We recently downed tools for an afternoon and got (nearly) the whole Habitat Works team together for our annual end-of-survey-season social.
Of course, “end of survey season” is a fairly loose term! There’s still plenty keeping our ecology team busy, while for our contracting team autumn and winter mean the start of one of their busiest periods of the year. But it’s become a good point in the calendar to get everyone together before the focus shifts towards winter work.
This year we headed out for an afternoon of bowling, which, as anticipated, was highly competitive and lots of fun!
Plenty to celebrate
As well as marking the change in seasons, this year’s get-together gave us quite a few other reasons to celebrate.
Several members of the team have recently reached their first anniversary with Habitat Works, having joined us during a period of continued growth for the business.
We were also very pleased to confirm that our two Seasonal Ecologists will be staying with Habitat Works as Graduate Ecologists. Both joined us to support the ecology team through the busy survey season, so it’s great to have them now continuing their careers with us.
At the same time, our two existing Graduate Ecologists have progressed to Assistant Ecologist roles, recognising the experience, skills and confidence they’ve developed since joining the team.
Seeing people move from seasonal roles into graduate positions, and from Graduate to Assistant Ecologist, is something we’re particularly pleased to be able to celebrate.
Growing together
As Habitat Works has grown, we’ve always wanted to make sure there are opportunities for people to learn, gain practical experience and take on more responsibility as their skills develop.
That happens in lots of different ways, through working alongside more experienced colleagues, gaining experience across different projects and habitats, completing training and professional development, and gradually taking greater ownership of their work.
Getting everyone together also matters. With our ecology and contracting teams often spread across different sites and projects, there aren’t many occasions when the whole company is in the same place at the same time.
So, an afternoon away from surveys, sites and project deadlines was well deserved and gave us a chance to recognise some of the milestones that can easily pass by during a busy year.
Now onto the winter works season!