Team Spirit – Sandra 31

 

[For back story go here: Story so far at 17 Sept 2020 and more recent Sandra episodes especially this one.]

[Other back story through in-links.]

Sandra was onboarded remotely. This sounded impossible, as if she were being given a place on a virtual cruise, but in reality it meant she was becoming a new member of staff at Epstein's Transport and Logistics without actually setting foot in or anywhere near the company. The process had been interesting, patience sapping and required a near ridiculous amount of online form filling, perhaps more than usual since it was all happening over her computer without anyone else seeing her.

Her successful ‘application' had consisted of video meetings with one, two and then four other people. The questions asked were pretty much the same – why work for us, what happened with your last job, can you use the kitten thing for us? – and her responses, while the same, became increasingly embroidered to deliver more impact and, frankly, to fill more time. By the time she'd finished Sandra had even convinced herself that the ransomware episode was actually a knowing and cunning marketing ploy to shift Together... Apart onto everyone's agenda. That said she didn’t think it would really be a suitable strategy for her new employer, and grudgingly they agreed.

Following the interviews the original head hunter was in touch and, as the time ticked by, he had almost lined her up with another employer. Then the good news came through. More web links followed taking her to an early registration page, an acceptance page, a confirmation page for the recruiter's company and a whole host of employer manual downloads covering everything from how to work safely at home to navigating the office canteen in a Covid friendly way. Although the obviously the canteen was currently closed so she'd not be needing that in a hurry.

Somewhere in the midsts of all the form filling someone – and to her annoyance Sandra wasn't sure who – phoned her directly to welcome her to Epstein's. It was a pleasant, if tricky conversation to have since she wasn't sure whether to be overly formal – if this was the CEO – straightforward and practical – if it was HR – or slightly apologetic and very very interested and enthusiastic – if it was one of her future work colleagues or even the line manager. No amount of site searching would tell her who this was so Sandra was just polite and hoped for the best.

Within the zipped files of her welcome pack came a full explanation of what the business did and how it did it. Sandra whiled away many many hours trying to get her head around this and how it would change as Brexit came in and then she decided she didn’t really need to understand the details and would just tell everyone that it was in hand and would pose no problem for them. And then she thought this was probably what everyone was doing, even the government.

While all this was filtering into her consciousness she had her first team meeting across a video channel. She decided to be upbeat, confident, ready and willing, rather than nervous and terrified which was essentially what she was.

"Hello, team!" she smiled as everyone connected. Someone messaged her "Mic not on" so she hit the button and said again "Hello team!”

There were three people in all. David was her immediate report, Janice and Bill were direct colleagues. Janice was responsible for legal and compliance, while Bill ‘looked after people’, as he put it, HR and employee matters as everyone else clarified. Sandra had responsibility for the overall strategy and anything else that came along.

“It’s great to meet you all,” said Sandra.

“We won’t be here for long,” said Janice.

“Oh,” said Sandra, “Why? - Sorry, are you really busy?”

“No, no, I mean the vaccine,” said Janice. “Get it out there, get everyone back to the office.”

“Well…” said Bill, “Not everyone wants to get back to the office now, do they? I mean some people really like the additional freedom that has come with working from home.”

“Yeah, but you can’t see what they’re doing, can you?” said Janice. “Isn’t that right, David?”

“I – I agree that it’s great we have the vaccine coming,” said David. “As long as it delivers what they say it will deliver.”

“I’m saying it’s a positive thing,” said Janice. “Don’t get me wrong. I just think it’s easier to see that people are doing what they’ve promised to do if you’re in the same office as them, don’t you think so, Bill?”

“Let’s not pursue this just at the moment,” advised David. “This call is really all about Sandra. An opportunity for us to introduce ourselves and for her to get an idea of what we’re like.”

Job done, thought Sandra, as she smiled into her web cam.