In memory of Richard Webster, father, husband, and honored member of the Support.com team for over a decade.
Working from Home with Support.com: A Dynamic, Challenging Job That Fits Right in Your Comfort Zone
In our “Meet the Support.com Agents” series, we sit down with Support.com Agents to hear their stories and experiences and to learn how they came to join the Support.com team. In each blog, we’ll get to know a different agent and will learn more about why they love working with Support.com.
When CCI Triad (now Activant Solutions), a business management software company, closed its doors in San Antonio, they offered Richard Webster the chance to move to one of their adjacent offices in Denver, CO or Livermore, CA. But with a daughter beginning her senior year of high school, Richard had no desire to uproot his family and, instead, opted to retire early with his wife. He quickly found, however, that he wasn’t quite ready for the early-bird-special life; bored with their new retirement routine, Richard and his wife decided to go back to work.
While his wife went to work at her favorite non-profit, Children’s Hunger Fund, Richard was looking for something new that allowed him to leverage his software and technology savvy. Most importantly, he knew that he wanted to work from home, so he took to Craigslist to find a work-from-home job that could be the right match for him.
In May 2008, Richard joined Support.com as a Solutions Engineer and began what would become a more than a decade-long tenure with the company.
In the last eleven years, Richard has grown with Support.com, first as a Solutions Engineer, then as a Break/Fix Engineer, and, since 2016, as a PTE (Personal Technical Employee). During this time, Richard was also selected to participate in Support.com’s B2B pilot program, where he cross-trained with other agents to deliver white-label tech support for large, enterprise customers.
With an extensive career in IT behind him (Richard previously built and headed-up an IT department with a 250-seat call center that operated 24/7, 365) and a zeal to learn, Richard has continued to grow with Support.com. After several years with the company, he was asked to assist with the company’s training department as a Help Desk Technician on New Hire classes; later, he also joined the recruiting department to interview job candidates.
For Richard, Support.com is the perfect fit for giving him a dynamic and challenging job within the comforts of his own home—a top priority for him.
“In 2010, I suffered a stroke and, although I am able to drive, my wife and I chose for me not to drive any longer, so working from home is my best option.”
Besides giving Richard the zero-second commute he was looking for, Support.com’s full-time, work-from-home position delivers other desirable perks. For one, Richard loves working from home because it gives him the ability to completely control his environment: “I have control over noise. I have control over my equipment. I have control over my day. That’s really important to me.” But despite working from home alone every day, Richard says that the Support.com network keeps him constantly connected with his teammates, so he can enjoy his independent work style without feeling lonely.
It’s this network of teamwork that not only serves Support.com’s employees but the customers, too. “If you’re running into a situation where you’re helping a customer and you personally don’t know the answer, you can be confident that you’re going to find that answer rather quickly with our support system,” says Richard. “In IT, you could be the expert on one particular thing, but you can’t be the top guy in every area of technology. That’s what’s so unique about our teams. You can be sure that there is a guy or a gal out there who has the answer—and they’re more than happy to share those answers with you and help you out.”
Support.com’s supportive network is a welcome change for Richard, who says, before working at Support.com, he often felt left on his own at work, stuck in a silo where he had to problem-solve and build tools by himself. “That’s what’s so great about the team. If you didn’t have the team, you wouldn’t have anything.”
In addition to lending helping hands when needed, Richard also appreciates that his Support.com teammates are constantly challenging him to think differently, learn more, and grow: “I know that there’s always a better way of doing things, and it may not be my way—it may be somebody else’s way.”
Whether he’s serving as a PTE or as an interviewer in the recruiting department, Richard says his work at Support.com is the perfect match for his post-retirement days, giving him a job right from home that is dynamic, challenging, and fulfilling.
His favorite part of the gig? It’s a tie for Richard. “As a PTE, the best part is hearing the smile over the phone in my customer’s voice when a problem is resolved that they thought was impossible to fix. As an interviewer, the best part is the excitement in the voice of a candidate when an offer is made for employment. When they hear how long I’ve been with the company, they usually say, ‘I hope I get your job!’ because they see hope and stability with Support.com.”