On Greener Grass
I started writing this post on the evening of my last day working for Cerner - for almost 9 years. I loved the work I was doing at Cerner and am incredibly grateful for the opportunities I was given to grow while I was there, but it was time for a change. I’ve often heard the advice, “Go to something you want, don’t run away from what you have. It took more than a year for me to find the right thing, and in the end, the right thing found me instead. Then it took me nine months to finish the blog post.
I joined H&R Block in May after hearing from a recruiter about an open position that was really perfect for me. It was what I was looking for, it had the right combination of challenging problems to be solved and feasibility of solving them, and ultimately promised a future where the work I did would be valued and well received.
One of the best things about going to H&R Block was that I was able to do so in spite of what would be considered challenging personal circumstances for a job change. I was eight months pregnant on my first day of work, which was specifically scheduled to make sure I would have full benefits before my baby was born. And I did. Not only did I have full health benefits, but I also had the opportunity to take a full 12 week leave (Block does offer 14 but I was ready) and was only greeted with good wishes and congratulations from everyone I interacted with both before and after Anderson was born.
This is so incredibly important to me because I think too many companies forget that people matter, are worth time and attention from the company, and those companies need to get caught up. I think a lot of them hide behind shareholder value as an excuse for not valuing people, but investors and the SEC [1] are taking notice of how companies treat and develop their human capital as a core, strategic indicator of the health of the company.
I remember spending a lot of time debating with people about greener grass and whether it was possible to find something better. There are assumptions that every company will be riddled with the same problems and pathological culture. And to a degree, all companies do seem to have similar problems. Some issues are just part of the dynamics of working with people. I do believe I have found greener grass, though, and I’m excited to be part of something new, exciting, and growing the way H&R Block is.
[1] https://www.sec.gov/rules/petitions/2022/petn4-787.pdf