Travel for Work: What’s Sahiba’s UK Story? [And one British habit she picked up]

Sahiba Gupta
Internal Auditor, ISMS

Hometown: Indore, Madhya Pradesh

College: Shri Narayan College of Commerce

What I do: I monitor information-security management framework controls – to cut the technical jargon – I’m basically a watchdog for QX’s 114 controls for data security. I have two members in my team who are also vigilant toward QX’s data security process. Together me and my colleagues are a part of the business excellence team that stands like a firewall between QX’s data and rest of the world.

A work-trip to remember: I’ve travelled a few times due to work but it was my first time to the UK. I lived in London at a guesthouse in Welling for a few days and then moved on to stay in Skipton – where our office is.

For the first few days, I was extremely busy – I used to wake up at 5.30 am for office and leave late but Skipton weather kept me going. I’d squeeze in shopping breaks in between and go out to get some small suppers to refuel before getting back to work.

Even though the weekdays went by in a breeze; the weekends were full of fun and exploring. I went back to London, where I met with my colleagues (who were visiting for another project) and together we went to the London-Eye. Later, we went to Mala, a famous Indian restaurant on St. Katharine Dock, since we were all craving for some Indian food.

The weekends were always packed: I hopped on to the tour bus for a city tour; shopped all the way through Oxford Street and explored the city on the tube.

Something British I’ve picked up: The most British thing I’ve picked up is discipline. Waking up at 5.30; eating mostly just fruits, yogurt and healthy organic veggies, walking around to avoid a sedentary lifestyle – the British know how to stay healthy.

I’ve also observed an interesting difference between Londoners and the rest of the Brits. People in London are pre-occupied, they don’t have the time to look around, take a break or bother about anything else. However, Skipton was different. My hotel-owner, Julia looked after me, helped me get over my jet lag and arranged vegetarian food for me – she was the best!

Apart from culture, there’s something else that caught my eye – the Rainbow Roses! I’ve never seen a flower with all the colours in it before.

A travel tip when travelling on business: If you’re going to the UK – you must carry the maps of the train or the subway system because sometimes the internet doesn’t quite work in the subway.

What do I like about working at QX: It’s been just one and a half years at QX and I feel as if I’ve grown immensely in my career. Thanks to my boss – who has always been encouraging. I love the light-hearted, stress-free atmosphere at work too. Even though we’re handling pretty heavy, security-related work – we try to take it easy and do lots of team-building activities to keep us motivated.

I think at the root of it all is the culture of equality at QX. I’ve had two colleagues in the same position with similar skillsets yet I’ve never felt as if I’m less equal to them. There’s absolutely no gender bias in the culture of the company.