John Stix, Amanda Little, Dawn Gamble & Mike Young in uniform

Yes, we have our Super hero kids all over the place. And yes, we’re about to roll out a whole slew of fun stuff with our kids over the next few weeks and months, and they are doing an awesome job representing what we are all about. They’re young, fresh, insurgent and shaking things up in Canadian telecom. However at Worldline, being a hero isn’t a marketing exercise. It’s not about brand. It’s how we go about our business.

The HERO concept for business was first introduced over 10 years ago, and its aim is to engage management to lead their teams with positivity and enhancing everyone’s outlook and performance outcomes. Worldline’s management strive to emphasize strengths, and celebrate success which raises the level of enthusiasm across the board. They encourage their staff in their work by providing them with every opportunity to be successful, and to support them on their path. Researchers call this Psychological Capital (PsyCap) in the workplace. Broken down, it works like this:

• Hope: persevering toward goals and, when necessary, redirecting paths to goals in order to succeed
• Efficacy: Self-Efficacy is having confidence to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks
• Resilience: when beset by problems and adversity, sustaining and bouncing back and even beyond to attain success
• Optimism: making a positive attribution and expectation about succeeding now and in the future

Sticking with an acronym kind of changes the emphasis, as what should really be first is the Efficacy piece. Having our Worldline people know they can go after issues before they become problems allows us to remain a lean, service-oriented company whose focus is on keeping our existing customers happy as possible, and to attract new business by being as awesome as we can. We are constantly improving our processes to maximize the level of service we provide while keeping our prices around the lowest in the country.

Or as we describe it, To deliver happiness and connections everyday by being awesome. It’s all about letting everyone at Worldline be a HERO.

Another bombshell went off in Canadian telecom Thursday morning when it was revealed that at least one Canadian telecom is evidently giving the Canadian government unrestricted access to communications on its network, according to documents from Canada’s privacy commissioner.

The Huffington Post reports that the documents, obtained by University of Ottawa digital law professor Michael Geist, cite an unnamed telecom firm as saying it had allowed the government to essentially copy the communication data moving on its networks.

“Interception of communications over data networks is accomplished by sending what is essentially a mirror image of the packet data as it transits the network of data nodes,” the privacy commissioner’s document states.

“This packet data is then sent directly to the agency who has obtained lawful access to the information. Deep packet inspection is then performed by the law enforcement agency for their purposes.”

“Deep packet inspection” is a method of analyzing internet traffic to determine the exact type of content. It can distinguish between emails, file-sharing and other types of internet communication, and can be used to build statistics about an internet user.

The statement appears in a document prepared by law firm Gowling Lafleur Henderson for the privacy commissioner. It summarizes nine telecom firms’ responses to questions about law enforcement access posed by the commissioner.

Geist called it “an incredible admission” in a blog post published Thursday.

“Are there legal grounds for these disclosures? Who is doing this?” Geist asked. “Given the uncertainty and the enormous privacy implications, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is surely entitled to investigate this admission using her current powers….”

In documents released Tuesday, interim federal privacy commissioner Chantal Bernier revealed that the government made about 1.2 million requests for subscriber data from Canadian telecoms in 2011. Geist calculates that works out to one request every 27 seconds. Telecom firms complied with the requests at least 784,000 times, the privacy commissioner’s report showed.

So – what does Worldline do? Not that.

I asked our CTO Francisco Dominguez earlier this year to spell out in the simplest terms what we do and don’t do when it comes to our customers data and information. It turns out, we don’t do much, and when we do disclose any information it’s under very specific circumstances with very strict guidelines:

Francisco says for telephone numbers, if a law enforcement agency (LEA) requests information and indicates it’s an imminent threat to life  we collect the law enforcement agency contact  details (badge/name/dept/LEA name/contact number) and confirm the LEA through a call back mechanism, then we provide address details for the subscriber limited to:

 First-name Last-name, address, city, postal code, alternate phone numbers

If a law enforcement agency requests information and does not indicate an imminent threat to life we require a warrant.

Once a warrant is received we provide the details outlined in the warrant only.

So, for the record, that’s our disclosure policy. Contact information only, and only when it’s a matter of life or death, or if we are presented with a warrant.

Worldline is a weird company. Where other telecoms in Canada blackmail their customers into keeping from switching services by tying them down with restrictive, onerous, confusing and automatically renewing contracts, we don’t.

We’re different.

Worldline has no mandatory contracts. That means the only reason our customers stay with us is the service we deliver. They are free to leave us at anytime, but they don’t because, first and foremost, we provide them top quality Unlimited High Speed Internet and Home Phone service in the most cost-effective fashion possible. But

it’s also about our extraordinary customer service when those rare technical issues pop up. Below is a letter sent into our President and CEO Jody Schnarr this week and it sums up what we’re all about very, very well.

Good afternoon, Mr. Schnarr

We have recently signed on to Worldline for our home phone and internet needs. Your exceptional offers, rebates, everyday pricing, consistent speeds and call quality made it difficult NOT to join the Worldline family. But, I have to say none more so than 2 days ago.

An accident in our home physically destroyed our jack for phone and internet. Without service on either line, I drove to your Head office on Boxwood Drive to find out where you or your contracted employees purchase these jacks to replace ours. Your receptionist was more than willing to help, taking what I had brought to the “back”. An older man, grey haired with a goatee and glasses, warmly shook my hand and said jokingly “Well there’s your problem?” As we laughed, he took me to his car and proceeded to hand me a filter and wall jack as he did not recognize the one that was previously installed by the bell tech. I thanked him and proceeded to pull out my wallet to pay. “No charge” he replied. I was shocked….so I asked him again….he said “it’s called customer service.”

Mr. Schnarr, those are words that have been lost in today’s business models everywhere you turn. You have chosen to enter into, what I consider, one of the most cutthroat and backstabbing industries out there. You should be very proud of what you have accomplished, and the people who helped get you there. Many people, including myself, who experience instances like this will guarantee you continued success. Thank you for putting the customer first…..

Best wishes,

Darcy

One very satisfied customer

P.S. If you can track down the tech who helped me, with my vague description, thank him again.

That “tech” is our own David Majury. Dave has been in the telecom industry for decades and he is our Level 3 Support Team Leader. Worldline was lucky enough to drag him out of retirement, (Can you say “beer money?”) and help us out with our tech support. All of our people have benefited from not only his expertise but his absolute dedication to keeping our customers as happy as possible.

Darcy is just one example.