Excelling in a rewarding career

HAYLEY DEAS, department manager at Asda was finalist for the Above and Beyond in Warehousing category at the Everywoman Transport and Logistics Awards, held earlier in the year at a glamorous venue in Central London. Hayley has worked at Asda’s Lutterworth IDC for the past 14 years. She has worked a variety of roles within the depot across all three shifts.

While operational roles have been to the fore for Hayley, she has recently been on secondment in HR Shared Services, showing how much variety can be on offer for warehousing roles.

Hayley explains: “With the focus on pay accuracy, we worked hard to understand what was at the heart of our issues at IDC. Two years ago we were looking at more than acceptable wage queries and my job was to train up our managers and our colleagues on the right processes along with working with HRSS, as kind of a bridge.”

It is a dramatic improvement and has brought a considerable benefit to colleague morale. It can be tricky because people do different shifts and it can be a challenge to make sure everyone’s is totted up correctly across a three shift system.

On the operations side, the IDC is highlighted automated (driven by an AutoStore system managed by Swisslog), so how does this impact the role?

Hayley says: “Being a department manager at Lutterworth is a challenging position. There's a lot that you have to have a decent level of understanding of, from operations, to the automation, as well as the paperwork side of it.

“But for me, the first thing to realise is you don't have to be amazing at everything. We have a buddy system, and the key thing is to have the right buddy. If your buddy has a similar profile to you, they are probably not the right fit for you. The buddy should have the competences to complement you, and vice versa.”

Each department manager has a buddy and that helps each person with support in key areas, and that can be reciprocated when a buddy needs assistance.

As well as managing operations and working hard on solving admin issues, Hayley really has gone above and beyond in her role, offering valuable emotional support to a colleague in a vulnerable moment.

“There was a colleague that needed a lot of emotional support due to mental health issues. I was the point of call for that colleague, and for that I received a British Citizenship Award, as well as the nomination for the Everywoman award,” says Hayley.

“I have no problem with the varied nature of the job. I am happy to tackle any challenge, as long as I'm physically able.”

The atmosphere of the Everywoman Transport and Logistics Awards was lively, emotional and passionate. For me it was humbling to watch, each of every woman nominated has had to push hard for opportunities that men take for granted. If the attitude of the women in the room is anything to go by, however, the glass ceiling is not being nudged aside, it is being swiftly smashed to smithereens.

Hayley has happy memories from the night itself: “It was an incredible experience. The amount of people I met that had done amazing things was just jaw dropping to be honest.”

Next year’s Everywoman in Transport and Logistics Awards open for nominations on 20 November.

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