LD Staff Writer
Starting a job means plenty of newness. New desk, new computer, new coworkers, new parking lot, new programs to learn, new, new, and more new! The first stretch of time means lots of observation, training, and questions before jumping right into the job.
I have been at LongerDays for more than a month now, and I’ve learned an awful lot about the work and culture around here. Want a taste of the world of LongerDays?
Here are the top ten things I learned during my first month:
- Slack is our main form of communication
Slack is the AIM for work. I can have an icon (currently a dog), a status, and I can reach others at LongerDays (and other businesses we work with, depending on the “team”).
Here are three of my favorite features of Slack:
- I can set a reminder by messaging Slackbot. I simply type /remind and “call Joe at 1:30 pm,” or I can set a reminder the same way for a coworker – and Slackbot will make sure to remind that person for me!
- I have different channels (or group messages, threads, whatever you want to call them). We have social-type channels like our Secret Santa channel or the Ladies of LongerDays. Otherwise Slack is used for connecting with our clients and with each other in the general LongerDays channel and private messages to one another.
- You can send gifs… Not like that’s a rarity in this day and age, but I love it is an option on my work messaging system! And that brings us to the next observation…
2. Gifs are important!
During my first day, Mikey set me up with Slack on my computer. He then opened up a direct message to himself and typed, “/giphy cat.” He then said, “You need to know how to send a gif. It’s important.” He may have laughed at this – but honestly, it’s true.
Everyone uses gifs, memes, and emojis to communicate. It makes the office more casual, comfortable, and lightens up the mood. Nowadays, we use the online typing world for a lot of our communication, and sometimes it is hard to tell the tone of a message – but if you add a gif or smiley face, it assures the reader how you want your message to be interpreted.
Imagine how many fights and wars emojis have prevented!
3. LongerDays makes very strong coffee
Either enjoy it, bring your own, brew your own, or use cream and sugar… There is a whole coffee and tea station for anyone to use. On the days I really need a yummy coffee drink, I can go downstairs to Drip, Drop, Drink and order a chai latte, mint chocolate mocha, or whatever will make my day!
There are some great food perks to this job too! We have Rebel Pies pizza for Friday lunch. We have made breakfast sandwiches and pancakes on some random mornings. And yes, we still have that huge coffee and tea station… A must for our office dynamic.
4. If you have any issues, personal or business, feel free to talk with the “adults” about it…
One of my favorite times of the week are our Friday meetings. The philosophy at LongerDays is open minded and honest. Everyone seems to be understanding that life happens… If you need to talk about it, the “adults” are here to help!
Who are the adults? They are management, and they usually act as the office mom and dad. I love the atmosphere of open communication. I don’t have any issues yet, but it’s nice to know if something happens, there are understanding people here who care. That’s huge for any place of employment.
5. Take your breaks!
It can be a stressful job, but we are all encouraged to take advantage of a 1-hour lunch break and two 10-minute breaks during the day. Walk around, go downstairs, talk to the staff downstairs, etc. One day during my lunch break, I took a walk around downtown Muskegon and ended up at the Hackley Public Library!
I have lived in Muskegon for 3 years now, and I’d never been there! Since LongerDays is located just a couple blocks from the Library, it was my time to check it out. When I came back, I felt refreshed and motivated since I completed something from my Muskegon bucket List.
If I could tick off something on that list, I could get anything done – well, at least at work! Take a break RIGHT NOW and check out these cute dogs!
6. Track all of your time
We bill our clients based on time. Each client has a monthly plan of hours. It is important to know how much time we are spending on their tasks so they have the correct monthly plan. Are you learning a new task? Time it! Are you talking with the Team Lead about the task? Time it! Are you doing a 2-minute Facebook posting task? TIME IT! Time is important for us and our clients… It is the commodity we sell.
7. Take pride in your work
We are all working together for many clients and various projects. The work we do reflects us, so why not make what we do as perfect as possible? This is our business, and it is up to each of us to make it remarkable. The staff here at LongerDays sets the bar high. We have a good time, but we care about what we do for our clients. Taking pride is the first step toward the highest quality work.
8. Weekly meetings are important for catching up with the rest of the team.
These meetings are a great time to bring up issues or publicly thank a team member for their work – and we always have some beer and hard cider on hand from Unruly Brewing! We normally spend the week at our desks with our headphones on. If we talk, it is typically through Slack.
There are two sides in the LongerDays office. I am on the dark side (it is away from the windows and is dark), and there is also the light side (it is by the windows). There is a wall that separates the two sides. I rarely see the people on the light side unless I go over there to talk to someone face to face, to get a paper from the printer, or to change the batteries in my wireless mouse. This means that when the Friday meeting rolls around, it’s one of the first times I’ve talked face to face with a coworker that week.
During these meetings, we sit in a circle and discuss the good and the bad of the previous few days. A different team member leads the meeting each week. It is an open meeting environment where everyone is welcome to talk, but we also do not to talk over each other – the “meeting czar” makes sure of that… It is a business meeting, but definitely casual.
9. If you have a suggestion to make something better, don’t be afraid to speak up!
As a new employee, this is something I am always hesitant about. I never want to come into a job acting like I know better than veteran staff. I never recommend coming into a job as a know-it-all!
My coworkers, however, ask me to speak up about their task processes or as a fresh eye on a new task… When I’ve been given a task to take over, they have encouraged me to let them know if I see a way to make things easier, if their instructions are less than ideal, and so on. I think this is one of the most important qualities for a business to have… Especially a startup.
The “adults” once had a discussion with us that they want to hear our ideas – because chances are, new ideas are better than what we are doing already… Why not try them out?! Worst case scenario, they don’t like the new idea, or we try it and it doesn’t work.
There is always room to improve!
That’s it for the first month at LongerDays! This job is one of serious learning – and by the looks of it, I have learned a lot so far! Let’s see what the next couple of months bring!
Want to learn more?
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