculars like tennis and martial arts. As you can see from the video above, Jeru is an incredible kid that lights up any room with his bright personality. Happy to hear he has taken interest in running. Perhaps, Bryce is rubbing off on him!

As you can see, donations to the TaskUs Foundation change lives, immediately. We are incredibly fortunate to know children like JT, Bea and Jeru. However, we remind ourselves all of the time that we can’t stop here. There are hundreds of thousands of children that need are help. Please visit RunBoston2013.com to make a difference right now.

It is officially March Madness, so the countdown begins till you tear up your awful bracket. Where did it all go wrong? You read the scouting reports, paid the extra couple of bucks for ESPN Insider and even took time to ask the intern Jake who he’s got. Jake used to play college ball, knows all. Yet, Monday morning you find yourself at the bottom of the standings. Filling out your bracket and staffing your operations team can involve many of the same challenges and pitfalls. Here are 3 reasons your bracket & your operations team are awful:

Sexy Picks Frequently Don’t Pan Out

Just like a #1 seeded team, it’s easy to fall in love with an operations applicant on paper. Resumés can be filled with highlights that can distract and blind you: incredible academic pedigree, previous positions at companies you respect or time spent working with colleagues you admire. There can be 1,000 reasons to hire someone, but one reason why they would be a horrible hire. If there’s 1% doubt, that candidate is out (ode to Don King).

Never Underestimate Strong Leadership

I like to call this the “Izzo Factor”. There is a reason why Michigan State, led by March Madness guru Tom Izzo, are always a Final Four threat. Tom Izzo is an incredible leader and basketball coach known for exceeding expectations and getting the absolute most out of his teams. Look for examples of leadership in the operational hires you make. Beware those that don’t play well with others. Remember, a good operational hire can have a positive effect on everyone around them and a bad hire can destroy your entire business from within.

You Picked The Final Four, But Ignored Everything Else

Like operations, March Madness is essentially a puzzle. You can easily focus solely on the Final Four, but you would be making a fatal error in ignoring the journey leading up to the championship. Every single person chosen for your operations team must represent a specific piece of the puzzle. Everyone can’t be the scorer. You have to get role players too. If you approach every hiring and staffing decision with extreme precision and careful thought, you will be significantly better off.

Unlike your March Madness bracket, you can adapt and change your operations team continuously. Be aware of and respect the process. Growing businesses like Uber, ZEFR, Savings.com and ScoreBig interview operations applicants for as long as 3 hours at a time. Their goal is expose any possible doubt and examine how that applicant would fit within their current team framework. Culture is king. Don’t lose your culture because you’ve made a poor pick.

This time last year, we started the TaskUs Foundation. The goal was simple: provide better primary education opportunities and after school programs for 3 amazing children of our employees in the Philippines. Despite the fact that the Philippines is on pace to becoming the 16th largest economy in the world, they are currently ranked 99th in primary education. Something has to be done.

Starting a business abroad, we were well aware of the many challenges and potential setbacks we would face. However, we were completely unprepared for the bond and relationships that we would develop with the TaskUs Philippines team. Having spent so much time with our employees and their children, we know firsthand the incredible impact that $20,000 can have on drastically improving their lives. Hence, we have decided to challenge ourselves yet again. On April 15th, 2013, I (Bryce) will run the Boston Marathon. The goal is to raise $20,000 for the TaskUs Foundation, which will sponsor the primary educations and after school programs for 4 more remarkable kids.

We need your support! Visit RunBoston2013.com to donate now and help forever change the state of primary education in the Philippines.

Healthy Minds. Healthy Bodies. Limitless Opportunities.

TaskUs is thrilled to announce that we have been selected as a presenter at Digital Shoreditch 2013, which will take place in East London from May 20th – May 31st. Often referred to as SXSW Europe, “the Digital Shoreditch Festival is a large annual celebration which connects thousands of top tier brands, agencies, entrepreneurs and creatives from East London’s Tech City and beyond” (description courtesy of DigitalShoreditch.com). TaskUs CEO Bryce Maddock will be presenting his topic “Finding True Innovation At All Levels Of Your Company” which was chosen as the most popular of 325 total sessions. We look forward to seeing everyone in London this May!

Huge thanks to all the amazing clients, colleagues, friends and family that made it out to our SXSW DO WORK PARTY 2013. We truly enjoyed co-hosting with our good friends at CrowdFlower and as you can see from the pictures, everyone had a ridiculously good time. To all of you that missed us this year at SXSW, you will be happy to know that we are already planning next year’s party. A few promises we can make about our party at SXSW 2014: Dj Caballo Blanco will be back, we will go even bigger and it will be the highlight of your week in Austin. A big thanks to all of the great staff at Cedar Street Courtyard, Lukas/Zack/Seth at CrowdFlower and for the incredible city that is Austin, TX. DO WORK!

SXSW Interactive can be an amazing experience. It is a tremendous resource to meet new colleagues, network within different industries and above anything else, grow your business. A lot can happen from year to year. For example, last year we were hosting a small dinner for clients, friends and colleagues. Now, we are hosting a massive party that will see several hundred festival attendees come by, have some drinks and hang with TaskUs. We wouldn’t be as brash as to say we are SXSW experts, but we have picked up these 5 Tips For SXSW Interactive that could help you avoid the pitfalls of this amazing experience:

Pace Yourself

You might feel superhuman as you meet hundreds of valuable contacts, but remember…you will crash eventually. Take naps, sit down, take advantage of sponsored tents and just pace yourself. It is a marathon not a sprint. Don’t be that person that can barely stand on the third day.

Get Outside Your Network

Remember, you are here to strengthen and most importantly, grow your network. Don’t waste your time hobnobbing and constantly looking to meetup with the same network you know from back home. This is a melting pot of the best in tech. Take advantage.

Business First, Romance Second

We realize that many of you gents have not been surrounded by so many cute girls that work in tech. SXSW can be a great place to meet a new love interest, but don’t get swept off your feet and forget why you are here. Get his or her number and keep moving.

RSVP Early & Often

There are literally thousands of events. You may think you know your schedule well beforehand, but you don’t. Trust us, your plans will change frequently. Give yourself some options by RSVP’ing for a ton of events. Most of the time, it costs you nothing.

Treat Austin Well

Locals love and hate SXSW. The businesses love it because it accounts for a large portion of their annual revenue, but many of the locals leave town just to avoid the chaos created by this festival. You are in the south, so “please” and “thank you” is expected. You might be a tech mogul destined to change the world, but to the barista serving your Chai Tea Latte…you are just another impatient nerd in hipster gear.

Take these tips and have a tremendous time at SXSW Interactive. If you haven’t RSVP’ed for the TaskUs DO WORK Party, we are severely disappointed and you should email info@taskus.com right now.