Last week I talked about the four stages of culture shock that anyone can go through, especially new college students, employees changing fields or industries, and people relocating. Years ago I accepted an HR position at a unionized pharmaceutical plant where I had my own bout of culture shock. Little did I know at the time how well my experience fit the four-stage model:
Excitement – I was very pleased to be hired. My new boss was happy to have me and welcomed me in a big way on my first day. My co-workers were quite nice and my office space was lovely.
Difficulty – Soon after I started, my boss was in meetings all day long. He left me with policy manuals to read – all day, for several days. I discovered the employees were such creatures of habit that they essentially had assigned seats in the cafeteria! I would sit down to eat lunch somewhere only to be told I’d better move before “so and so” got there. I laugh now, but it was crazy! I also discovered that I didn’t know the “language” spoken there. Unions have terminology all their own, and there were a lot of unspoken rules that I would unintentionally break. For instance, I remember being chastised for rearranging the chairs in a conference room where I was to hold a training session. (Moving chairs was unionized work, and I could have been accused of trying to put a union employee out of work by doing his job.) It was like working in a mine field! I remember feeling discouraged and like an outsider. The history they all shared was unknown to me.
Recovery – The HR staff and my boss were wonderful people, and once they remembered what it was like to be new (it had been such a long time since anyone there was hired), they stepped in to help me. They loved to tell me the stories of plant and the people, and I was eager to get “in the know.” I was given a union contract to review and people guided me along the way. I also started to understand the mentality of it all.
Stability – After a few months, I felt very much at home. I got more comfortable with not knowing what everyone who’d been there 18 years knew, and they realized my intentions were honorable. I stayed there three years until the plant was closed and the work relocated to a plant out of state.
Adapted by Crossroads of Learning from:
UW Board of Regents International Engineering Studies & Programs (n.d.). International Engineering Studies & Programs – UW-Madison. Retrieved March 15, 2012, from http://international.engr.wisc.edu/preparing/cultureshock.php