(no subject)
A year ago, I sat in our windowless office, freaking out about moving and leases and how unspeakably cold my apartment was. In fact, it was so unpleasant that I would look forward to going to the awful office, because it was cosy and I had peace and quiet and fast internet. And I was there 7 days a week, virtually the entire day.
This year I'm actually cozied up in our beautiful FiDi office ringed in windows, jazzy holiday tunes playing through nice speakers off our admittedly old iPad. There are 4x more employees that work in this office and they have (with almost no help from me) decorated it with lights, garlands, trees, ornaments, bows, stockings, and paper snowflakes. Until yesterday, a mountain of gifts was piled under the living room tree for our inaugural secret santa. We projected an incredibly realistic fireplace into a nook and the ambiance was festive and warm. Our office is strewn with elf hats and ping-pong balls, reindeer antler headbands and tins full of cookies we baked for our clients. Our coworkers bring their families in, show photos of their new apartments, ring our giant gong. And I have an electric blanket, friends with snuggly cats, and the only thing better than having crappy internet is sharing your crappy internet with truly wonderful neighbours.
Last year, I was buckling under all the operational weight of the company (that the CEO wasn't hefting himself), but this year I have a mentor, a peer, and three employees I supervise - managing three different offices, one international. My team has 10 university degrees. I am deep in 8 important HR projects (which honestly, is too much: handbook development, anti-harassment, engagement, immigration, performance management, burnout, product development compliance, and referral hiring) for our company, on top of management of my reports and higher level operations (managing the IT contractors and real estate).
Last winter I was down, and lonely. This winter has been peppered with travel with old friends and new teammates. My year was full of new friends who now feel like old friends, people who opened their hearts up with me and pulled me into their lives and took care of me as much as let me took care of them. I did yoga in Bali and curled at the oldest club in Toronto and shared the incredible view high above Stinson Beach.
So it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm ending this year tired, deeply happy, and accomplished.
This year I'm actually cozied up in our beautiful FiDi office ringed in windows, jazzy holiday tunes playing through nice speakers off our admittedly old iPad. There are 4x more employees that work in this office and they have (with almost no help from me) decorated it with lights, garlands, trees, ornaments, bows, stockings, and paper snowflakes. Until yesterday, a mountain of gifts was piled under the living room tree for our inaugural secret santa. We projected an incredibly realistic fireplace into a nook and the ambiance was festive and warm. Our office is strewn with elf hats and ping-pong balls, reindeer antler headbands and tins full of cookies we baked for our clients. Our coworkers bring their families in, show photos of their new apartments, ring our giant gong. And I have an electric blanket, friends with snuggly cats, and the only thing better than having crappy internet is sharing your crappy internet with truly wonderful neighbours.
Last year, I was buckling under all the operational weight of the company (that the CEO wasn't hefting himself), but this year I have a mentor, a peer, and three employees I supervise - managing three different offices, one international. My team has 10 university degrees. I am deep in 8 important HR projects (which honestly, is too much: handbook development, anti-harassment, engagement, immigration, performance management, burnout, product development compliance, and referral hiring) for our company, on top of management of my reports and higher level operations (managing the IT contractors and real estate).
Last winter I was down, and lonely. This winter has been peppered with travel with old friends and new teammates. My year was full of new friends who now feel like old friends, people who opened their hearts up with me and pulled me into their lives and took care of me as much as let me took care of them. I did yoga in Bali and curled at the oldest club in Toronto and shared the incredible view high above Stinson Beach.
So it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm ending this year tired, deeply happy, and accomplished.