Ruby, a Portland-based live virtual receptionist and chat company, is looking to expand its presence in Arizona by hiring a number of positions here. Positions range widely from virtual receptionists to sales and marketing. The company is also looking to hire account executives and a VP of revenue operations.
The majority of the open positions are for virtual receptionists on the frontline, but Katie Hurst, Ruby’s director of brand and content, notes that the company emphasizes building clear career paths for its employees. According to Hurst, 18% of their current employees have been promoted from the frontline. Pay for these positions starts at $15.75/hour, with the opportunity to receive incremental increases.
Ruby established a presence in Arizona last year with the company’s acquisition of Scottsdale-based Pure Chat, which was announced in August 2020. Ruby was ecstatic to gain Pure Chat, which is a live self-chat software and an AI-powered chat technology called Artibot. According to the press release, the acquisition only strengthened Ruby’s ability to continue its mission to provide human interaction for its more than 13,000 small business customers 24/7, 365 days a year. The acquisition was the biggest reason for Ruby’s plans to hire Arizona-based employees, though the company also sees a lot of potential talent here.
“With the acquisition of Pure Chat and the current employees based there, Ruby has already built a technology and marketing hub in Arizona,” says Ruby CEO Kate Winkler. “This, combined with a growing talent pool from universities and transplants attracted to quality of living in Arizona, makes the state an ideal location to grow our employee base for all positions.”
Ruby is also emphasizing the need for bilingual virtual receptionists and the company hopes Arizona will provide access to employees who can speak both Spanish and English.
Ruby hopes to see major employee growth in the Grand Canyon State, though not necessarily by establishing a physical office. Arizona is the first state where the company plans to have a fully remote workforce and as of right now, Ruby has no plans to build an office here. This decision comes after a year of successfully working remotely during the pandemic. The company set up remote operations in just 11 days in March 2020 and now Ruby wants to continue to take advantage of the flexibility remote working provides. Ruby employees are able to more fully control their work-life balance and the company is able to expand in a way that wasn’t possible before.
Ruby has three brick and mortar offices in the U.S., but the company will provide hybrid options for their two offices in Oregon and their office in Kansas City, Missouri. Winkler expects a third of the company’s employees choosing the hybrid option and a third of the employees working remotely.
Ruby is really leaning into providing even more flexibility for workers. There are shifts for any time of the day and workers can work between 30-40 hrs a week. The company will also allow split shifts. And executives have established a plan for building company culture remotely by providing more direct lines of communication between employees and C-suite leaders and holding a virtual company-wide meeting. Ruby has also expanded what’s called the “Swellness Fund,” a quarterly allowance for employees to improve their work-from-home setups.
Ultimately, Hurst says Ruby wants to encourage employees to do their best to serve clients by delivering “human service with really sophisticated technology.”