The Cutest Pet Contest
How one contest improved department morale and raised money for pet charities
For a number of years, I worked in the fraud department of a large retailer. Taking phone calls from the public can be quite taxing — especially if their credit card has been compromised. People tend to yell when that happens and who can blame them.
Fraud calls increase after the holidays as people get their credit card statements and realize their card has been compromised. When that happens, we’d get a ton of calls. It was around this time of year that I figured we needed an attitude adjustment and had an idea. If I was successful, I knew we’d increase morale and raise some money for a few worthy causes.
I put together a proposal for a Cutest Pet Contest (CPC). I proposed that employees would enter photos of their pets and we’d vote for the cutest one at a penny a vote. Who doesn’t like showing people cute photos of their pets? Once the votes were counted, we’d donate the money to one or two pet charities.
The managers approved the contest. It was important that it didn’t interfere with the productivity of the department. Since we worked in a call center, people needed to remain available to take incoming calls. That meant any new entries had to be made on breaks or in between shifts. For the most…
