Miguel Lie Kwie | making work meaningful stories.
Miguel Lie Kwie, associate operations officer, Global Communications
a workday with Miguel
As a Linguistics and Communications student at the University of Amsterdam and an employee of Randstad Sourceright, my life revolves around balancing school and work. The great thing about this combination is that my job is already in the field I’m studying. This gives me a unique opportunity to apply the theoretical approach when at work and share real world examples when at school. Fortunately, I’m able to balance both my work and my studies thanks to the virtual working and learning environment that my university and my employer provides.
For the past three months, I’ve been an associate operations officer in the Global Communications team at Randstad Sourceright. Prior to officially starting, I did a two month internship there. My role consists of writing and editing articles that will be shared internally on our company intranet as well as externally in the form of blogs.
I support getting new users into our intranet, organize webinars and recurring all-hands calls and edit regional newsletters. There are, of course, plenty of ad hoc projects that require some background understanding, such as when we suddenly need to communicate a particular topic to a targeted employee population.
making time for more
What I love about working at Randstad Sourceright is that it’s a company that really tries to know and understand you so that it can cater to your unique situation. Because I spend half the week doing my studies, my job gives me a lot of flexibility and personalized support. Randstad Sourceright’s Human Forward approach focuses on the health and well-being of its workforce so I never feel guilty for needing to dedicate time to my studies.
Outside of work and school, I dance salsa with my girlfriend — although she may enjoy it a little less than I do since I’m frequently stepping on her toes! I’m also interested in horology, which is the art and study of clocks and watches. As a child, I couldn’t understand how clocks could work without batteries. I thought it was magic! Recently, I’ve started to collect watches and am saving up for a vintage Rolex Datejust 16014.
With so many activities taking part simultaneously, it’s important to set boundaries and ensure balance. What helps me is staying in tune with my feelings and living by the moment. On a day off, sometimes I don’t even plan anything! I’ve realized it is better to save an activity and do it with complete dedication, rather than trying to squeeze it in without allocating proper focus. Eating well and setting a regular sleep schedule helps keep me on this track.
When things start to feel unbalanced, ask yourself, “Is there anything I change about the situation?” Here at Randstad Sourceright, we offer employees dedicated resources to support them in achieving a healthy work-life balance. This makes me proud to work at a company that values lifelong self-improvement and flexible working options.