The people in our office in Port Moresby look a little ragtag compared to Australia, second hand clothes and often thongs because that’s all they can afford. They don’t always smell nice, because they don’t have water on in the settlements where they live and can’t shower. But a very cooperative attitude among them. And most of them are graduates.

We had some work experience people in the office for a few months, fresh out of Uni. They were very well supported by the other staff, and they were paid – by the other staff. Every payday everyone chipped in for ‘bus fares’. It was perhaps the most uplifting experience I’ve had here – these staff, who hardly had anything, were forking out what was significant money to them to support the work experience people.

Everyone was heartbroken when they left; they’d found a new family, a new tribe. There were tears all round. I hope they have good jobs now.

I liked this post a lot, you should publish a book one day.

Having read that, I looked back at the last couple of years which I spent working in different offices of the same company. To this day it strikes me how much the employees’ engagement varies in these different offices even though on the surface the corporate culture is the same in all of them. For sure, the company has always spent substantial amounts on entertainment and yet this generosity has failed to generate any gratefulness from its emploees in certain locations.
As banal as it may sound, the sole factor that seems to distinguish the high-emloyee-engagement-offices from the low engagement ones is the sense of responsibility that each employee has for the performance of the whole office.
I recall a situation from one very productive office where 2 girls literally screamed at their colleague to stop chatting to friends on facebook during working hours because his laziness might prevent the office from hitting its targets which could result in all employees not being sent to a training… And all these people were good friends after work!

So long story short, it’s absolutely true that good atmospheare at work makes us all want to go there and do our best. But when we additionally see how OUR performance affects the overall standing of the company and what we get back as a result, then the whole company is bound to excel!!!

Thanks for sharing this very personal story.

As in all things recruitment, it is so easy for the ‘personal’ experience of the candidate/employee to be lost. Companies talk about having a streamlined recruitment process, technology vendors talk about making sure that the workflow is managed effectively and and agencies and job boards alike talk about their massive candidate reach or databases.

But as a candidate (and employee) though, I do not want to be in a ‘process’ or managed through a workflow or be part of the great unknown in a giant database. I want to be treated with respect, kept informed of my ‘status’ in the ‘process’ and actually treated like a member of the human race.

I wish “M” all the best of luck in her career. And, as bad as her ‘real’ job experience has been, I have high hopes for her as both and employee and eventually as an employer in the future.