Having Fun and Transforming Lives: Tiara Thursday.
By: Chelsey S., Sr Manager, Communications
Increasing client satisfaction may be as simple as a little bit of sparkle.
It was a regular Thursday afternoon and Stephanie B. was getting her lunch in Schwab’s Omaha cafe. She was attracting a few extra glances from her colleagues, but she didn’t notice. She had her salad in hand, and was about to head back to her desk when an acquaintance stopped her and asked, “Is it your birthday?”
“What? No. Why do you ask?”
“Well, you’re wearing a tiara.”
“Oh, haha. Well, it’s Tiara Thursday,” said Stephanie.
‘Why yes, we are royalty’
The tiara-wearing is usually limited to the section of the fifth floor where the Advisor Services Estates team sits—a group of client service reps that assist advisors who are transitioning the estates of deceased clients. But Stephanie, a leader on that team, had forgotten to take it off before grabbing lunch that day.
Shannon B., another team member, is the creative mind behind Tiara Thursday. After the returning to in-person work in January, the team had already begun doing some themed days just for fun. Most of them were snack-related, like Mamba Monday and Tutti Frutti Tuesday. But Shannon thought, why not throw tiaras into the mix?
“I like sparkly things,” she explains.
Behind the understated comment is a very smart instinct. There’s a lot of research about the impact of having fun at work. A 2022 Harvard Business Review article explores how fun at work actually has a positive impact on engagement and purpose, leading to increased employee retention. And a Harvard Business Review study from 2019 study found that a happier workforce is clearly associated with companies’ ability to deliver better customer satisfaction.
“Something I learned when I started a long time ago is that you should smile when you are on the phone with a client,” says Stephanie. “I thought that was crazy, but your voice automatically changes when you’re smiling. It can bring a little bit of joy that can break up a tough day or turn a call around.”
So, while it’s highly unlikely that an advisor will ever know that the Schwabbie on the other end of the phone is wearing a tiara, they may feel a little extra of that royal treatment as a result.
Bringing the fun
Tiara Thursday has also just been a fun way to make new connections in the office. “It’s kind of like, I think this is funny, and you think this is funny, and now we have something in common,” explains Stephanie. “And now that we have something in common, it’s easier for me to ask you for help on something, or now I’m prompted to ask how your weekend was.”
The group always wears their tiaras to morning huddle on Thursdays, and when they are walking through the halls together, they don’t even think about it. The cafeteria incident is not the last time that Stephanie or another member of the team is going to forget to take it off and attract a few extra glances. But who cares? Let’s normalize tiara-wearing and having fun at work.
(0324-PSTL)