Hear Her Story: Q&A with Retta Murphy, Manager of Customer Service at Gildan

Retta shares how her love of serving others has helped her find her fit in customer service. Here is Retta’s story:

Q: Tell us about your job here at Gildan?

I am the Manager of Customer Service in our Sports Specialty Division, specifically overseeing our GoldToe brand and our licensed brand Under Armour. I am responsible for a team of six customer service representatives and together we do everything that we can to make sure our customers’ needs are met. I’ve been working in this field for 30 years now.

Q: What attracted you to a career in customer service at the beginning of your career?

I think it’s because I love to help people and I have a heart for service, and that aligns very well with serving customers and making sure they are satisfied with the service we are providing them.

Over the span of my career, I’ve been open to change and to try new things. I’ve explored other business ventures and professions, but I always gravitated back to customer service somehow. I think that’s when you know it’s the right fit. I know for a fact that I’ll be in this field until I retire.

Q: What is your management style?

I like coaching people and embracing everyone’s own uniqueness. I love developing my employees and allowing them to grow within Gildan. In some cases, that means allowing them to move on to another department or even to another company but as a manager its rewarding to see them reach their full potential.

Q: What is your strategy for success?

I would say that partnering with people and having champions is definitely a great way to implement changes successfully. When I started my job here, I identified many processes that could be simplified and made cleaner. But the challenge I faced was learning to walk the fine line between optimizing processes without turning people’s world upside down. I wanted to improve the way we did things but at the same time I didn’t want to agitate the people who had been working on this team longer than I had been.

I found that the best way to do that was to find partners that would believe in my mission and champion the ideas that would bring it to life.

 Q: What customer service lessons have helped you be a better manager?

Having to deal with a diverse customer base in my day-to-day job has helped me become a better person and a better leader, that’s for sure!

Click here to read the other stories of the women featured in this series.