The day I start my new job at GroupOn it surprises me at how organized and thought out the training is. I walk in the front door and I’m greeted by Kal, the COO of the company. He welcomes me to the company and brings me upstairs to HR, I had interviewed with him last so I wasn’t sure if he was my boss or not. I ask him that and he smiles, “Pretty much I’m most everyone’s boss but no your direct supervisor is Rich but he’s out today on a family emergency so he asked me to make sure you got settled.”
“Me too, he said he’d be in tomorrow if all goes well so today you’ll spend a good chunk of your day with HR but before that I’d like to show you to your office so you can get a sense of belonging. Your office is on the 6th floor, you’ll soon figure out there is a method to our madness here in our circular building.”
“Do we have different departments on different floors?”
“OH no that would make sense. I’m gonna give you a quiz on Friday to see if you’ve figured it out or not. Its just one of those silly things we do.” Kal laughed and then pushed the button for the elevator. “By the way you look really great today but just so you know we don’t have a dress code. Its come as you are except like swim suits and pj’s. Jeans up to business attire are all acceptable.”
“Do we want leadership to blend in or stand out?” I ask him.
“You know there’s not a set plan. Normally I dress my best on Wed and Thursday. Monday’s are hard to deal with so they are normally jeans days. But because I knew I was meeting you today I decided to forgo the jeans.”
“Ah thanks Kal but I like jeans. Don’t know if I’ll feel comfortable wearing them for while at work.”
“Not a problem just want you to know people here are a little more casual. We expect our employees to have infinite inspiration and feel that putting them in cages on what to wear and what to think inhibits that.”
“One of the reasons I chose this company to apply to. I like the freedom and a strong focus on people.”
“Well here you’ll find that we believe that everyone comes to us with great ideas and an ability to contribute. If they don’t show us that in a strong way they aren’t here long. We have fun, we enjoy what we do and we want everyone to be on board.” Kal smiles and walks me up to my office, which is nothing more than an enlarged cubicle with a retractable door. My Cube-Office I find it cool and Kal apologizes that its not bigger.
“Kal no worries, honestly as long as I can get work done I’m ok.”
“Good,” He smiled and motioned me to be able to put my things down just as a secretary pops her head around the corner, “Hello Serena, I’m Michelle, welcome to the company and these just arrived for you.” She hands me a huge bouquet of wild flowers. Taking them from her I smile and put them down. Grabbing the card I smile even bigger.
Serena,
Wish I could be there to give you a big hug and kiss on your 1st day.
Enjoy and knock their socks off :)
Yours,
Jon
“Boyfriend?” Kal asks knowing from earlier conversations I’m not married.
“Well, not quite. Someone that’s auditioning for the roll.” He smiled and we both walked out of my office/cubicle. I had set down my coffee cup and stored my purse in the drawer. Walking with Kal I look around to take in how people are dressed, how relaxed or strict the environment is, what people have on their desks to decorate to see if I can find the norm.
“Here we are, I’m going to leave you in Cheryl’s capable hands. Jason and I would like you to join us for lunch today so we can get to know you better. Sound good to you?” Kal asked.
“Sure what time are you thinking?”
“We’ll free you from paperwork around 1230. Have fun and again Welcome to GroupON.”
I smile at him and go with Cheryl to get an ID and start on the 20 different forms I need to work on.
I know that Jason is Kal’s boss so around 1215 I ask Cheryl if I can run back to my office and get my purse before Kal comes back. She’s shocked she kept me so long and tells me that’s not an issue.
What I had been doing all morning is valuable but not the most interesting. New hire paperwork and reading of policies. Shockingly I find my cube and grab my purse. Inside I grab my phone and text Jon.
**Thx for the flowers sweetie, they really brightened my day. Going to lunch with bosses will talk with you after work. - Yours, Serena**
I then shut my phone off and put it in my purse.
Lunch with Kal and Jason goes so well. We talk about my past jobs, my skill sets and even my weaknesses.. I enjoy the dialog because they dig in to the skills I posses and ask me which ones I want to keep using and which ones I don’t enjoy. Its like they are truly trying to make the job as engaging to me as they can. Time will tell.
Back at the office, Kal tells me that the IT people should be to my office in about 20 minutes so if I’d like to just stay there and look through the GroupON processes manual. HR has already told me that because I’m salary there’s no time keeping I need to do just work an honest week. Kal and Jason told me that while I can work from home whenever I want they just want to know when I’m doing it so when I get my email set up they’d like me to share my calendar with them and when I’m working at home to put WAH on my calendar and we’d be fine. I ask them if they’d have a problem of me doing a half/half day from home to the office. I found that to be very beneficial in my last job. Still getting things done but also being able to be face to face in meetings.
“We have no issue with it, honestly you come and go as needed thats why we hired a professional. That’s also why we want to see your calendar and Rich will too we will give you access to ours as well so you can see when we are in the offices. It makes life easier.”
“So I’m assuming I’ll have a VPN or a work laptop?”
“Both actually the techs today will give you everything including your cell phone.”
“Ok perfect then thanks for lunch.”
“No problem, if we don’t see you this afternoon then have a great night and I’ll let you know if Rich is going to be in tomorrow or not.” Kal smiled.
I smile at both of them and go about my day. I spend the afternoon with IT getting all my accounts and access setup, having them walk me through some of the systems we use and the apps used on the phone. By the end of the day I decide to leave my computer and flowers in my office and head to the train. Getting into my condo I change into a pair of shorts and tank top grabbing my ipod I immediately go back downstairs to go for a run. After running a mile from my house I turn and run the mile back and then shower and change before making dinner.
*hey beautiful are you back from work yet?*
Good first day. Bring on the date.
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