Military Heroes Shaping the Future of America’s Workplace

Last month, I was sitting in a typical corporate conference room in Northern Virginia working on a plan to recruit veterans for the call center company I led when in wheeled a West Point graduate with no legs, a warm smile, and a strong hand shake. Colonel Greg Gaddis, who 10 years prior had lost both legs due to an IED explosion in Iraq had joined our strategy meeting because he wanted to tell me in person how important it was to hire combat wounded military vets and their families. He looked me in the eye and explained what it was like to be a 38 year old father waking up in a military hospital staring at the ceiling wondering how he was ever going to support his family again. 

He fought back emotion talking about how the hardest challenges were not physical—not learning to get by in life with no legs—but rather emotional. To have work, to make a living, to be contributing to society, to provide for his family—those were the things that motivated his recovery.  

​I walked out of that meeting determined that the company I led, Liveops, was going to be on the forefront of providing real work opportunities to wounded veterans and their families. Our business model makes it possible to work from home, whenever and wherever. Our online education modules mean that workers can choose the certifications they want to pursue and the clients they want to serve. 

Our company combines the virtues of new economy flexibility and technological sophistication with old economy values of trust and integrity.

We nurture our at home agents’ desire to connect with one another and are proud of the “Liveops Nation” we have built.

My industry is just coming out of its “offshoring haze”—a decade during which companies were convinced they could cut costs by enlisting customer service teams overseas in the hope of capitalizing on cheaper labor. Companies that hired US citizens to care for their customers were now hiring citizens of Bangalore, Manila, and Tegucigalpa.

Companies found out the hard way that the money saved by offshoring paled in comparison to the declining levels of customer satisfaction. From language barriers to lack of shared cultural understanding, the offshoring of American call center work created frustration, friction, and fractured customer relationships.

I am proud to say that Liveops never left the United States. We were founded on American soil and believe that we have always built our agent teams from the greatest talent pool in the world. We have innovated one of the most sophisticated and user friendly educational platforms in the field. We know how to certify our agents to respond to calls ranging from basic customer inquiries to highly sophisticated medical or technological queries. Our agents are empathetic, helpful and efficient. Like our military, we provide the necessary tools for success and it shows.

I am also pleased to say that Liveops will go the extra mile—in recruiting, certifying and supporting—combat-wounded veterans and their families. After meeting with Colonel Greg Gaddis, we officially launched a partnership with the national veterans’ organization “Hope for the Warriors.”

Liveops nation is made up of US citizens from all parts of the country, all walks of life. We are proud of our nation and we are especially proud of our vets.

Greg Hanover is the CEO of Liveops, Inc.