HR Co-ordinator Amanda Walton celebrated 30 years with Ideal Standard earlier this week. We asked Amanda to tell us about her time with the company.
How did you first begin working for Ideal Standard?
I came for two weeks as a temp to cover for holiday cover. The lady who I was covering for was also a temp from the same agency and she never came back! Apparently she hated the job and the people she worked with. I was the opposite – loved the job and loved the people. Her loss!
What have been your job roles since then?
I started in Marketing in the publicity dept, sending out the brochure requests to consumers and showrooms. I then applied for a job on reception a few years later. I was the only candidate who went for the role as everyone was scared of the head receptionist who was on there at the time. We got on like a house on fire. Not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing!
A role then became available for an Office Services Manager when they merged two departments together, the postroom and reception. I applied and got that role at Hull in around 1997.
In 2000 I was asked if I wanted to add to the team I had by taking over the Office Services Manager role at the Armitage site when the legend Doreen Bradbury retired. I agreed – it was hard act to follow!
I then accepted job in HR in 2014 but kept the Office Services Manager role as well as taking on the HR Coordinator role. Although I have moved around the business I still haven’t been able to shake off the brochure distribution as this still falls within my team at the Armitage site!
What have you enjoyed most about working here?
I have appreciated all the opportunities I have had to move around the business into different processes, supported and encouraged by my managers, HR Team and colleagues. In my current role as Office Services Manager, I like the diversity of all the various requests I get on a day to day basis, from organising a brand new car delivery for someone to office refurbs and in today’s current situation making sure everyone is COVID-safe. No two days are the same.
How have things changed over the past 30 years?
Difficult one to answer – so much has changed; some good, some not so good but we are still going strong after 119 years at the Hull site. The only thing that has never changed over the years are the people who work here. They are still the friendliest bunch you will ever meet!
Tell us a funny story from your time with us.
There are loads but one of the funniest was when I first started in Marketing and the manager of the department was holding interviews, he had asked me when the candidates arrived to ask them to take a seat, make them a drink, and he when he was ready for them he would call me to send them down to his office. This guy turns up at my door so I did I was told – sat him down, made him a drink and for about 15 minutes we sat and chatted about Ideal Standard, how I had just started and what it was like working here.
When I got the call to ask if the next candidate had arrived and to send him down to the interview room, I did as requested. Unbeknown to me, the guy was the Marketing Director; the boss of my boss! He had only popped over to introduce himself but I had got carried away with the moment and sent him for an interview for junior marketing role! Luckily he saw the funny side of it but my boss didn’t – he never asked for my help again, especially when it came to interviews!
*Also celebrating major milestones are Payroll Supervisor Karen Gollagher and Financial Controller Jo Elwell, who have both been with the company for 20 years.