It is time to speak about good employers.
For all the places that I have worked at, I have never had trouble getting in. For most, I was either hand-picked, called for a chat and asked about my availability or asked and if I declined, the request was followed the succeeding year.
I have worked in full employment in six different places, each with different types of employers, teams, office set ups and expectations.
In 2007, in between planning for my wedding, I was asked to submit an application to The Eastern African Sub-Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI), that there was an opportunity for a communications officer. In 2007, there were countable women’s NGOs and each of them respected the other’s approval for candidates.
I sat in that interview and when they asked for my salary expectation, the moment I gave them a salary beyond my wildest desires, I knew that I had got the job. They were looking for audacity and someone who valued their skillset enough, to request highly.
Without a Master’s degree and having been extremely broke for four years, volunteering in church activities and fellowships, living from one pittance party to another, I sat in my own office with a driver to take me for meetings, colleagues that dressed immaculately and tea and expensive snacks at every meeting.
The endless workshops at 4 star hotels around Kampala, occasionally residential. The trips across Africa, at high level forums, representing the organisation, with heaps of allowances. My world changed. To-date, it is my favourite place of employment and the Executive Director at time, Marren Akatsa-Bukachi,is my favourite employer (May her soul continue to rest in glory)
Like a sunrise that predictably appears on time, we had set allowances for each trip and a six-month schedule in advance. Every programme staff’s duties were clearly articulated and the strategic plan was articulated before each staff member, regularly. While expectations were high, the salaries and allowances were also high. At this job, I knew that my time and skills were valued highly. Employers must always value the skillset and time of their employees. Pay them well and set expectations clearly.
Marren made you want to be better. Each morning, arriving promptly, she was always flawlessly and fashionably dressed, from the hair to the shoes. This made us want to be better. Here was a woman in her fifties, with four children, outdressing all of us in our early thirties, without children. I started wearing suits for the first time, and I liked it. Dressing well and showing up at the office suited me. I even treated my hair for the first time, which was short-lived. The point I’m trying to make; appearance does matter.
It is not liberating to exude excellence and then dress shabbily, in the name of wokeness or open-mindedness. It is delusional. Dress well. I have worked in places where I started off with three skirts, and I made them work until the salary arrived and I bought more.
Dressing well is not a colonial idea. It is actually afrocentric to dress well. It is your right. There are fabrics of all kinds, inexpensive tailoring, and comfortable designer shoes everywhere. The more I searched for office clothes and shows, the more I found them. And then the discovery that kitenge material can be tailored to suit a day in the corporate world, made life easier.
She was not intimidated by my creative ideas, or insecure around an individual whom other organisations wanted to hire. It was at EASSI, that I developed their first e-newsletter, ‘The Women’s Lexis,’ which lasted for over ten years. Paper magazines, invitations and print newsletters, were the preferred model at the time and I boldly stepped out to create that shift.
Marren warmly welcomed the idea and the outreach was massive. I also introduced a women’s advocacy campaign, targeting the post-election violence in Kenya in 2007, using sms advocacy, partnering with various women’s organisations.
I thrived as a creative and eclectic individual, travelling, connecting with stakeholders all over Africa, representing gender issues at high level forums. That job drove me to such purpose that it is no wonder as soon as I left, I began the Beverley Nambozo Poetry Award.
EASSI elevated me. Marren elevated me. She was also the first staff member to visit our first born daughter at home, and the dress and books she gave, represented two of her qualities, fashion and intelligence.
Once, I reached out to her to share a few challenegs I found with her leadership style. She set a date and asked that with each problem, I curate a solution. That is a meeting I will never forget. It changed the employer-employee dynamics so much.
The Good Employer. Marren Akatsa-Bukachi is my favourite employer to-date and EASSI is my favourite workplace to-date.
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