The Work Place Community

I have to revert back to Will's last posting on the importance of communities. As I prepare for my flight to Minneapolis tomorrow, I'm thinking about the meetings that I have to attend to for the next four days. I will be traveling with one of my co-workers from the Chicago land area. Our boss is counting on us to get a lot of information from these meetings. From a work stand point, I have a responsibility to my company to go. I won't bore you with the details and it's confidential anyways. While I'm there, I will be introduced to about twenty five people for the first time. We will break off into groups and get to know each other and brainstorm ideas. I call it the "Ra Ra" meetings. There will be plenty of time to socialize with these people after the meetings are over with. It's better than sitting in a hotel room.

My work place provides many different opportunities to enhance my professional career. Team building is highly encouraged at my company. They stress the importance of cross training. I am a big proponent of this. It's the best solution to cover all the bases. Internally, it's easy to transfer to another department unlike other companies I've worked for. There are some days that I think about doing that. I tend to get bored with my work but I know that I have options. Every month, we have an employee recognition program. It encourages employees to vote for one another for outstanding achievements. My benefits and pension plan are excellent. You start out with three weeks vacation along with an ample amount of holidays. This is typical of European companies.

Personally, I enjoy my work community because I get to meet a lot of different people. It's a Swiss-owned company that employs over 10,000 workers from every continent. We constantly have new visitors every month. If you're lucky, you might find another employee to mentor you. I work with a lot of middle-aged people that like to give advice. No matter what level you're at, everyone has a voice. Management normally listens and responds right away to a crisis. Every month we recognize employee birthdays. We just had our "October Fest" on Friday. The company brings in food and the employees contribute food too. People cannot resist food!!

I can honestly say that I have enjoyed the people more than the job itself. After all, I probably spend more time with my co-workers than my own family at home. So traveling to Minnesota is just like another day at my Illinois office. Now, I just hope the hotel room lives up to my expectations. My company takes good care of me.

P.S.....If anyone watches the NBC show, "The Office", I can totally relate to many of the characters on that show. It cracks me up!!!!