A day in the life of Facilities

Who else is in your team Debbie and what do they all do?

Amber Fordham

Receptionist based in Blackpool

Faye Reynolds

Facilities Assistant based in Blackpool Supports all sites

Olivia Gatehouse

Receptionist in Cardiff office Joined Tandem in January!

Carla Guttridge

Executive Assistant for Alex Mollart, CEO In Blackpool or hybrid working

Andrew Hurst

Educational Facilitator

Works in Blackpool or in schools and colleges to educate young people (16−18 year olds) in our Financial Education Programme.

How long has the team been working together? –What’s the history of the team?

Whilst the team has evolved and changed over the past 12 months, the core of the team is based from our Blackpool site. I’ve been with Tandem since 2004, working in various roles across the business, including HR Director and leading the development of ESG and sustainability initiatives in the bank, throughout the pandemic. Through last year’s acquisition of Tandem and Oplo, my team has grown and is responsible for all 5 sites and over 500 employees’ health, safety and wellbeing.

Not Debbie!

Briefly introduce yourself Debbie:

As Head of Facilities, I manage and oversee a team of unsung heroes in the bank who are responsible for all Facilities, Office Management and Financial Education services within the bank. I live in Cheshire and am hybrid working. You can typically find me in our Blackpool office on Thursdays, however, I do visit our other sites in line with the needs of the business.

Purpose / Objective of the team – What is the team responsible for?

The team are responsible for A LOT!! From ensuring the post is allocated to the correct person, ordering enough milk for everyone’s morning cuppa (brew!), and all the way through to creating amazing environments for us all to enjoy working in, policies for enforcement, and ensuring the health, safety and welfare of our people across all sites. Ultimately, Facilities ensure the smooth running of our offices and all utility needs linked with such as well as larger projects.

How does Facilities support all teams?

We assist in the streamlining of the business infrastructure and implementing long term strategies and plans for the business.

Can you give an example(s) of completed work?

EPC ratings - Reviewing current scores and creating plans to improve the ratings, including applying as many energy efficient elements across all branches as we can.

Sit stand desks – For the health and wellbeing of our people (health benefits).

T&E policy and new process – Negotiated hotel rates and now book everything from 1st Feb trains, hotels and events etc to keep control over costs.

Health & Safety – Completed audits across all sites, new group policy coming out encompassing working from home element. Production reports to stake holders etc.

- Another new policy, employee

Rebranding!

Relocation of Cardiff office – moved from C12, dealt with leases, sourced, designed and installation (again huge savings on not using a 3rd party) all done internally, on time and in budget.

Financial Education Programme – Creating and developing the programme (from initial idea to creating a launch and future roadmap).