As the deliberation begins for The Back Room employee awards 2020, we look back at the Employee of the Year and Newbie of the Year winners in 2019. They share their thoughts on working at The Back Room, and how winning these awards has affected them.
A result of intense consideration of a list of equally deserving nominees, these awards are not given lightly. Meeting incredibly high standards across performance, attendance, and client satisfaction, Employee of the Year and Newbie of the Year are a testament to the work ethic and capabilities of our staff and a recognition of their incredible achievements here.
We speak to Employee of the Year and Newbie Employee of the Year for 2019:
Employee of the Year: Eunice
Newbie of the Year: Praise
The Back Room interviewed both Eunice and Praise on their experience so far and how they think this recognition could inspire them and others in their careers.
How does it feel to be Employee of the Year?
Eunice: Unexpected, and I am very grateful! When they announced the Employee of the Year award, I thought I couldn’t shine because of the nature of my job. Most of my fellow colleagues work for accounting firms, and I am on logistics. I thought I would not meet the criteria because of that. Then moments passed by, and my picture was flashed on the projector as one of the nominees for Employee of the Year! I am feeling motivated to excel and strive even more at work! I am thankful that someone out there appreciates our hard work.
How does it feel to be the Newbie of the year?
Praise: Actually, it’s quite gratifying and I’m thankful for those who chose me as the Newbie of the Year. I’m very happy, because even though I didn’t expect anything, I was chosen as the Newbie of the Year. I am grateful that there is someone who appreciates what we do!
How do you think this award will affect you as a professional?
Eunice: It makes you strive to grow more. I’m not that special, but still someone appreciated me. It means that I can still grow and still strive for more. I thought that what I do is just another day for everyone else, but I realised the people around me have confidence in me. I realised The Back Room has confidence in me, to be exact. Professionally, I think about how I am representing The Back Room to our clients. When I gave the news to our clients and told them that I’m the Employee of the Year, they were very proud that I’m on their staff! I feel that a big part of what made me win Employee of the Year is that I relieved in New Zealand for a month. At the time, I thought that everything that I was doing was wrong, but little did I know, they appreciated all the effort that I put in during my time there.
Praise: I felt pressured when I realised that I was the Newbie of the Year. Of course, even though I got the title of Newbie of the Year, I still need to strive hard and work even harder to motivate other employees.
When you finish a job, they always tell you “Great job!â€, even though it’s a normal job, because they still appreciate it. And when they assign a ‘hard-to-do’ job, which they expect us to finish in a week, but we finish it within a day or two instead, then they show so much gratitude. It feels great that you are content with the jobs that you’re doing, and you can improve more because of how your clients give feedback about your jobs. The flaws that we had before are now slowly being eliminated. As much as possible we do our jobs very clean.
How do you think this award will affect your lifestyle?
Eunice: Of course, you need to still maintain work-life balance. You don’t need to pressure yourself thinking that you need to get a job done within the day if you know that you can still do it tomorrow. “Just don’t sacrifice your health and your familyâ€.
Praise: My lifestyle now, as the Newbie of the Year, will still be the same as before I got the title. I’ll still go home at exactly 3pm. You still need to be approachable. How everyone knew you before should still stay the same, as if you never got the title.
How do you think this award will affect your personality now?
Eunice: For me, it’s still going to be the same. It’s not even sinking in to me that I’m the Employee of the Year, because it just feels the same for me. But having the title makes me think of how I can motivate my co-workers to strive even more at their work, especially given that we are all different in many ways in how we do our jobs. I thought about how I can help them more to be efficient, because efficiency for me is very important. For example; overtime. We only do overtime when it is necessary and if it’s required.
For our clients, our protocol is “always do honest workâ€. If you don’t know how to do it; seek help. Don’t do it by yourself, because you might get it wrong. In our jobs, it should always be one hundred percent sure, and two hundred percent sure if possible, because we are in a logistics company. If you get a wrong entry, it will mess up a lot.
Treat others still the same. I know things that you don’t know, and you know things that I don’t know. It’s the same. It was just that in this last year, we are the ones who were given a chance to shine, because everyone has a chance. It’s just that we are the lucky ones who were chosen. Most of all always stay humble.
Praise: Ever since I was a kid, my personality never changed. My parents taught me how to be content with what we had. Always be grateful for what you have. Newbie of the Year is just a title; it will just be a decoration to your name. But don’t use it as wings to fly, because the larger your wings are, the more you think highly of yourself, and there will always be a time that you will fall as high as when you flew.
Being the newbie of the year is like getting a new accessory, time will pass, and you will lose interest in it, and you will remove it, and what’s going to be left is still you.
My father taught me that, what you are right now, should never change, because when people see that you are being real to them and yourself, they will treat you the same.
If you’re smart, that’s it, you’re not supposed to sit on a higher chair because you’re smart, it’s just that it adds to your traits and qualities as a person.
Employee of the Year and Newbie of the Year 2020 will be announced in late December.