Employee Spotlight 1: Janette
This year we’re going to be sharing stories and experiences of staff as part of our new Employee Spotlight series. In the first of the series, Janette shares her experience and talks about why Micro Systems is a great place to work!
As the first point of contact for many of our customers, suppliers, contractors, visitors and members of staff, the lovely Janette will be a familiar face for many readers and quite possibly the next person interested parties will contact. So who better to kick off our employee spotlight?
As part of our Employee Spotlight series, Alex recently sat down with Janette to spend some time discussing her experience working at Micro Systems, to find out more about what she does and how she feels about being a part of our company. Watch the short clip for a summary of why she enjoys our culture, or read below for the full details of the whole experience.
Alex: Hi Janette, how are you today?
Janette: I’m very well thank you
Alex: How long have you been at Micro Systems?
Janette: Almost 9 years now.
Alex: How did you find out about the job when you first joined?
Janette: My colleague who has now retired was working here. We used to work together at a previous company and she contacted to say there was a vacancy and asked me to come to apply and have a chat, and I did and got the job
Alex: Lovely, no surprise there!
[Q1]
Alex: Can you explain a bit more about your role, and your general tasks and responsibilities, what does a normal day for you look like?
Janette: A normal day, very busy indeed, I start work at 8 and I’m here to work reception area, greet visitors, make sure they’re signed in, given guidelines on safety shoes or PPE in certain areas. If it’s customers, I need to make sure that they’re housed properly in the meeting room, make sure the coffees are done and the biscuits are out etc and they’re comfortable.
Apart from just dealing with the visitors, I do a lot of admin work. I do the delivery notes and the commercial invoices for shipping, so therefore I have to work closely with production to make sure I’ve got the correct information for the goods to go out. I do various purchase orders for the factory floor, for instance for hardening, validation, general POs for stationary, coffee, cleaning products etc… I arrange transport, hotels and restaurants for the customers, and in between that I answer the phone and do lots of other bits and pieces as and when asked, so it’s quite varied I would say.
Alex: It sounds it yeah! A lot of different roles there, is there any particular part you enjoy the most?
Janette: I do enjoy meeting the customers, I do enjoy the hospitality side, going into the meeting room and serving up, chatting with them and getting to know them a little bit, it’s quite nice. I also enjoy working as a team because I feel like we’re quite a good team here.
[Q2]
Alex: So you mentioned you enjoy working here and being part of this team, how would you describe your overall experience working here and being part of this team?
Janette: Personally I would say very positive. The niceness of it is that a lot of people here are connected in some way, there’s a lot of people here that have got jobs because they’ve known the people and for me that makes it quite friendly. I enjoy that it seems to be a close-knit, tight-knit team and I like that, I like the positivity of working together. I feel like we’re all here for the same goal, the same aim and I’ve found that people are very helpful if you need help, equally I hope I can help other people if I can. One of the directors used to take all the girls for a night out once a year before COVID so he’s very kindly taken us all to the races a few times, we’ve had trips out into Liverpool and into Manchester, so the company, is quite a social company as well. I think they like to keep the staff motivated together in social times, which is also good, and we’ve had some lovely nights out!
Alex: Perfect!
[Q3]
Alex: What do you find most interesting about the actual work that we do?
Janette: We do a lot of moulding for medical companies and the pharmaceutical industry, our customers are doing research and development in certain areas and coming to us to input ideas to make that happen, and I’m learning all the time about what our customers are doing as well, and it’s quite interesting really. And also it’s nice to be part of a company where in the end you are helping people in the healthcare sector so you’re doing something really useful and helpful.
Alex: Lovely, good.
[Q4]
Alex: What skills do you need to do your job effectively?
Janette: Patience!
Janette & Alex both laugh
Janette: Well communication skills because clearly I have to deal with customers and contractors, you know they need a lot of guidance sometimes, working closely with production and the commercial invoices I do requires attention to detail, I’ve got to make sure all the pricing is right on these things that go out because these things are going through customs in a lot of different countries, and different countries have certain criteria so you’ve got to have some attention to detail. You’ve got to work under pressure because we have deadlines that our customers set, we have deadlines that our couriers set, so you’ve got to be prepared to work under a bit of pressure, and you’ve got to be patient as well knowing other people are under pressure, so yeah, I think attention to detail, communication, being able to work under pressure, and obviously you need to be able to work as a team.
[Q5]
Alex: Ok so, how about outside of work? What do you do in your free time?
Janette: Outside of work well I tend to, I like walking, I enjoy getting out to the countryside, my dogs like walking with me, friends, my daughter likes shopping, particularly Liverpool, we enjoy mooching around the shops, eating out etc, just the usual with friends and family.
Alex: Alright good!
[Q6]
Alex: Alright well last question then, seeing as you’re our ‘gatekeeper’ here, and the first point of contact for many customers that visit, or any customers that are coming in to see us, what do you think that Micro Systems does well to make sure that these customers have a good experience with us?
Janette: On the hospitality side, I think Micro Systems is really good at making the customers feel comfortable in terms of looking after them with lunches, teas and coffee throughout the day. I think first impressions as they come in because we all appreciate how important our customers are to us and we’re all here with smiling, friendly faces, we’re all here to show that we’re supportive, if we can do anything we will do it, even little silly daft things such as running to the shops or chemist for them, we always try to accommodate the customer as much as we possibly can.
Alex: That’s literally going the extra mile!
Janette & Alex both laugh
Janette: It is! And I hope and I feel that the customers get that from us when they come through here, I think they get a good friendly, professional welcome, I think all the team are the same, I think everyone of us is geared to making that experience here as friendly and professional and as helpful as we can!
Alex: Lovely! Ah well perfect thank you very much for your time Janette!
Janette: Thank you!
Micro Systems specialises in the design, manufacture and validation of ultra precision micro moulds for the medical, pharmaceutical and optical markets, at the same time, the development and use of micro and nano technologies in the design and manufacture of injection moulded components. We have a dedicated micro moulding facility, and have ISO13485 and ISO9001 certifications. Micro Systems strives to create a positive working environment where respect, teamwork, training, communication and opportunity are at best. For more information, please Contact us or visit our website.
