Cracking the Leadership Code

Chapter 12CREATING GREAT EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCES

The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.

—Eleanor Roosevelt

I was hired by the communications department of a large pharmaceutical company. On my first day, I arrived in the lobby just before 8:30 a.m., excited to begin my new job. I told the security guard my name and told him I was to meet Melissa, my new boss.

The guard found Melissa's name in the directory and called her desk. No answer. He told me to have a seat and wait. Twenty minutes passed. I started to feel frustrated. I'd been told to be there at 8:30 a.m., and had gotten up extra early to make sure no hiccups could happen during the commute.

At 9:05, a woman entered the waiting area and asked, “Are you Tim?” When I jumped up and said “yes,” she brusquely told me to follow her. I had no idea who this was. She took me to what turned out to be the security office so I could get my ID badge. This took about an hour to finish up. Then, she took me up to the fifth floor and ushered me into an empty cube. No phone, no computer, just a chair and a desk. She handed me a stack of forms to fill out and an employee handbook. “Someone will be by in a bit to get these from you.”

At this point, I felt as though I was in a doctor's office. I hate doctor's offices.

An hour later, a guy named Stuart showed up. Stuart told me he works in communications. He told me that Melissa was out of ...