Its been almost a year now since I have joined my current job and moved to Simla. 7th of October to be exact. At the end of the year, I can say that it has been a bittersweet experience. Its been a very busy, exciting and happening year.Not to mention the fact that I get to stay in Simla and move around Himachal Pradesh. Thats what made me take the job in the first place. It may not seem appropriate to put all that is going to follow into a blog post publicly available, but I feel I am doing nothing wrong by recording my experiences and personal... mind you extremely personal opinions here.
While I will try to stay away from commenting or criticizing any person here, I am pretty much sure that a reference here and there will invariably creep in.
It has been a good time so far. I would first of all like to go over all the good things that I experienced for the first time as an employee. Not to mention the fact that my previous employer had no consideration whatsoever which makes my current job seem like a dream. So, people who have seen better... shut up!
The working atmosphere here has been terrific. Except for the past few weeks, there hasnt been a single day when I have wanted to take a day off. Everyday was a new challenge, a new task, something more to learn, some more mistakes waiting to be made. Never have I worked for an organisation so supportive of whatever its staff does, whether right or wrong. In the past one year, I have taken a total of 15 days off.
Sure we have worked on sundays, spent holidays and second saturdays in the field working, making presentations etc, but never did we even feel like we missed on anything. In fact in the initial days when I had just moved to Simla, I don't think I have ever stepped out of the office before 8 pm and we would usually be in office by 9 am.
The excitement of starting a new venture, a new office, everything from scratch was awesome.
A wonderful set colleagues, although till february, there were just the three of us working our butts off. The present team of six professionals has only been recently completed. The best aspect about the team is that each of us has essentially had education in the field of environment, but each one has his or her own skills developed over a period ranging from 6 months to 5 years. We all bring our own flavour to the project. As a result of this diverse gang, there is practically no aspect of the project that this team is not equipped to handle. Be it designing carbon footprint formats, toolkits and resource materials to preparing presentations, succinct reports and analysis of data.
Another positive attribute would be the way the organisation treats its employees. When i first attended the interview, I was just looking for a way to get out of GRC, my previous employer. Since the job market was kinda slow, I decided even an NGO would do, as long it was an honest job. I expected to be paid something very nominal, but was completely taken by surprise by the package i was offered. Next thing I realized was that the organisation takes care of its own. The structure for reimbursement of field expenses is very generous. Its been three months since the funding has been held up, but not once has the organisation allowed any field employees to feel the pinch. Sure the salaries got delayed, but today I am as sure as hell that my salary will be paid.
We are allowed to make as many mistakes as we want as long as we learn from them. On the day of the interview, my president had said to me, go out there, make mistakes, burn yourself, get down and dirty. And I appreciate him for his support. Our SBU head has been instrumental in building this team. She may be very short tempered, given to demanding immediate results and ocassionally using language that would make a sailor blush, and that too in very loud volumes, still she is as protective of her team as a scorpion protecting her young, I dont think she would allow any other manager or SBU head to roger her team. Its her right to roger us, noone else :D
Plenty more to add, like the policy of sticking to honesty, no matter what, the flawless tarnsparency with which this organisation works, hell, when a senior comments on my performance during a review, i get to reply and refute the comments, now that is transparency! No matter what happens, always report the truth - that I love!
But like all coins the organisation has a dark side too. Maybe calling it dark side is over doing it, but I am at a loss of a better suited word at this time. The negative aspects I will not be putting in this post. i have been always called a cynic, skeptic and a pessimist. Let me for once focus only on the positive side. Besides, there arent many negative aspects to write. Why not just forget about them.
I am glad I decide to join up. Its been the most educational time.
Comments