AuDN4T

I look back on the different means of onboarding at 3 different companies.

Org 1

It was kind of all over the place; you were kind of taught how to do timesheets (excel format type of timesheets performed every 2 weeks) which included expenses. It was kind of frustrating. You typically would track as you went with projects but also you’d shift overtime to the next pay period and miss when you double charged your timesheet (I think it happened once or twice) because you forget to remember if you billed your hours or not. If you didn’t have projects that amounted to 80 hours… you were fucked. There were slow periods where I had may be 40 or 50 hours and our payroll person was concerned. Computers were not quite new. There’s a joke that the Principal would get them off the back of the truck. Trackpads on the laptop would or wouldn’t work. Having to log into a VPN to have access to Outlook was stupid because it wouldn’t always connect. Switching over to another laptop eventually made it work, but it was a dumb system. Going to different projects, you had a differing style of training; some managers or leaders would outright say “yeah… I should wear a respirator but I won’t”. BUT you learned a style of how to perform the tasks. In terms of H&S training. I think it lacked. There were moments of working alone and you’re not sure if you should be there or not. No violence and harassment in the workplace training. Contractor management wasn’t in place and considered an annoyance; though I understand the significance of it. Resources were provided to the team for reference and a system was in place for project control. You were somewhat taught how to manage this.

Org 2

I had a more structured orientation with my leader. She told me to meet at the office on a specific day and at a specific time. She walked me through how to do travel and expenses and corrected me when I did it incorrectly (there was an issue with Concur for vehicle travel). The leader gave me kind of a “low down” of the org, who you could talk to, who you could not (because they didn’t care about HSE). Explained how HSE culture works here and how it should work. The leader did truly bring me under their wing and taught me the ins and outs of a larger org and how to navigate through it as a female. She showed me the HSE system in place and how to navigate through it. She introduced me to the team that I would be working with. She also did talk about how to make sure to plan with sites about site visits. She asked me to review the HSE elements in place and understand the org’s HSE process. It was very organized and followed by people; however, some locations struggled with knowing where to find the documentation. It may have been too complex at times. I think it’s more so documentation for the HSE Team to follow with all the complex laws in each province and state. There was other training/orientation around the organization and understanding the business and what is manufactured and sold that was performed by an HR Partner.

Org 3

It was all over the place with getting to the org. From getting documentation sent in and the 3rd party performing the background check (they would call my previous place of employment around 7am before anyone was in the office). I didn’t quite have contact with a leader in having an orientation performed – how things are done; how to expense things; what to do if purchases (CSA Standards) needed to be made for HSE programs. One kind of feels like they need to fend for themselves, so does it with their own money. The culture training was cool but at the same time it was kind of annoying that no one informed me that I had to do pre-reads before hand and I ended up looking like I didn’t really give AF about the orientation. Not a great impression to make on your first day. So you end up wasting your evening to consume all the fuse training (which is a lot and not a great format when you’re crunching on time). I won’t go on about the HR BP. That’s been already mentioned. It wasn’t fun when you feel disconnected by others about getting company clothing while you’re like what? You got clothing? I don’t have a shirt or jacket? I got a jacket from a closet that people didn’t want or didn’t fit someone. Is this how you feel part of an org? You also hear about how nice people are in the two other offices in the US while in Canada people don’t talk to each other or are very standoffish. You try to defend people your cubicle area because HR is trying to claim it as theirs and wonder why this person sits here. If directors in the office speak to new people, they don’t quite do it with you. They won’t introduce themselves but more so say “who are you?” Being introduced to the new GM, I could sense my Canada leader was hesitant to introduce me… was it cause of my grandpa hipster sweater? What’s the dress code anyways? I had my second leader tell me what you could and couldn’t wear. But they’re people, you don’t have to bow to them. She was straight up real and told you what was ok and not ok. It’s like she knew I was autistic and didn’t know the social cues. Meeting with my new leader was a bit of a times way after my orientation – I think a month after? The 1:1 was good. But I mean it didn’t really have a component of orientation or how this team should be structured, meetings (or what I can recall from the convo at the time). Meeting with the VP, was confused as to the meeting set up – was told about a specific time but wasn’t sure if anyone was in the room or not or if anyone was waiting or if the meeting from before was still in progress. So I ended up interrupting a meeting. It was awkward and felt like I was scolded lol. but the AuDHD kicked in. Fun times.

I’m a weird kid. I dress how I dress. I see myself as a child at times because I had to parentify. If there’s a theme in the office, I’ll take it to the next level. Beach day? I’m there with my life jacket, sunnies, paddle board paddle and beach chair. I want to bring the silliness because why not? Everything is serious sometimes, where’s the fun? The fun brings engagement. I was that hipster in consulting wearing all black, skinny jeans, a black hoodie and skater shoes. I mean I was also teased for looking like a hipster in the workplace. My outfit changed slightly in the next org and again in the third org.

Navigating through workplace dress codes can be hard. I know my colleague at the third org was a bit thrown off by what the dress code was. My other female colleague in the US was called out for her shoes despite the dress code said they can wear sneakers. But our male colleague would wear sweatshirts that were maybe unprofessional in a sense and wasn’t ever called out for it. So it’s kind of a double standard?

Organizations can be weird and hard to navigate as a neurodiverse person. I’m glad I did have a leader who helped with that in the 2nd org though. I think orientations need to be more clear and leaders need to be more clear on expectations how the org might work. If their TM experiences unsafe psychological environments to loop them in and see how to navigate it together.