Interview: CHARM HR Manager discusses virtual sports day event and valuable experiences gained from working at CHARM

“I think there’s always an irreplaceable value in human interaction, and that’s what makes HR work so meaningful.”

By Nawapat Srisuphapreeda and Kamonwan Kongmee, CHARM staff writers

When thinking of factors contributing to an organization’s success, what mostly comes to mind are astute CEOs, creative product developers, or even a team of media-savvy marketers and strategists.

However, all these talented individuals would not be motivated to perform, or even be given the opportunity to contribute without effective human resource management (HR). As people are the greatest resource, the HR function is crucial to the success and employee satisfaction of any organization.

At CHARM, our professionally run HR team plays a huge role in enabling talented and creative individuals to work together with synergy. Thanks to our HR team, CHARM has not only enabled our members’ a self-growth platform, but also a fun, supportive environment for team-building.

Recently, our HR team has organized a virtual “sports day” event to promote bonding across teams. Interested to learn more about the stories behind the event, we will be interviewing Mew, CHARM’s HR manager.

Mew starts by explaining that she had always been interested in HR management as a career and wanted to gain work experience that closely resembled a professional HR function.

“I really enjoy working with people; I think people are what make each organization unique,” she explains. “You can have different dress codes, different company policies, or different colour schemes and whatnot, but ultimately, what truly define organizational cultures are people and how they interact.”

Mew says that her main motivation for this activity was to get everyone to meet face to face. “People were saying they wanted to meet each other in person, but the pandemic kept getting in the way. So our HR team thought it’d be nice to have a bonding session for all teams.”

In fact, their motivation behind the rather unconventional theme, “Sports Day,” for a virtual meeting came from rather meticulous research and brainstorming:

“We did market research on our target audience and ran various simulations with teams to see what kind of activities would be most appropriate,” she says. “Obviously, having an event that gets over 60 people all from different faculties together is a great big challenge, so we wanted to make it as fun and interactive as we could.”

Turns out they were planning the activity since April. Mew explains that they initially planned it to be an in-person activity, but ended up having to adapt it to an online set-up due to uncontrollable circumstances. “At first we wanted to get everyone there in person, but because the vaccines from Chula happened to be rolling out that day, we had to adapt our initial plan a bit.”

However, that didn’t stop the activity from being vibrant and amusing. It started off with a hilarious meme-themed opening ceremony before dividing CHARM members into four colours and splitting them into separate breakout rooms.

“We had some team-building games to help create bonds between team members,” she explains. “For example, the game ‘Who’s Most Likely To…’ allowed each member to introduce themselves to their teammates that they had never spoken to before.”

She also describes how members were kept entertained and competitive at the same time through “Davinci,” a decoding trivia quiz inspired by a famous Thai TV show. “The game is loads of fun, keeps the players’ brains busy, and is an easy game in which to collect points.” Aside from team activities, each CHARM member also took part in a Kahoot quiz with fun trivia questions to win prizes.

The latter part of the event was non-sport activities where freshman, sophomore, and junior CHARM members shared their wishes and messages to graduating seniors. There was also a special section for everyone to write a reflection about themselves and what they aimed to achieve in the future.

The winning team was rewarded with a “Mystery Box.” “As of now, I’m going to keep it under wraps, what’s inside our mystery box,” she chuckles. “Only the winning team will know, but I guarantee that it won’t be disappointing!”

“The HR team’s working style is very family-like. Since we have such a small number of team members, we all are really close…We’re quite disciplined and committed when it comes to work, but when it is done, we always chit chat about all sorts of stuff like good friends.”

“The HR team’s working style is very family-like”, she reveals. “Since we have such a small number of team members, we all are really close. There are barely any boundaries between us. Also, most of our members are about the same age, so we can talk about anything. We’re quite disciplined and committed when it comes to work, but when it is done, we always chit chat about all sorts of stuff like good friends.”

Another core value of the HR team is job satisfaction, with a lot of emphasis on a positive work culture that fosters happiness. “Everyone is very supportive of each other,” she describes. “Our HR team aims to be people-oriented and results-oriented at the same time. Thanks to all my wonderful teammates, I think we have reached that goal.”

Mew’s favourite part of working at CHARM is its people. “I would say that I am lucky to have the chance to work with these HR Specialists. Most of them are freshmen, and I’m a senior. However, I have been inspired by them in many ways, especially in terms of leadership.”

She then touches on how working at CHARM helped her develop as a person, “Being a manager requires decisiveness, but I struggled with that a bit at first because I was originally an indecisive person. I feel like working with such a supportive team really helped me in that regard. For example, one day, we couldn’t come to a conclusion in a meeting, and it was one of the HR Specialists who finally helped me draw a conclusion.”

Working at CHARM also gave her a lot of beneficial soft skills such as learning to be a good listener and unlocking empathy as a leader. “I really have to listen thoroughly to what CHARM members want and what their pain points are to truly tackle problems at their roots,” she explains. “It’s important to understand what other people are experiencing and what they truly need. When we don’t share the same experiences and have conflict as a result, that’s where empathy comes into play.”

When asked about future plans after expanding the team, she asserts that her next ambition is creating more engagement and familiarity amongst team members: “I want to continue the relationship building project. This virtual sports day event was only a small initial step onto something greater. In future, our HR team will try our best to organise events that allow CHARM members to see each other in person.”

She also describes how she wants to improve talent acquisition and provide training sessions. “We plan to develop CHARM’s recruitment process so that we can acquire the best talents that fit with our organizational culture. We also plan to provide training sessions to develop each CHARM member’s potential. At CHARM, personal development is our top priority, so we want everyone here to grow professionally and feel happy with their work.”

“Our HR team aims to be people-oriented and results-oriented at the same time. Thanks to all the HR specialists and my wonderful teammates, I think we reached that goal.”

The HR team’s biggest goal is that they want CHARM to be successful as a people-oriented organisation. “As an HR manager, I want every CHARM member to be both skilled and happy, to the point where CHARM’s reputation is spread by word-of-mouth,” she adds.

Mew’s final message is that “people” are what drive organisations forward. “Although HR tasks might not seem immediately gratifying,” she enthuses, “they are an indispensable and integral part of any business.”

Mew then ends the interview on a rather thought-provoking note:

“Technology may change the world, but at the end of the day, we will always be people-led. I think there’s always an irreplaceable value in human interaction, and that’s what makes HR work so meaningful.”

Here at CHARM, our HR team, as well as our many other teams, are run with a professional structure that simulates working in a real organization. This comes directly from our mission to provide a learning playground where team members can hone their talents and build expertise in various business-related fields.

With opportunities to gain valuable work experience as well as enjoy fun activities, CHARM is an ideal place to take impactful steps towards self-growth and prepare yourself for the competitive job market as an undergraduate.

By working at CHARM, you will gain the time management skills, hands-on work experience, and people skills needed to succeed. Moreover, you will also have the opportunity to meet and exchange perspectives with people from various faculties. This creates an enriching, eye-opening experience where you will get to continually share and apply classroom knowledge.

If this kind of valuable work experience and organizational culture resonates with you, then follow us on social media to not miss out on important updates. Stay tuned because we will be recruiting new team members very soon!

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