Behind the Scenes of WRS
From a New Employee Remotely
I started with Wyoming Retirement System (WRS) last May. This was my first remote interview, hire and on-boarding process of my career. As with many people last year, who went from working full-time in their office to full-time working from home, this was definitely a change that required patience and adaptability. What I learned in working with WRS over the past year was why remote working worked so well here during the pandemic.
The qualities of WRS employees are just like a winning basketball team: attitude, work ethic, communication, awareness and passionate. WRS is a place where the attitude from the top down is positive, encouraging and respectful. They have a “tone at the top” model of leadership. WRS employee work ethic is adaptable and community oriented, where they help each other and provide support. From our “Connect” Zoom calls to farewell socially distanced car parades for 2020 retirees; being connected and supportive remained a priority for WRS during quarantine. The communication here is intentional and thoughtful from internal meetings to member inquiries.
Our director reminds us weekly to “Be kind” because we don’t know what others struggles are and that “Kindness is contagious too”. WRS employees are passionate about their jobs and constantly strive to go above and beyond each day.
From emails to recognize one another for achievements to coordinated “quarantined” creative holiday activities and trivia games, the commitment to social bonds and respect of WRS employees is important here. They spend time working on being cognizant of the effectiveness of their daily work and strive to be efficient and provide the “best” service.
Some firsts came out of last year, the WRS YouTube channel educational series videos and a successful Fall Virtual Town Hall meeting with over 1,800 views! What I found working for WRS can be best captured by the words of Phil Jackson, “The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team.”
