Trust is measured for all kinds of things today.
The Pew Research Center found that adults under 30 now trust information they found on social media as much as news platforms. Fewer than one in five Americans trust that the government will do what is right. Trust in scientists is 14 points lower than it was at the early stages of the pandemic.
Telesign, a fraud protection company, found that trust was something that customers and employees were eager to talk about. A few years ago, the company launched its new mission centered around the idea of “continuous trust.”
“When we first rolled out ‘continuous trust’ as our new category, the internal Slack messages immediately started popping up:
‘We love it!’
‘This feels great!’
‘This is something we can be proud of. I can sell trust!’
It was a rally cry for everyone to take note of what we are all doing here, together,” said Chief Marketing Officer Kristi Melani, who spoke about the rollout with Built In back in 2022.
The new mission was so well received that the concept eventually became a key part of the company culture. The shift gave teammates at Telesign a way to connect with customers and with one another. The new messaging spread throughout the company, starting with engineering, sales and eventually HR. Today, the external promise is now a core value that keeps internal teams aligned.
“We are in the business of trust and so this starts first and foremost by delivering on our promise to the people that bring our mission to life,” said Director of Global Employee Experience Taris Mullins. “Telesign continues to invest considerably into our culture because that is what makes us an employer of choice — not in words but in action.”
Built In spoke with Mullins to hear more how the shift toward “continuous trust” has impacted the employee experience at Telesign.
What’s your role at Telesign?
I lead Telesign’s global employee experience team, which is focused on building our culture, fostering employee engagement, driving learning and development, and embedding diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in all that we do. My role is designed to focus on ensuring that our global workforce is engaged and satisfied with their overall experience in the company to even more effectively deliver on our mission of “continuous trust.”
What’s your vision for leading the employee experience team?
As a global company, ensuring that we attend to both the collective and localized experiences is a business imperative. We recognize that our ability to effectively deliver on our mission is tethered directly back to our people who bring this to life.
The vision for our team is to cultivate a best-in-class, people-centered organization that centers the voice of the employee to drive impact for their experience. Across all our programmatic offerings we leverage employee feedback and benchmark data to understand where we can have the greatest impact on their experience and then innovate to develop programs and experiences which can reinforce this.
“The vision for our team is to cultivate a best-in-class, people-centered organization that centers the voice of the employee to drive impact for their experience.”
In conjunction, we recognize that this is not relegated to a singular person’s area of responsibility, but rather is a collective experience. We invite all leaders and employees to serve as “culture carriers” to reinforce a collective experience which will continue to make Telesign the best place people have ever worked.
What policies support Telesign’s people-centric culture and mission of continuous trust?
We continually assess our policies to ensure they are responsive and reflective of the needs of our global workforce. This includes aligning our internal learning experiences to external impact, bringing our values to life each day through direct action and also embedding our mission of continuous trust into the DNA of our global employee experience.
At Telesign, we recognize a one-size-fits-all approach is not responsive nor agile and so our strategy has always been grounded in reinforcing our culture, values and mission in a manner that reflects the local employee experience, which only enhances our overall global footprint and story.
Why is team culture important for the work that Telesign does?
We have invested a considerable amount of energy in building the #TelesignTogether culture that builds our global connectivity. Our managers are integral to this effort and so we start there first. By reinforcing a strong community of people leaders, we then build shared practices that support employee engagement at all levels. This shows up not just in words, but in action.
Beginning in 2023, we launched a global learning and development journey which touches every single employee designed to foster collaboration and shared experiences to strengthen our workforce to deliver on our mission. Along with this, the people team partners closely with the business unit leaders to develop customized supports that will drive for impact aligned back to our company values.
How do you help your team grow their careers?
Preparing our workforce to deliver on the needs for today while considering the opportunities for tomorrow is central to our philosophy. We continue to invest in our learning and development strategy, agile leadership experiences and remain committed to developing responsive interventions to support our leaders where they are.
In particular, Telesign launched a strategic model which has been cascaded to each individual — so they understand not only how their efforts impact our mission but also how the generated outcomes ultimately support their professional narrative. Telesign is an organization that thrives on innovation and welcomes any person to bring the best ideas so we can deliver on our mission of “continuous trust” each day.
“Telesign team members understand not only how their efforts impact our mission but also how the generated outcomes ultimately support their professional narrative.”
What role does the employee experience team play in strengthening Telesign’s mission and culture?
Our team members are integral to shaping and reinforcing our company mission and culture. An excellent example is our Employee Ambassadors program, composed of individuals from diverse departments. These Ambassadors actively contribute to fostering a vibrant Telesign community, embodying our values both internally and externally.
Their enthusiasm turns them into passionate advocates, sharing positive experiences and recommending our brand to others. This transformation of loyal employees into vocal ambassadors significantly influences our brand’s perception and reputation, showcasing the impactful role our team members play in celebrating and fortifying our company mission and culture.
What is the value proposition for those thinking about joining Telesign?
We exist to make the digital world a more trustworthy place for everyone. At Telesign, experience has taught us the smallest ideas can have the greatest impact on safety and trust. That is not just a lot of responsibility but a lot of possibility. We believe that individuality is your superpower. We invite you to bring your unique talents to help Telesign innovate, get things done and defend the digital world.
Telesign is stronger because of our team, and we want you to show up every day as your whole self. The fullest version of yourself is what makes our team, products, and the world better but most importantly, safer. For curious minds willing to rise to the occasion and commit to making the digital world a more trustworthy place, we have a seat for you here.
