Investing in a Workplace Family

On the last Friday of July, Mettle Ops held a BBQ and Cornhole tournament. The food was absolutely delicious, thanks to our amazing Grill Masters, and the tournament resulted in a very friendly, but also very competitive, series of matches. I might be biased as one of the runners-up (it was extremely close), but the cornhole tournament was valuable in a way I didn’t expect when I got the initial teams invite.

As an intern, or just as workers in general, it’s very easy to only know the bubble of your team. Everyday, I work with the other members of the software team, and I’ve gotten to know them well. However, there’s a plethora of people at the office I’ve only ever gotten to say hello with a few smiles when I pass them in the hall. So, when my first match was against one of the amazing leaders in our business development and a mechanical intern who I don’t get to see much, I was ecstatic. Sure, we played, but we were just able to talk as well.  I saw these people in a brand-new perspective that wasn’t a quick message, and from that, I felt a belongingness to the office.

Don’t get me wrong, deadlines, deliverables, and professionalism are essential to an office. It’s the way to hold everyone accountable to their job. But if no one in the office is connected, if all teams are isolated and there’s not a sense of community, then productivity will reflect that. If someone on purchasing feels a kind of barrier to reaching out to someone on mechanical to figure out a receipt, rather than feeling comfortable to just sending a quick message, that’s a barrier. If someone on software needs help understanding electrical details and feels comfortable to be able to send that quick clarifying question, then that’s time and energy saved. How we can build that community is having some of these more fun-focused events, even for just a half a day.

So truly, I must say how happy I am that Mettle Ops invests in their employees in events such as these. From seeing everyone gathered around tables, eating and laughing, to the amazing chocolate cake, it was nice to see the community I’ve been blessed with being a part of in one communion together. This is how I know I don’t work for a company, but for a family.