Baba is Our New 2016 ‘Dee Richards’ Pride Award Champion

Baba is Our New 2016 ‘Dee Richards’ Pride Award Champion

Baba Seckan has officially been crowned the 2016 ‘Dee Richards’ Pride Award Champion.

This amazing achievement follows on from his recent success at the 2016 Loo of the Year Awards, along with his appearance on BBC One’s The One Show, in what has been an outstanding couple of months for our Lead Housekeeper at Brindley Place. Baba was ecstatic to receive this recognition from the business, but the fact that the award is named after Dee Richards, who Baba had such a close relationship with, makes it extra special. Baba saw Dee as a close friend or confidant, rather than just a work colleague and has grown within the business in Dee’s mould.

 

 

Baba started his we clean journey working just one hour a day back in 2009, but has grown to become an integral member of our team. Over the seven years that Baba has been with the business he has been continually learning, his appetite to succeed has seen him persevere through some incredibly long and challenging days, yet he will always come out the other side with a big smile on his face. As Brindley Place Lead Housekeeper, Baba is never still; he is continually faced with new challenges and problems to solve; he works in a fast paced environment where he has to regularly adapt.

Our Pride Award Champion managed to spare 5 minutes to answer a few questions:

What’s your name and where are you originally from?

My name is Baba Seckan, I’m originally from Gambia, in West Africa, it’s a small and a very peaceful country, a lovely country.

How long have you been in the cleaning industry?

I’ve been in the industry for 9 years now. I first started working for a company call ICM.

How long have you worked for we clean?

I first started to work with we clean on the 15th June 2009.

What’s your role within the business?

I try to be an ambassador for the Company, and then my day to day job is Location Manager 5-7 in the morning, and then head housekeeper in Brindley Place all day.

When does your working day start?

My working day starts at 5 o’clock in the morning, and my day finishes at 8 o’clock, with a few breaks in-between, but I don’t mind as I enjoy it so the days seem to fly by.

What’s your favourite thing about working for we clean?

They are special, the management, lots of encouragement and motivation, constantly getting in touch, and offering support. I worked with other companies but we clean is different, I often see the Directors and management at we clean which you rarely see with other cleaning companies. It’s the relationship with the management, it’s as a family, everybody is together from the Director’s down to the Cleaning Operatives.

What do you feel makes working for we clean different?

Yeah, it’s the family feel and the relationships within the Company.

What do you get up to on the weekends? Any hobbies?

On weekends, as you know I work from Monday to Friday, I’m always busy, I work very hard, so on the weekends I like to relax. What I do is watch football, I like football; I support Arsenal! I can’t miss it. Sometimes I will go out with my wife and family, most of the time we just relax and stay quiet so try to spend time with the family.

I travelled back to Gambia over Christmas, to see the family back home. I miss them so it’s nice to go back.

Finally, what does the award mean to you?

The award is fantastic, it means a lot, great encouragement. It makes me feel important and is a great reward and recognition. It encourage me to work harder, it means a lot. The company’s award is brilliant, it’s great because it’s an award named after a lovely, fantastic woman. I worked very closely with her, she was more than a Manager to me, a real friend. It’s brilliant. I wasn’t expecting it at all, complete surprise. She will be smiling down on me!