On the Job
I’ve completed three weeks at my new job and thought I’d make a bit of an assessment of the experience so far. (Actually, Mom wanted to know, and specific questions she had led me to the idea that this might be interesting.) First, the work here is very much the same as what I’ve been doing for the last 15 years, but I do and have been facing increasing levels of “professionalism” in the conduct of selecting, installing, and supporting a Human Resources Information System. This has required me to learn new business techniques – negotiations with IT and Finance, project planning, process mapping – and new business philosophies – Human Resources vs. Personnel, Enterprise Resource Planning vs. “my, what a big database you have,” etc. This has been accomplished by changing jobs. When I left the law firm and re-entered a corporate environment, I entered a realm where I was accountable to vast numbers of people – executives, staff, and shareholders - and where what I did was fully visible to the organization for its effect on the bottom line but recognized as well for its contribution to the effective operation of the company overall, instead of an office where nobody knew what I did but since they were fully devoted to achieving partnership status and thereafter to grinding every speck of money they could out of the firm’s income it had to be costing them a sailboat. We used project plans and we wrote technical specifications and we talked about process change. Then I came to Australia and the company formerly known as Chubb (o.k., yes, they still are, but now they’re just a subsidiary of UTC), and the game was at a whole new level, with flow charts and interactive learning tools and consultants and much, much more. And now I’m with the Catholics in the closer reaches of Sydney’s outer west, and the game is being played at a new level, both higher and lower at the same time. In some respects, it’s like going back to the law firm, in others it’s more like my days at Scholastic, although I’m expected to bring what I learned from playing with the big boys at Chubb to the project here. Finally, in a little added twist, it is a religious-based organization, much as my very first job was, at the American Bible Society. (I used to joke that I’d started in publishing, moved to IT, then to HR, and then combined my experience, but that was when I thought I’d be at Scholastic for years to come. Nevertheless, the joke still works – I started with the Bible, then IT, HR, IT & HR, and now IT, HR, & Jesus.) What’s the real difference between the Catholic Education Office and previous jobs (including the Bible Society)? First, there are prayers. Not all the time, mind you, but there weren’t any at the Bible Society (too sectarian) and everybody else was, well, non-denominational. When we have a meeting, there is always a prayer to lead off, and it is always antiphonal. Sometimes there’s a hymn, too, although the last one turned out to also be the recent Rugby Union World Cup theme song, too, which caused a bit of tittering among the footie fans. This is quite a change for me, as it’s been some time since I was a participatory Catholic. There’s good-natured joking about it sometimes, and I’m not the only one more roaming than Roman, so it doesn’t cause any particular stress. There is also a chapel and a brief service on Thursday mornings for those who would like to attend. I’ve seen the chapel but not the services; there’s a big evening Mass in March out in Blacktown to welcome all the new staff in the office and the schools, and I’m expected to attend, and that will be sufficient, I think. There are also small displays at all the entrances: an illustrated bible or (when I was interviewed) an Advent wreath, and there are portraits of the Madonna and Child everywhere you look, not to mention the crucifixes, luckily not of the extreme gore variety. An interesting factor particularly present in my interactions from within the Human Resources department is the focus on “pastoral care.” Because much of the office staff come from within the schools or are otherwise affiliated with the Church as a community of believers, there is a significant focus on making work here part of one’s spiritual life, that your faith as a Catholic should be enhanced. An example of this is the elimination of the standard 3-month probation period. Most companies give themselves this escape clause, although it’s probably unnecessary in some measure, so that a hiring decision can be unmade before it costs too much (agency placements generally have to complete 90 days before the fee is payable). Not here, because it would go against the office’s pastoral commitment to its employees. I think they’re being silly about this, especially since nearly all the staff are employed under a contract anyway, which doesn’t seem particularly expressive of the pastoral duty, does it? Never mind, these things don’t bother me or change what I’m here to do particularly. Besides, I like very much being able to use Bible verses and lessons from the catechism in conversation and have people around who get the joke. It’s not every day you work in a place where you can refer to cakes and snacks brought into the office as an “occasion of sin” and get a laugh instead of a blank look.