‘We are thankful, and our gratitude drives our actions.’
During this season of gratitude, this is the third in a series of five articles expressing our core company value above. Because despite the challenges this year has laid at all our feet, we still choose to actively count our many blessings.
This series will express the gratitude of those who place their trust and faith in us – and each other – at BELAY.
These are their stories.
We are all eternally grateful to work for BELAY — all of its incredible programs, benefits, and incentives notwithstanding. But as recipients of maternity and paternity leave, Pay-It-Forward, and bereavement, and as members of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, how has your gratitude evolved? How has BELAY positively impacted your life, both personally and professionally?
“In a time when my whole world felt flipped over in the most beautiful way, I was so grateful to be able to be fully present with my son and husband as a new family of three on maternity leave.
“It was the most special gift to be able to step away from work fully knowing there was genuine support and excitement from my team. That kind of support is rare, and I truly appreciate the gift it was to and for my family.
“And as new homeowners – who had just found out the exciting yet terrifying news that we were expecting, a tree falling on our car was not necessarily the ‘congratulations’ we were looking for.
“BELAY stepping in through Pay-It-Forward was not only a gift financially, but in knowing we were heard and cared for in the stress of life.
“My husband and I still talk to this day about how generous that gift was, and how that generosity has affected the way we give now.” – Lauren Latka, EA to Director of Marketing
“A year and a half ago, my husband and I embarked upon the long process of getting qualified to foster – and possibly adopt – a beautiful little girl that we had met at our church.
“After much prayer, we were able to foster for 10 months and adopt her earlier this year. It was not only a dream come true for our family but working for BELAY gave me the opportunity to spend the summer with our girl, as BELAY’s maternity benefits extend to adoptions.
“This was an amazing experience! It gave us the time to bond as a family and create wonderful memories at a time when there was so much uncertainty due to the pandemic.
“I am forever grateful for the privilege of working for a company that places as much value on caring for its employees as it does for our clients. Seeing such beautiful displays of genuine gratitude in our organization has left an imprint in our lives and our desire to serve others.
“And the gift is being passed on. My daughter and I are working on creating quilts for children that are placed in foster care or separated from their families. We hope that this will bring them some measure of comfort and hope.” – Cindy Hill, Corporate Accountant
“BELAY’s benefits moved beyond words on a paper when I had my son earlier this year.
“From preparing for my maternity leave to returning to work with a new little one to care for, my family has been the number one priority. I am grateful for the time I had to recover and bond with my son and the flexibility to ease back into work in a fashion that I was comfortable with.
“While work was the last thing on my mind after childbirth and unexpected surgery, Krisha, our Vice President of HR was one of the first to check-in while I was in the hospital, and within hours of talking to her, I had received a digital gift card that would provide my family with several meals.
“My life felt quite literally flip-turned-upside-down and in that crazy time, I felt such support from the whole team at BELAY.
“I’ll be the first to admit that being pregnant during a pandemic with a 4-year-old at home were not ideal conditions for high productivity, and likewise for returning to work navigating life as a family of four – though we’re getting closer to normal sleep, I hope.
“Through it all, BELAY has demonstrated complete trust in me. That trust from my leadership and peers has given me the confidence to embrace all that is going on in my life – from the joy of my growing family to a job that I love.
“I’m not caught up trying to balance the impossible. Instead, I have the ability to be the wife and mother I want to be while doing work that I truly enjoy.” – Sarah Kubicki, Training & Internal Communications
“We are all eternally grateful to work for BELAY — all of its incredible programs, benefits, and incentives notwithstanding.
“But as a recipient of Pay-It-Forward and as a member of the D&I committee, my gratitude has evolved even further.
“BELAY has impacted my life personally and professionally. Every book that we read, training that we complete, and team meeting that we have is to enhance and empower us as a whole person, not just in how we can increase the bottom line – which is actually never the focus – but on how we can be better as a person, which will allow us to bring our full, authentic selves to work.
“For me, I feel like I have been given the opportunity to reach my highest potential, and BELAY has shown that they support me, both inside and outside of work. You can’t get any better than that. They see each of us as people, not as numbers or robots, but real human beings.” – Tonia Benas, EA to the Vice President of HR
“I’m so grateful BELAY has been there for me during times of immense change in my life.
“More recently, my wife and I adopted and welcomed our first child into our family. BELAY not only gave me eight weeks of paid leave to be with my family but through the Pay-It-Forward program, sent us some funds to help cover some of the adoption costs.
“We were completely stunned and blown away! I’m honored and grateful to work for a company that allows me to focus on what matters most to me in life: my family.” – Garrett Brown, Marketing Manager
For more on gratitude — because who can get enough? — check out our One Next Step podcast episode on just that — How to Demonstrate Gratitude: Celebrating & Rewarding Your Team Remotely!