Pros
I immediately felt a sense of human empathy from the people I worked with. For me, starting with Lighthouse International happened to coincide with a tumultuous time in my life - being housebound due to an injury, whilst also needing to move flat, having recently separated from my then-husband. I was pleasantly surprised to have received so much support from my mentors, who always made sure I was in the right headspace, emotionally, prioritising my mental health. Their care even extended to the weekends! Despite being with the organisation for only a month, I had generous offers from colleagues to join their family Christmases in case I was going to be alone, and indeed, one of my colleagues helped with moving furniture out of my flat. Since then, I have had the opportunity to grow and develop both personally and professionally. With the full support of my mentors, I have been encouraged and empowered to take on increasing levels of responsibility, affording me valuable leadership and management experience, through the stewardship of various projects, in both individual and team settings. I’ve found that there is always a chance for me to contribute and to serve, and I have learned so much from that. In addition, because optimising value creation and maximising potential is at the heart of our mission, I’ve always found that my colleagues have been equally enthusiastic and inspired to help each other out. In line with this spirit of care and reciprocity, I feel there is an overall sense of genuine community amongst the people I work with. This is so refreshing, coming from previous work environments where the air of competition had meant that it was each one for themselves. Instead, there’s an empathy and humility that comes across when knowledge, time, and resources are shared between business units, working cooperatively. I also appreciated the community vibe during the early onset of the pandemic and lockdown, where our chairman very thoughtfully sent out all of us a stock of vitamin C and immunity boosters, really demonstrating the care for each individual as a human being that flows from the top down to every member of the team.
Cons
I would probably say a con is that, due to the nature of the work, it is possible to work from anywhere, and as such the team are situated all over the country, and indeed, overseas. This flexibility is great, in terms of the ability to work from home!! But it does mean, however, that we don't always all get to come together and actually see each other in person, as compared to working at your traditional office. I know in most companies (and certainty in my previous work experience) that extra-curricular interactions with colleagues can be relegated to Christms parties and a few pints after work - and that’s usually just fine! But with the qualities aforementioned in the pros above, the relationships that have been forged are deeper than your average office politicking, and it would be really cool to hang out with everyone more often.