Introducing Jody: Director
I have worked at Away From My Desk since it first launched and am affectionately known as a ‘lifer’. While in many situations that’s not a good thing, here we love lifers, those who will stay with us and are loyal to us for a very long time. I am very proud of our current team, most of whom have been with us for a minimum of four years.
During this time, I have seen the company grow from just a few users to thousands, peaking during the long heady days of Covid where we worked crazy hours while everyone else enjoyed the sun and day drinking in their gardens!
I most enjoy working with the team. We have aimed to take people on as apprentices and help them grow and achieve their potential and help to shape their careers both here and elsewhere. Where they choose to move onto new ventures, we like to support them to obtain the requirements necessary for this.
Where they choose to stay with us we aim to give a good working environment alongside good, healthy team-building experiences and social activities where we grow together to think of each other as family and friends more than colleagues. We enjoy regular social nights out which usually include a meal, music, dancing and often another activity such as bowling. We also share and delight in each other’s achievements, both personally and professionally such as completion of assignments and courses, buying their first homes and getting engaged.
Alongside this, I have enjoyed developing my personal skills and have attended courses to ensure that I am the best leader I can be. Through these experiences, I have met a wide range of people, gained new skills and experiences, and made some friends for life.
I enjoy the strategic management of the company, planning where we are heading in the future and identifying the skills required to get us there. Over the past years, we have focused on finding the right people, building strong foundations such as systems and processes and ensuring that our customers are happy and have the best work-life balance possible. The feedback we have received has been amazing and is my absolute favourite part of the job, especially being able to share and recognise the team’s efforts in this.
While I have been away from the office for a long period recently due to ill health, I am back part-time and am focusing on the future and bringing new growth to the company in new areas that we haven’t explored before while also helping with a range of our other companies in a mentoring capacity. I also use Away From My Desk myself to work from home more than I have ever done previously which has been especially nice during the summer months.
Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends and most importantly our pets. We have two miniature dachshunds, a chihuahua and a crazy Bengal, who loves to hunt and bring her treasures home…dead or alive! I also enjoy exploring the beautiful countryside where I live and my biggest passion, reading where I share my book reviews on a blog with a great community of people. In the coming months, I hope to begin to travel abroad again having not been anywhere since 2019!
Connect with Jody on LinkedIn where she will be helping to share all of our latest news.
