Endr (they/them pronouns) originally joined Relay as a Janitor in summer of last year and was quickly identified as a great candidate for our Workforce Training Program (WTP) team, which was new and growing. Endr joined the WTP in fall of last year as a Trainer, and a couple months later was promoted to WTP Supervisor.
Endr’s Manager, Cody Crume, Director of Workforce Training, says this about Endr:
"Endr shows great dedication in their role and continuously strives to fulfill Relay's mission and values. They also show great compassion as a leader and dedication to their career growth and development."
Here's our interview with Endr:
How did you first discover Relay?
E: I first heard about Relay while I was working for another nonprofit agency that mostly focused on individuals coming out of addiction. I worked as an employment specialist for a short time, and we had some supervisors from Portland State come through and talk about Relay – what Relay offers in terms of supports, resources, housing, and just generally talking about how happy they were at the company.
And at that time, I was looking to move back into Janitorial because I like the work. It was just a happy accident that I was in the room that day and ended up where I am now.
I applied at Relay as a Janitor, for a fresh start. When I was hired, I trained at the Portland building with an employee who’d been with Relay for 40 years, which was awesome!
And during the process of being interviewed for Janitorial, the people interviewing me caught on to my training history and said, you should apply to be a Workforce Trainer instead.
I wasn’t sure – I was very self-conscious about it. But Denis Bittke (a Janitorial Supervisor) and others encouraged me and said, we think you'd be a good fit. So I started training as a Janitor, then three weeks later I was at the HUB (Relay’s main campus) as a new Workforce Trainer.
How did you learn about opportunities for professional development here? Was there someone who saw your skills and encouraged you to do more?
E: One of the biggest things I love about working here is that people really do see your potential, even when you may not see it in yourself.
After Denis encouraged me to apply for the Trainer role, the Director of Workforce Training at the time encouraged me to apply for the WTP Supervisor role. I was hesitant, because I thought, I'm still a newbie, I don't know if the team will be happy about it. But the Director supported me to go for it and see what happens.
I interviewed with a panel of folks, I felt like I did really well, and I was asked to step into the Supervisor role. So there I was, realizing, “All right, this is really happening!” It was a wild first couple of months!
The encouragement has been so meaningful. I wasn't sure if I was qualified for the WTP Trainer position, but at that time, and every step of the way, people at Relay have been encouraging me to go for more.
They have seen more in me than I see in myself, and they’ve given me the opportunity to step into that vision. You don't get that kind of support in a lot of workplaces.
As you were thinking about applying for these growth opportunities, did you want or need to talk it out with someone? Did you seek out advice or coaching?
E: I’ve definitely had a lot of conversations with people in leadership positions about my hesitation, my fears, my uncertainty. And I've talked to everybody from VPs to Janitors to learn their experiences. The feedback has always been, in essence, ‘just go for it.’
If the answer is ever “no,” then you're right where you are, you haven’t lost anything. But then you also have a great opportunity to learn what you need so you can get to that next level.
In terms of professional development, when I was hired as a Workforce Trainer, the very first thing my Director did was put me and all our team through training with ISSA (a leading association for the cleaning industry), so that I could be certified to train in Janitorial.
And ever since then there's been continued professional development, such as the Insights Discovery training Relay offers – that training helped me learn more about how to work with different personalities, understand where people are coming from, and how to create an environment that makes all of us comfortable asking for what we need.
It’s very encouraging to be in a workplace where you can feel comfortable sharing with people that you’d like to know what it would take to get to that next step, and learn from them.
How would you describe your role as our Workforce Training Program Supervisor?
E: It's a lot of pivoting! It's a lot of planning and then having plans change on the spot and on the fly. Workforce Training partners with many different teams, including Onboarding, to make sure that the transition from the new hire orientation to training is as smooth as possible. I'm here to keep us organized and keep the machine running.
