The beginning of an unexpected journey: my first 90 days at Sparkline
Sparkline’s Natesh Raj Elansezhiyan shares how was it is working for a consultancy for the first time.
I have completed my first 90, sparkling days at Sparkline and what a journey it has been! When I first joined Sparkline, I didn’t think I would be writing about this, but as the old Local Singaporean saying goes, “good things, must share!”.
Coming from the world of marketing and having been on both client and agency sides, I was not too sure of what to expect when I first joined Sparkline, a digital analytics consultancy. There were a lot of questions I still had upon onboarding, excited to learn more and find out more about this lightning fast and rapidly diversifying and emerging industry… I jumped in!
And here’s what I like to call, a “one-sentence preface” before I do as our business does and offer more insights… I’m a no-nonsense person and this article will reflect just that — it’s as real as it gets.
Size does not matter.
It really doesn’t and Sparkline is a great example of why that is, in my opinion. We’re a small business but we’re the experts when it comes to digital analytics. Like, THE experts. We literally ONLY do digital analytics. There’re three pillars under the digital analytics umbrella — those are Consulting, Training, and Products. But all of those ties back to digital analytics. We don’t do digital marketing, we don’t do SEO, we don’t do marketing automation, we don’t do eDMs. But we know how all of these (and more) works, but we don’t do them. Why?Experts focus only on one area.
Work-life balance.
Yes, it exists. I didn’t believe in these words “work-life balance” before I joined Sparkline. Our HR Manager told me during my interview that they have it — but that’s what everyone says right? So I didn’t take it too seriously. But lo and behold, Sparkline truly offers you work-life balance. We don’t overcommit ourselves because we take pride in the work that we do here. And every Spark knows what we’re doing. That in turn ensures we don’t need to work beyond the required hours and we can truly enjoy the balance between work and life.
The sparks are the heart of Sparkline.
I’m not just saying this because I work here, but it’s true. The Sparks are the lifeblood of the company and without them, we cannot function as smoothly (and happily). There’s no micro-management. There are no narcissistic leaders. We’re a team and we work together as one. “Employees first” is not just a tagline here — it’s the way we operate. We truly believe in it and from my experience in the past, this is not common.
TGIF.
Sure, we’ve heard of companies holding TGIF activities that happen once a month and some even do it on a quarterly basis. Here, the Sparks enjoy weekly activities. You heard it right, weekly TGIF activities. With the pandemic, the in-person games and activities have been converted to online activities but we have no less fun!
Mental wellbeing.
It’s something that is taken seriously at Sparkline. From the way we operate to how we take care of our Sparks, mental wellbeing is a priority. All Sparks get an allowance of 6 mental health days. What do you do on these days? You take care of your mental health and don’t turn up for work. It’s an additional perk on top of your annual leave allowance.
Conclusion.
It has truly been an unexpected journey and I’m glad that it has started.
It should be a no-brainer by now, but it needs to be said — Sparkline is the best place I’ve ever worked in. The leaders truly understand how the employees’ happiness impacts the company and they’ve cultivated a positive and sustainable culture that has been in place since 2013. If you’re looking for a place to call home, Sparkline it is.
________
Sparkline aims to provide data accuracy, comprehension and consolidation, and most importantly, tangible insights for businesses. Get in touch if you’d like to learn more.
