Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • March 2021
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Chime Solutions

By: Shai Bernstein, William R. Kerr, Christopher Stanton and Mel Martin
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:23
ShareBar

Abstract

Just two years after launching their 10k by 2020 initiative to hire 10,000 employees by 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Chief Executive Officer Mark Wilson to send nearly all of his staff at Chime Solutions (Chime) to work from home. Chime was a customer contact firm that offered call center services to corporate clients. Chime’s had an employee-focused model where it hired call center agents from underserved communities. It then offered skill building and life services to these agents, which lead to industry-leading employee-retention rates and an overall more committed and expert staff. After agents were deployed to work from home, however, it struggled to maintain its current operating model, causing increased attrition rates. It also had amassed a large amount of debt from maintaining its facilities in Morrow, Georgia, Dallas, Texas, and Charlotte, North Carolina. At the same time, the company was growing at a record pace, but needed to address their talent and debt challenges before realizing their dream of uncovering hidden talent in underserved communities.

Keywords

Finance; Working Capital; Operations; Recruitment; Performance; Change Management; Retention; Financial Institutions; Employee Relationship Management; Talent and Talent Management; Growth Management; Communications Industry; Service Industry; United States

Citation

Bernstein, Shai, William R. Kerr, Christopher Stanton, and Mel Martin. "Chime Solutions." Harvard Business School Case 821-105, March 2021.
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Authors

Shai Benjamin Bernstein

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

William R. Kerr

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

Christopher T. Stanton

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

Related Work

    • May 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Chime Solutions

    By: Shai Bernstein, William R. Kerr, Jim Matheson, Christopher Stanton and Ria Mazumdar
Related Work
  • Chime Solutions By: Shai Bernstein, William R. Kerr, Jim Matheson, Christopher Stanton and Ria Mazumdar
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College