Work Culture

At this point I have 2 weeks until my internship ends. 2 weeks! Time has flown by.

Before I began my internship at the Eric Liddell Centre, I heard various descriptions of what work culture would be like here in the UK. There would be multiple tea times in one day, people would dress more professionally, work less hours, be much more relaxed, and yet overwhelmed at the same time.

Now I have been employed at over five different work places in the U.S. and one in the UK. Perhaps my findings in the differences between work cultures are not conclusive, but here is what I found nonetheless:

Yes, tea is very important. Having biscuits with your tea is very important. I have not been to an event, course, or meeting where tea was not present. Everyday at 3 o'clock my boss and I enjoy tea and a sweet treat, which I think I've developed an internal alarm clock for! Always having a warm drink and a wee' caffeine boost throughout the day is a ritual I have truly enjoyed adopting.

Upon a heartfelt conversation with the CEO of the Eric Liddell Centre (ELC), I learned that his ultimate goal was to make the people who work here feel like a family. And that is exactly what it feels like- something I noticed right from the start.

Not a single person at the ELC hasn't asked me how well I've settled in, whether I enjoy the city or not, how I am doing being away from home, if I have seen all the wonderful parts of Edinburgh, etc. After every weekend everyone discusses what they did and where they went. Everyone remembers the little things. Everybody here are friends, not just coworkers. Truly, I feel part of the ELC family.

In the U.S. I have worked for places that focus quite intensely on one element of work. These elements include coworker relationships, efficiency, professional appearance, customer service, etc. Not to say the places I've worked aren't well rounded in what they require of their employees, but there is a certain intensity usually placed on one aspect of the job.

A poster in the Ca(I)re Programme office.

Here at the ELC, there is no intense focus on one particular element- well maybe besides serving their clients since this is a charity. This is because there doesn't have to be. Why do work places actively enforce such specific elements and not other ones? Because their employees aren't doing it in the first place? Have they given their employees a chance to show they can excel at that element without being told to in the first place?

At every place I have worked, rules have been so highly discussed and so much emphasis is placed on what happens if you do something wrong. Could the way controlling employee behavior is approached be instilling some type of fear in the average employee? And therefore, they are more concerned with not doing something wrong versus focusing all their energy on working hard because they want to?

At the Eric Liddell Centre, I have no uncomfortable fear of doing something wrong, nor is fear what drives the employees to be nice to clients. I feel comfortable at the ELC. Everybody does their job well because they want to do well, love their job, and they want to help people. The key part here is that employees have the opportunity to do so. No fear and pure passion.

Tying back into the family bit- the ELC works as a team and it's all about moving forward. What it comes down to is what I have experienced here is a workplace that is just as efficient as any other workplace, yet comes with a more relaxed, inspiring, and confident-in-their-employees kind of place.

This is by no means a 'dis' on the places I have worked in the past, it is simply the largest difference I have noticed thus far. Upon discussions with my coworkers, not every workplace in the UK is going to have the same set of standards, and I realize the same goes for the U.S. Perhaps I just found the single greatest place to work and the ELC team has some sort of magical powers.

I know one thing is for sure- I couldn't have asked for a finer internship site!