We’re proud of the intelligent, passionate, and hardworking people that make up the Bright Power team. Each month, you’ll get a chance to meet one of them, understand how they contribute to the organization, and what makes them excited to come to work every day.
Meet Bright Power team member Samantha Halpern, Human Resources Specialist.
What are some of the things you like most about working at Bright Power?
The people here are incredible. I also really appreciate the growth opportunities Bright Power provides its employees. They are more generous than other places I’ve worked, and I have seen people get promoted very quickly when appropriate and deserved.
I have been here for two years now and these two years have been more satisfying than what I’ve spent at other organizations. That’s truly due to the people I work with and leadership encouraging internal growth.
We hear you just received your Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) certification—congratulations! Tell us about how your career has progressed at Bright Power?
Bright Power’s generous professional development budget. Each employee has an allotment and they can use that money towards any professional development opportunity. I took advantage of that and was able to get my SHRM certification because of that benefit.
Also, we set our teams up in a different way. Rather than setting teams up as ladders, where a leader needs to leave for an employee to be promoted, we set our team up like trees where new positions can be created based on the company’s needs and our people’s strengths. I’m an example of that. I was able to prove myself and receive a promotion without my supervisor leaving the organization.
What are some projects and accomplishments you’re most proud of?
I help plan Bright Power’s annual retreat. The second one I have planned is coming up the last week of August! It’s rewarding to plan something for the whole company. And I designed this year’s t-shirt! They just arrived and I am beyond proud of them.
I re-organized our six floors of office space in our New York office this summer, and five floors of office space last spring. We created new conference rooms and a large community space for our monthly company meetings, weekly lunch and learns, and monthly yoga. I worked to make sure teams had what they needed to be successful while planned and executed the physical move of teams’ locations.
I also have worked to perfect our Onboarding process and employee planning to allow Bright Power to continue its high growth.
What advice would you give to someone who is interested in a career in sustainability but might not have a background in energy engineering or building science?
It’s important to first find a company whose values match up with yours. Companies value people who have the same motivation. At Bright Power, we really value people who are as enthusiastic as we are and see working at Bright Power as more than just a paycheck. For example, composting is important to us but it takes some extra effort. But, we have an office manager who values composting and makes it a point to take the extra effort to bring our compost to the municipal drop off. Someone who did not have values that aligned with ours might find that annoying when instead it should be a point of pride.
What’s the one service offering we have that you think is the most beneficial to clients and why?
I don’t think it is a specific service. Rather, it’s the dedication and passion of the people who work at Bright Power that is most beneficial to our clients. Our people aren’t just here for the paycheck. We go above and beyond because we have a shared goal—making it easy for building owners to have comfortable, healthy, high performing buildings while eliminating negative environmental impact—and we want to make a big impact.