WEX is Seeing RED and That’s a Good Thing

Three years ago, WEX unveiled an initiative that would change corporate culture as WEXers knew it. Inspired by TED Talks and the company’s signature color, RED Teams were introduced with the goal of solving immediate business challenges.

The concept allows WEX to bring together cross-functional teams of individuals to tackle specific areas of focus. Team members work on the problem for a specified period of time, make recommendations, and then hand off their work to the appropriate group at WEX. The diverse structure of RED Teams ensures insights from across geographies and lines of business are represented and heard. Since their inception, RED Teams have left their mark on the way we tackle business challenges and the method used for recommending solutions, and they’re just getting started.

Structure of a RED Team

RED Teams are formed on a voluntary basis whenever a need is identified. For the past couple of years, WEX has used its Leadership Summit to kick off specific efforts. The teams – which are limited in number each year – have garnered huge interest, with many hands shooting up to volunteer time and resources in order to play a part. Each team elects a leader or co-leaders to drive the process and is assigned an executive sponsor who helps guide, advise, and assist them. Alison Soine-Norris, Director of Global Learning and Organizational Development at WEX, supports the teams from a process perspective, helping them frame and scope their problem and solutions. Because team members are concurrently performing their day jobs, the extra support is imperative to their success.

During the process, members meet in person when possible and hold virtual meetings when not. They are also encouraged to reach out to all levels of the organization for input, particularly if they know someone who may have insights into their topic. Once a team feels it has reached an adequate solution, final recommendations are made to WEX President and CEO Melissa Smith and the rest of the executive leadership team.

Integral to Corporate Culture

Jenifer Rinehart, SVP of Human Resources at WEX, says RED Teams are important to the corporate culture of WEX in three ways. “Primarily, they help WEX connect people. As an acquisitive company with multiple locations, it can be difficult to get to know those who are new, remote, or whose business doesn’t necessarily touch your business. RED Teams are a way for us to continue to weave together our locations that are geographically dispersed and our employees that are disparately located.

Secondly, the teams provide an opportunity for WEX to leverage our talent across the organization to help us solve problems. Employees are able to have a direct impact. At large companies, it is difficult for people to have a say in the direction of the organization, how they reward talent, and how they do things like make quick and efficient decisions. RED Teams grant WEX employees the power to continually shape the organization they work for. Lastly, RED Teams bring the benefit of different cross-functional, cross-level, and cross-geographical thinking and experiences. This allows individuals with unique perspectives to really help tackle some of the challenges WEX is facing and to leave their legacy and fingerprint on the organization.”

Current Status

Here is what’s happening with the current iteration of RED Teams – three active teams that came about following the 2015 Leadership Summit:

• Rewards and Recognition – this team worked to gather employee input and recommend areas of focus for WEX rewards and recognition programs for 2017 and beyond.
• Decision Making Within the Organization – this team has identified a decision making model (RAPID®) for implementation at WEX. Once finalized, training on how to use the model will be rolled out across the organization.
• Employer of Choice – this team is currently evaluating options for obtaining Employer of Choice recognition, and how the company might go about identifying what employees really value about working at WEX, as well as opportunities to make WEX an even better place to work. Recommendations are expected to be completed in the third quarter, and that work stream will then be handed off to Human Resources for execution.