To Leave or Not To Leave
It’s been almost ten years since Andre walked into MCM’s front doors, bright eyed and bushy tailed.
Andre was recommended to us by a prominent Pryda staff member. At the time we were on the lookout for a frame detailer. This position is now called “Timber Structure Designer” which I imagine is a big relief to all those ‘Designers’ out there, no longer needing to explain to new people they meet, “No I don’t clean cars!”
We were looking for an experienced designer; yes, I hear you laugh, as we all know nearly impossible back then and still is, but we do have other options nowadays…anyway I digress; we were after an experienced designer but alas, that wasn’t going to happen and we were introduced to Andre as a possible candidate for a cadet designer role.
I did the interview and found Andre had some experience in drafting but not much else relating to the industry. He was more than half smart, so I put him on with an agreed wage increase as he reached certain milestones over the next few years.
Andre just kept kicking goals. He looked at the software a little differently to others and always found a better or easier way of doing things. In my book that’s not lazy, that’s smart!
He then found his dream girl Kim and married her. But…. Kim also had a career path, hers being in the banking world; and a great opportunity had come up that was “too good to refuse” and would take Kim and Andre off to Singapore for two years.
Hmm, Andre had been with us for six years by then and was an integral part of the company, but Andre already had a plan. He said, “No worries boss! I will simply resign and do the design work overseas as a contractor. When I come back, you can re employ me.”
Brilliant! He not only did the design work he also logged onto our computers at night and filled in schedules and other standard admin requirements of our designers. It was like he was here… almost.
My staff quickly fell into a routine that wasn’t as good as if he was here, but it was pretty seamless and worked well; and the two years came and went.
Andre has just kept improving over the years. He started off as the junior designer and is now our senior designer and head of the design team.
Andre has also been doing some design work at home and with the help of his wife Kim they have recently produced a beautiful baby girl named Elena.
As I said at the beginning, it’s almost ten years since Andre started working with us at MCM. Yes, he did leave for two years, went overseas and worked as a contractor, which technically would suggest he has only been back two years. However, I don’t see it that way. To me, he has stayed loyal and looked after the company and therefore the company is going to look after him by rewarding him and providing his ten-year long service leave entitlements at his ten year anniversary from when he first started.
My father always said,
“If you look after the company the company will look after you.”
That is true, but I believe that your people are your company’s most important asset. Look after them and appreciate them. That is what is most important.
Mark Hull
MCM Frame & Truss