Building the Future @ we clean!
Rachael Peacock has very much been the face of we clean at our Head Office facilities in Rubery since joining the organisation initially as a trainee Reception Administrator back in 2015! Throughout this time she has continued to develop and evolve within we clean showing outstanding commitment and enthusiasm to support the impressive growth of the business, during this time and as a result of her hard work to improve her skills sets she is now progressing into a more strategic Procurement and Fleet Management role.
As a former pupil of Windsor High School in Halesowen, Rachael is very much a local and she initially embarked upon a career in a Health setting enrolling onto an NVQ Apprenticeship in Health & Social Care at Field House Care Home where she primarily cared for the residents and supported their family members for over 2 years. The experience whilst challenging, was very rewarding for Rachael and certainly laid the foundations for her aptitude for customer service and being personally organised to meet client demands promptly.
Following this brief spell within the care sector, Rachael’s career path within customer service took her into the realm of the AA and their Headquarters in Oldbury where she operated as a call handler. Racheal’s desire for continual personal improvement was demonstrated with her commitment to complete an NVQ apprenticeship in Customer Handling that resulted in her being promoted into the patrol support unit where her organisational skills came to the fore dealing with often ‘disgruntled drivers’ stuck by the roadside!
After 3 years at the AA Rachael couldn’t see a clear career pathway moving forward and began looking for the next positive career step and that’s when she came across an advert from we clean who were recruiting for a trainee Reception Administrator that demanded the customer facing skill sets she had honed so successfully during her time with the AA!
As Rachael re-called: “I saw the advert and felt immediately that this was the job for me, we clean were based locally and I was really keen to impress during my interview which was initially with Gaynor Powell HR Manager which then resulted in a second interview with the Directors Paul and David. I did find this a little daunting at the time but it went well and I was delighted that they offered me the position there and then and the rest as they say is history…”
Initially her role was very much about answering all inbound calls to the Company Head Office and transferring them accordingly but working alongside the very experienced Senior Office Administrator Amanda Headland who manages all the we clean ISO accreditation, Rachael’s scope of work began to expand!
With the sustained period of growth enjoyed by we clean prior to the Coronavirus pandemic Rachael’s role began to evolve with her taking a more hands-on, collaborative approach with client enquiries, providing detailed reporting on vehicle spend for the company board, managing our in-house Specialist Cleaning Division works planner and developing more structured purchasing and supply policies for the business.
However, the catalyst for Rachael to embark upon a professional qualification was within the purchasing and supply sector. as Rachael notes:
“I really enjoy the strategic aspects of Procurement and how it can have a real positive impact upon the profitability and sustainability of an organisation and it was Director Paul Concannon who himself is a fully qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply Management (CIPS) who suggested that seek external studies geared towards obtaining a formal qualification”.
Rachael quickly progressed through the intermediary level 2 & 3 of the CIPS qualification with support of the Procurement Academy and her tutor Reg Dyson who commented early on that Rachael was proving to be a model student handling both the ‘off the job training’ and the ‘on the job training’ with equal competency. The course works required her to look at such matters as Whole Life Costing, Supplier Relationship Management, Tender Processing, Sustainable and Ethical Sourcing including critical regulatory and legislative controls.
Throughout the duration and completion of the CIPS professional qualification programme Rachael has been able to apply her newly developed skill sets to many aspects of her role carrying out formal negotiations with the organisation extensive supplier base, collating information and producing meaningful Tender documentation for the procurement of key services for the business and establishing formal controls for monitoring supplier performance.
Director Paul Concannon commented on Rachael’s hard earned success:
“We are all so very proud of Rachael! She joined we clean as a junior administrator and to see both her personal and professional development over this time within the business is very satisfying and by recently being awarded a Level 4 Diploma in Purchasing & Supply Management which is a massive personal achievement, Rachael is now in a position to fully support the company’s strategic ‘sustainable’ growth objectives”
Rachael reflected on her time with we clean commenting:
“As an organisation we clean genuinely cares about its people and the Directors of the business Paul Concannon and David Harker are passionate about all staff whether they be Operational Managers, Frontline Cleaning Operatives or like myself Head Office Administrators improving their skill sets and knowledge base as ultimately they see that this will only benefit the business in the long term”
“I would particularly like to thank Amanda Headland who has been a real mentor to me and certainly given me hands on experience on how effective administration can help support a business and of course everyone else within the we clean team who have always been so supportive of me as I’ve developed my career over the past 6 years.”
And how does Rachael see her future career progression moving forward?
“The Company have kindly committed to supporting me in my Level 5 CIPS Advanced Diploma which I’m really excited about and this will help me still further to apply more structured procedures, policies and methodologies to the Purchasing function within the business and I hope ultimately to be a fully professionally qualified member of the institute playing my part in the continued success of the we clean brand”!