We’ve had to deal with some setbacks and challenges since I joined the team. In all circumstances, I’ve found that we’re able to consistently set aside any differences to make sure that we put our trainees first, and we support each other in times of frustration, grief, mental health, physical health … whatever we’re experiencing.
My job as Supervisor is, at its core, to be a servant leader to my team. To imagine being the leader that I always wanted to have, and try to step into those shoes.
So I continuously check in with my team and ask them to let me know what they need. And then I try to deliver on that so they can be successful. Because at the end of the day, I'm answering to them – I don't think that they answer to me.
What advice would you give to someone who’s looking for the opportunity to advance their career here and thinking about taking the next step?
E: First – don't be afraid to ask for help, whether that's having someone practice interviewing with you, or work on how to write your resumé, or anything else you think you need.
Stay humble, but also know the value you bring and get comfortable talking yourself up. I think something that’s set me back in the past is not acknowledging everything that I bring to the table, and undervaluing all the aspects of the work I do that make me successful in my role.
In our society, Janitorial especially is not seen as a high-status job, and we work in silence. It takes a lot of physical and mental stamina, but if we do our job right, you'll never know we were there. So acknowledging the impact that we do have, even if it's not outwardly acknowledged, being able to acknowledge it for yourself: “I am doing an important job. I'm not just cleaning, I am keeping people safe.”
It all comes back to not being afraid to ask for what you need to be successful in whatever job you’re in. Feeling confident in the job you have now will boost your confidence to ask for help to get to the next level.
Endr (second from left) shares a happy moment with their team during this year’s Employee Appreciation Week. Pictured with them are (from left) WTP trainers Melisandre, Damaris, John, and Marc.
How have you seen the Culture of Love in action at Relay?
The biggest thing for me is that on our (WTP) team, and I think at Relay in general, we are treated as whole humans first. So even if we feel uncertain, or insecure, or we’re just having a bad day, I’ve found that people are going to come to you as a human being first, to learn what steps we can we take to help someone feel better, to feel more supported, and to feel more successful.
This is a unique and awesome part of the Relay culture that I can’t compare to any other employer I've worked for.
I mentioned that my team’s gone through some pretty rough setbacks in recent months, and that includes the death of a long-time Janitorial team member who meant a lot to us. The Culture of Love really showed up in that moment, not only with the team supporting each other through that grief, but also with our Director of Workforce Training bringing in a counselor and giving us an opportunity to work out the feelings around that loss. Giving us the grace and the space to be human at that time was a really nice example of love in action.
I see that so many people who work here are people who lead from their hearts. They really believe in the mission and they really work hard to put people in positions that will help them be independent and help them be successful. I also see that people genuinely want to learn from each other and genuinely want to respect each other, and it feels like we are all co-creating this culture where everyone's welcome and everyone's accepted.
That’s an awesome thing to see a company actually doing that work.
What part of your job gives you the most joy?
E: It’s awesome to see the “lightbulb moments” from the trainees, to watch them go from being uncertain of whether they can keep up with the demands of the job, to excelling and performing at a higher level than they thought they could.
It’s great to be able to provide accommodations and support for people who have different needs and seeing how those accommodations help them be more successful.
I also enjoy learning different training tools and techniques from my team, because I always want to be a student as much as I am a leader. I’m always looking at how other people interact with individuals and taking away some of those pieces. I’ll think, I never thought to address a person or a situation in quite this way, so I’ll try it next time.
It’s been an awesome learning opportunity for me in many ways, because there are a lot of folks on my team who have worked in this realm for a lot longer than I have.
And I see a lot of great things coming up at Relay. I get the opportunity to work with the Janitorial Operations leadership team and attend their meetings and hear about what’s happening out in the field, along with plans for our worksites. I get to visit a lot of those sites, and it's really helping me see where we can improve in many aspects.
There’s a lot coming down the pipeline that I'm excited about, and I believe there's limitless potential as long as we stay collaborative and creative in our solutions.