Meet Us Here

First of all, I would like to say that I appreciate Maddie sharing her story. One thing that brought us together to form Unfilled Spaces was the common gaps in our professional spaces. We both belong to different generations. In fact, there are 27 years between us. Yet, here we are, still experiencing some of the same frustrations in our lives though ages apart. One is embracing a newfound sense of independence with a life full of hopes and dreams, realizing how life can take an unexpected turn. The other one who put her career on hold to raise children, experiencing her fair share of crushed dreams in all spaces, and wants a workspace that mutually believes and is committed to one another for success.

As you see, we both have gaps in expectations, gaps in aspirations, and gaps between where we are versus where we want to be. In our writing, we want to expose some of these gaps, the feelings that go along with them, what we learned, and how we can use our learning experiences to help others. We want to share, hoping you could share with us.

Our vision is for you to MEET US HERE.

HERE in the gaps, where the unfilled spaces exist, where we experience emotions and uncertainty, and where we LOSE ourselves, we want you to share your stories, struggles, and victories. So if you have a story to share, please message us.

In Maddie's story, we need to address a couple of things. First of all, applicants, candidates, and employees need to know their rights at any stage of the hiring process. Biases, discrimination, and common law recruitment violations such as misrepresentation and fraud can easily find their way into this process. Maddie based her decision on a promise that the organization made even when she was completely transparent about her concerns. Her boss promised her an opportunity if she just took the job, and she did. Employers can be held liable for these misrepresentations. This article from FindLaw can provide more information and examples of how this could look.

The work environment is another critical aspect of an employer-employee relationship. A positive work environment is essential to productivity. It also builds trust, provides emotional well-being, fosters creativity, and encourages teamwork. When interviewing for a job, don't be afraid to discuss the organization's mission, vision, and goals and their process of working towards these goals to see if your values and goals align with theirs. However, there are also aspects of the work environment that should not be tolerated. It is up to leadership to make sure complaints are taken seriously and attempt to resolve the issues before they escalate.

Leadership sets the tone for the environment by what they say and don't say on the matter. Employees and employers can find steps to take in this article. Management training is vital for recognizing a hostile work environment and knowing what actions to take based on the policies and procedures in place. Another term that Maddie mentioned in her story was gaslighting. To learn more about this term and what it looks like in the workplace, check out this blog and Psychology Today.

In our first post about gaps, we discuss the emotions that unfilled spaces incite. In Maddie's post, you can see the doubt, disappointment, fear, uncertainty, and embarrassment the work environment produced in her heart and mind. However, she had people meet her in the unfilled spaces to offer encouragement and support. Having people to talk to across multiple generations is essential. We all need each other.

In a hard space, where the circumstances seemed challenging to overcome, Maddie didn't walk away, but she had people that believed in her. As a result, in the gap, she found courage, resolve, maturity, and her voice in how she handled herself, proving that good emotions and actions can come from our unfilled spaces.

Disclaimer:

This blog and any of our experiences are for educational purposes only.