Every year, in late December, YNAB’s operations come to a near-halt as many of us gather with friends and loved ones to celebrate and relax. It’s one of the many, well-appreciated benefits of working for a company that understands work-life balance.

Now, I say “near-halt” because there’s one aspect of the business that we just can’t close down, entirely—customer Support. We simply can’t bear the thought of leaving a YNABer hanging when a budgeting or software question pops up.

So, how do we deliver customer support and give our highly-deserving support representatives a winter break, too? Enter “Support Day,” a YNAB tradition in which every member of Team YNAB participates for one day during the break—jumping in to the support queue to answer customer questions and resolve issues.

It sounds a little crazy, but we’ve come to really enjoy our annual Support Day tradition, and not just because it gives our support team a break. For starters, it’s a strong reinforcement that we’re all on the same team, working towards the same goal. As Michele, a support representative, pointed out, “As a member of the customer support team, it’s a huge morale boost to know that our entire company values customer support enough to all spend some time helping.”

Support Day is also an awesome opportunity for every employee at YNAB to see, first-hand, the issues and questions that come in from YNABers. Kyle, a developer, said, “2017 was my fourth year doing Support Day, and it was easily the most difficult year for me. I found myself constantly second guessing my responses—even diving into the code and my own test budgets to double check what I thought was true.”

And, it’s that time in the support queue that helps every member of Team YNAB expand their awareness, which helps influence how we perform our assigned roles. Everyone gets a first-hand glimpse into what matters most to YNABers—what you love about YNAB and, more importantly, what you’d like to see change. There’s nothing quite like working directly with YNABers to inspire new ideas and projects for the new year!

But the coolest part of Support Day, by far, is simply the chance to meet YNABers. Dylan, a UI/UX designer, summed it up best, “It’s a great feeling when a customer is enthusiastic about your reply, and you get to work through their issue as a employee/customer team.”

So, if you find yourself in need of help between now and January, give us a holler. We’ll respond as quickly as possible and, who knows? You just might get a response from Jesse, himself!

Happy holidays!

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