First day at Boehringer Ingelheim

11:18am

I find Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) to be an amazing place. I am just astonished by the level of professionalism here.  As just another eye on the street I would have never thought that this style of life and professionalism exist in Shanghai. The contrast of the office and the street can be attributed to many things. I am sure that most employees at BI earn a decent salary, which in turn should generate higher employee productivity. Additionally, this company is company and the corporate culture is very different than that of Chinese companies. The German model may be similar to what I am familiar with as an American.

So far I am enjoying my time here. I really enjoy the professionalism of everyone here. It is amazing that everyone speaks English at a decent level, but ultimately that does not matter to me. Everyone is organized and people seem to do their jobs well as opposed to passing the buck, as I seem to have been ever so fortunate to experience at my former employers. 

12:00pm

I went to lunch with the head of Human Resources. He is a great guy and very friendly. He was very curious to learn about me and see what kind of person I am. It was also nice to get to know him and not feel like he is just some headless manager that shovels out commands. He showed me pictures of his daughter, asked me about my family, my Chinese level, and so much more. The things I have read about China and its culture are now presenting themselves to me. It seems like there are many things that I will learn from my time here at BI.

2:33PM

I participated in my first meeting. I don’t know what to say. I think I disappointed my boss a bit because I was not particularly ready with what he wanted. I now know his expectations as well as my direct supervisor’s expectation. It will take me a minute to learn everyone’s personalities, expectations, and to mold myself into the company/office culture. My position is new and I am entirely responsible for defining it. They know I am looking for a job outside of teaching and they made it very clear that my work will dictate how I may be able to move into other positions.

Knowing my two bosses’ expectations I can now prepare tons of paperwork for them. They want projections, guidelines, and so much more. I don’t know why they were expecting me to have all of this on the first day, but I am now on board with their thinking. I plan to give them everything they and expect and more.

I am nervous to make a mistake and disappoint. May God grant me the guidance, nerve, and talent to exceed expectations of this job and not be made redundant. 

5:24PM

BI is so professional! I needed to setup my account for our in-office messenger and they have a PDF-like document with pictures and instructions to show you how to do it. It is in Chinese, but I am still impressed by the level of organization here. LOVE IT!