Working in a Human-Centric Environment

On June 7th in 2021, I began a ten-week journey with a company called Ultimate Kronos Group, or UKG. The position I held at this company was data steward, and the work I was doing was fairly monotonous. Doing that job full-time for a whole summer was something I thought I would dread, but it actually turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences I have been through. What makes this company so special is not just the work that they do. There are plenty of other companies in their field, but there are not many companies whose employees live up to the standards of UKG's employees. In such a solitary job, working through excel sheets on my own, I never expected to feel like such a valued member of a team. The support I had behind me not only from the data steward team, but every employee I had an encounter with, was a level of support I was not aware even existed in the workplace. This was especially impressive considering the fact that the internship was fully remote due to COVID. I was extremely nervous starting out as I thought I would just be fired if I messed up in such a large corporation of over 13,000 employees, but the managers and other team members demonstrated pure servant leadership, getting me up to speed and making me feel comfortable before they even started their own workday. The leadership demonstrated went beyond just the material work that we did on a day to day basis. There were team building activities, check-in calls, and seminars for interns to attend to make us more comfortable, and provide unique learning experiences, as well as providing experience existing within a team of moving parts. This overall attitude of "people first" inspired me to search for those kinds of environments to work in, but it also inspired me to one day create that kind of work environment for others. I felt that I thrived amongst the presence of other supportive employees, and it made me want to be a supporting member to those around me. This was another milestone in my realization that I was meant to be working with people.