It’s not every day you get to acknowledge a colleague completing 20 years service within your organisation, and yet I had the pleasure and the honour of doing just that last Friday, St Patrick’s Day. Lisa Slater, our Operations and Finance Manager, and definitely my right hand woman in the business, started her career at HCSUK on 17th March 1997, as our Internal Sales Support, then Miss Lisa Broughton.
Lisa and Jo
A quick check back on her application letter reminds me that she described herself as having ‘all the necessary attributes and enthusiasm to succeed in the position", and belief that she could make a significant contribution to our business. And Lisa has been true to her word and never disappointed. Having begun her 20 year journey in sales, Lisa soon developed an interest in pursuing a role in Accounts and we were able to offer her that opportunity when a vacancy became available in that area of the business.
In those days, all of our ledgers were manually written up in great big files, and Lisa would sit for hours updating them all in her immaculately neat handwriting, and she was never happy until she had made sure, from day one that they all balanced to the penny, there have been any discrepancies on Lisa’s watch!
Lisa’s time keeping, attendance record and positive attitude over 20 years have been exemplary; she has been a model employee and sets high standards and a great example to the rest of the team.
Lisa’s role within the business has evolved gradually and it became a no brainer to promote her to become our Finance and Ops Manager, as she was already the ‘go to’ person in the business, for other colleagues, who needed advice and guidance on day to day matters, and her considerable knowledge and experience meant that she would always advise wisely and in keeping with the needs of the business. Lisa has developed into a very accomplished line manager, well liked and respected by all of her colleagues, which has resulted in a much happier and more stable workforce at Hcsuk.
When we recently decided to give all of our team members a Mr Men name, it was an obvious choice for Lisa to become our ’Little Miss Busy!’ Lisa always gives 100% effort, from the moment she arrives at work until it’s home time, and there is always lots of laughter to be heard both from her office and as she moves around the workplace.
We have faced some extremely challenging times within the business over the last 18 months, due to a combination of circumstances which were completely outside of our control, and I can only say that Lisa has been my absolute rock, together we have helped to steer the ship out of some fairly rough seas, and I can honestly say that I don’t think I could have done it without her constant faith, optimism and the amazing way in which she has managed the finances.
I presented Lisa with flowers on her anniversary and also asked her what has made her stay at Hcsuk for 20 years, and she said, 'because it's a wonderful place to work, we have a really close knit team and everyone gets on really well and supports one another.'
Lisa is not one to be in the spotlight, so she probably won’t thank me for this, however I could not let this important milestone in the company’s history and in Lisa’s own journey within the business to go unrecognised and unappreciated, she really is worth her weight in gold!
