{"id":9826,"date":"2018-03-29T22:53:11","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T22:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/?p=9826"},"modified":"2025-05-05T21:22:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T21:22:08","slug":"care-less-people-people-become-careless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/work-culture\/care-less-people-people-become-careless\/","title":{"rendered":"When We Care Less About Our People, Our People Become Careless"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- Go to www.addthis.com\/dashboard to customize your tools --><script src=\"\/\/s7.addthis.com\/js\/300\/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-58d80a50fc4f926d\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our Chief People Officer, Vera Babat, explains what it means to consider employee happiness and the role of \u201cPeople Care\u201d<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I must confess that the role, \u201cPeople Care,\u201d at first seemed a bit like smoke and mirrors to me. Caring for people? Making sure people are being taken care of? The concept seemed too vague. But, it\u2019s increasingly clear to me the importance for more and more companies to incorporate an employee happiness-centric role in their organizational charts. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The word caring is at the center of what I do today, which is why I like this play on words: <\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/When-we-care-less-about-our-people-they-become-careless-1.png\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-9828\" src=\"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/When-we-care-less-about-our-people-they-become-careless-1.png\" alt=\"Quote image\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a mom, of course, I know that caring is very important. As an elementary school teacher and a high school teacher as well. As a clinical psychologist, it\u2019s fundamental. But I never imagined that capturing the role of \u201ccaring\u201d was even possible in a corporate setting. It\u2019s not traditionally included in the description of the role of psychologists in organizations. At least it was not for me. It wasn\u2019t what I thought of when I heard the term \u201cHuman Resources.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In HR, we deal with the various team mechanics that exist within a company. Teams are formed by a task. Through spending time together, team members get to know each other and value each other\u2019s presence. And, this does not happen magically. However, many times we let people fend for themselves and when they start a new assignment, they feel like they were \u201csent to war with just a toothpick.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Failing to properly onboard and prepare employees for their roles happens even in organizations with the best of intentions. And, the responsibility for caring can\u2019t fall on just a couple of professionals. To gain visibility on this issue, at Abstracta, we held a workshop on \u201ccaring\u201d for new people in teams. We call this initiative \u201cnexus\u201d because it\u2019s precisely this team of people that will operate as the link in the new person\u2019s integration process and the different areas they pass through in the company.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently we carried out a workshop to train and raise awareness about onboarding strategies and commonly held misconceptions.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> To do so, we left the city and performed several activities that revolved around how to take care of others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One activity that I\u2019d like to mention in particular, is in which the center of the action was not people, but the act of caring. In this case, we discussed how to properly take care of a lettuce seedling. <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because, what do we expect to happen when caring for adults, in all their complexity, if we cannot even take care of a small plant?<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a gardener and fervent admirer of Mother Nature, here I would like to share some of the lessons we arrived at that day; lessons that we learned contemplating nature\u2019s timing and processes. <strong>Lessons that apply to the garden but also work as a rich metaphor for our onboarding process at Abstracta:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think before making decisions. Evaluate and inform yourself. Know the needs of the plant and evaluate how\u00a0it will interact with the rest of the garden.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Put your hand on the ground. Commit yourself to the task.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Choose the right terrain. Make sure the seedling is in a space a little larger than itself, making sure it will have room to grow. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make sure that wherever you plant, you have the right conditions: fertile land, good drainage, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Care with lots of water at the beginning and tighten up the soil around it to help it develop its roots quickly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For deep\u00a0roots, water abundantly once every two days. If it is only watered a little each day, it will grow rapidly but have very shallow roots and little strength.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Watch out for strong sun. Protect it when necessary.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If it starts to wilt at any time, make sure that the sun and other conditions in which it grows are as they should be, add extra fertilizer, and set up a stake to guide its growth. Careful with excess water- as it spoils the roots. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Clean the earth around the plant. Take care of any nearby weeds that may take away its strength.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Re-evaluate periodically if it\u2019s in the right place. Consider its growth rate. Make sure that the pot or soil contains the seedling but does not smother it while allowing plenty of room to grow.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Looking at these steps, we realized that they match the care we value when someone joins a team inside Abstracta. <strong>Moved by this, together we generated a guide of good practices to make our company an even better place to work.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And, we even brought back a seedling to take care of in the office! <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How does your company onboard and take care of its employees to make sure they grow and are right where they should be? Or have you considered giving a care package? (If so, did you put in it anything similar to <a href=\"https:\/\/snacknation.com\/blog\/care-package-ideas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/snacknation.com\/blog\/care-package-ideas\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1613516661505000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHjdF6DGNnQmdQf_7Oy9Salf4TpQw\">these packages<\/a>?)<\/p>\n<p>It never hurts to pamper your employees. After all, they are the people you spend most of your time with. And also, they are the ones who help you with the success of your company.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><strong>Recommended for You\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/software-testing\/creating-testers-through-four-different-education-strategies\/\">Creating Testers Through Four Different Education Strategies<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/software-testing\/uruguay-best-hub-software-qa-engineers-latin-america\/\">Uruguay: The Best Hub of Software QA Engineers in Latin America?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our Chief People Officer, Vera Babat, explains what it means to consider employee happiness and the role of \u201cPeople Care\u201d I must confess that the role, \u201cPeople Care,\u201d at first seemed a bit like smoke and mirrors to me. Caring for people? Making sure people&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v14.0.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>When We Care Less About Our People, They Become Careless | Abstracta<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Our Chief People Officer, Vera Babat, explains what it means to consider employee happiness and how she views her role of \u201cPeople Care\u201d at Abstracta!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"bingbot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/work-culture\/care-less-people-people-become-careless\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When We Care Less About Our People, They Become Careless | Abstracta\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Our Chief People Officer, Vera Babat, explains what it means to consider employee happiness and how she views her role of \u201cPeople Care\u201d at Abstracta!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/work-culture\/care-less-people-people-become-careless\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blog about AI-powered quality engineering for teams building complex software | Abstracta\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AbstractaQA\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-29T22:53:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-05T21:22:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/blog-graphic-min.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"315\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AbstractaUS\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AbstractaUS\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Blog about AI-powered quality engineering for teams building complex software | Abstracta\",\"description\":\"AI-powered quality engineering\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/work-culture\/care-less-people-people-become-careless\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/abstracta.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/When-we-care-less-about-our-people-they-become-careless-1.png\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/work-culture\/care-less-people-people-become-careless\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/work-culture\/care-less-people-people-become-careless\/\",\"name\":\"When We Care Less About Our People, They Become Careless | Abstracta\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/work-culture\/care-less-people-people-become-careless\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-29T22:53:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-05T21:22:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8c4efd76878fc4b0e2309f0eb5e9f201\"},\"description\":\"Our Chief People Officer, Vera Babat, explains what it means to consider employee happiness and how she views her role of \\u201cPeople Care\\u201d at Abstracta!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/work-culture\/care-less-people-people-become-careless\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/work-culture\/care-less-people-people-become-careless\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/work-culture\/care-less-people-people-become-careless\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/work-culture\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/work-culture\/\",\"name\":\"Work Culture\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/work-culture\/care-less-people-people-become-careless\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/work-culture\/care-less-people-people-become-careless\/\",\"name\":\"When We Care Less About Our People, Our People Become Careless\"}}]},{\"@type\":[\"Person\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/8c4efd76878fc4b0e2309f0eb5e9f201\",\"name\":\"Vera Babat\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cb46e53531297d2e74f6c7e36802d4a5?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Vera Babat\"},\"description\":\"Chief Culture Officer, Abstracta\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9826"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9826"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9826\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14057,"href":"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9826\/revisions\/14057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abstracta.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}