What a healthy workplace environment is like

I experienced an amazing work culture in my last internship and it has definitely set the bar for my future jobs.

Here are some key things I look out for now as they were what I experienced in my last role.

1. Learning is encouraged

Mistakes are part and parcel of life AND work. My company culture encouraged experimentation as success comes from many failed experiments. This culture was perpetuated by my manager who encouraged me to learn and gave me opportunities to do because I asked (note: you still have to make your wants known!!)

2. Your good work is recognised and promoted

My manager is an L7 (Regional Manager for the ENTIRE Asia Pacific, Australia and Japan) and he never forgot to show his appreciation for my work. I’m so grateful to experience this and honestly I was not used to it before. Until I realised it honestly is a basic requirement even in life! Why shouldn’t it be like that at work? He even showed directors my work and I’m an intern!

3. Everyone is equal, you’re not treated less because of your lower authority/ position

I know this is not the truth for a lot of companies and that is really a shame. We had a rather flat hierarchy at my last role and I was working with people with 20+ years of experience. I even met a regional director at our conference and when I introduced myself, I said “oh but I’m *just* an intern” because I felt small around these senior people. But he stopped me there and said “you’re NOT just an intern. Never say that because you’re contributing real work”. I almost teared right there 🤣

4. Work hours are respected

Within my team, work hours are respected and also flexible. Delivering good results is more important than the number of hours worked. You don’t have to be sat at your desk the whole day even if you’re done for the day because “you’re not supposed to leave”. Or if you have a medical appointment/child emergency in the day, you can finish the rest of your work in the evening (this is a generalisation for non urgent work days!)

I’m really grateful for my experiences because it showed me so much 🥹 I hope this helps you identify green flags and red ones in your next internship/jobs

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