lo p in the
March 2022
Oplo People Magazine
International Women’s Day Page 6
Page 10
Page 20
An interview with Susie Aliker
All aboard the Tandem Bus!
Contents Brand update........................................... 03 Internal promotions............................. 04 New starters............................................ 05 Break The Bias......................................... 06 Integration Programme Update...... 08 Meet the new Tandem team............ 09 Hidden talents......................................... 14 Oplo impact............................................. 18 ESG monthly stats................................. 19
Financial education............................... 20 Blow the whistle on wrongdoing.... 21 Ukraine needs our help....................... 22 Health and wellbeing........................... 26 4Louis charity ball................................. 32 Announcements..................................... 34 Top performers....................................... 38 Your Extra Mile........................................ 43
P o l l i t t & Ta n d e m
Brand Update With Tandem and Oplo merging, and a new corporate brand positioning being established, “The fairer greener bank”, we have a need for a new ‘group’ brand visual identity. Who’s helping us... Bringing together multiple organisations takes time, and there's work to do both operationally and culturally to make the new organisation succeed. To help deliver our immediate brand challenge, we’ve appointed design and communications specialist, Pollitt and Partners. Pollitt and Partners are helping us to establish a coherent, credible identity for the corporate brand at 'Group' level.
What we'll be doing… Pollitt will refine and evolve the brand identity across a core set of applications: including corporate website, business communications, brand toolkit and internal brand launch and engagement. When we'll be doing this… Using a phased approach, we’ll start with our internal elements and corporate website. It’s our aim to launch the new brand identity to these audiences before the Easter Break. For phase two, we'll move to roll out the new Tandem Bank brand to customers one brand at a time.
As with all our plans, we’ll be sure to keep you all updated as and when things happen and we’ll be in contact with each business area to help make sure you have all the brand elements you need.
Internal Promotions
Oplo and Tandem
We are excited to announce the internal promotion of Charise Lam to Approvals Underwriting Team Leader! Charise has worked with Oplo for almost 8 years, working as part of our Approvals team since it began in 2018. Charise has an excellent knowledge of both Admin and Approvals, which will help her greatly in the management of these teams.
We are pleased to announce Zoe Todd has recently taken up the position of Junior Test Analyst! Zoe started with Oplo in January 2019, working as a Customer Relationship Manager for our Car Finance department. Her interest in technology led her to apply for an internal vacancy for the Test Team and over the next 12 months she will be developing her knowledge and skills to become an accredited Test Analyst.
We are excited to announce the internal promotion of Amy Shuttleworth to Approvals Underwriter! Amy has been with the Personal Loans team for over 2 years, where she began her career as a Customer Service Advisor. Amy quickly moved over to the Underwriting team, where she has cemented herself as one of our most experienced Underwriters. Amy’s been involved in training last year and has now decided to join our Approvals team for a new challenge!
Please join us in congratulating Amy, Charise and Zoe in their new roles and supporting them to succeed.
New starters
Welcome!
Danielle Finnigan Completions Assistant Mortgage Lending Neve Stafford Completions Assistant Mortgage Lending Rebecca Elliott Completions Assistant Mortgage Lending Ben Standish Head of Propositions Car Finance Lending
Carnan Dawson Customer Relationship Manager Personal Loans Servicing Sana Khalid Marketing Assistant Marketing Michelle Bartlam Completions Assistant Personal Loans Lending
Jessica Richards HR Administrator HR & Training
Ned Dowling Operational Resilience & Business Continuity Manager CEO Office
Maariyah Safdar Approvals Underwriter Mortgage Sales
Brenda Cohen Treasury Manager Finance
Germanas Stefanovicius Collections Administrator Mortgage Servicing Lilla Romsics PMO Support Officer Change Delivery George Cunningham Underwriter Personal Loans Lending
We’re h
iring!
If you w informa ould like any tion on the role availabl s e, pleas e e m a recruit ment@ il myoplo .co.uk
#BreakTheBias
International Women’s Day 2022 Thank you to everyone who joined us for the International Women’s Day (IWD) ‘Lunch and Learn’ (L&L) on Tuesday 8th March which was held across diverse and record-breaking attendance of 120 colleagues. Co-hosts Susie Aliker, Michelle Beattie and Sarah Wiggan shared their career journeys, Tandem diversity stats, top-tips and opened the floor to discussion. Here are a few highlights from the session:
Michelle Beattie Head of Operations
Susie Aliker CEO
If you’re in terested in learning m ore abou t joining th e Diversit y& Inclusion working g roup please co ntact Mo rgan Lyons (m organ.lyo ns@ tandem.c o.uk)
Sarah Wiggin Head of IT Service Delivery
Diversity at Tandem Bank 46%
Diversity at work matters • Research shows that gender balanced and inclusive organisations are more productive and profitable • A gender-balanced and inclusive organisation:
52% females in Manager / Team Leader 44% females in Head of / Senior Manager 33% females on Board
• • • • •
increased profitability and productivity is 63% enhanced ability to attract and retain talent is 60% greater creativity innovation and openness is 59% enhanced company reputation is 58% better ability to gauge consumer interest and demand is 38%
• When boards are gender-balanced, companies are 20% more likely to have enhanced business outcomes.
Following the L&L we reached out to female colleagues across the business who attended and asked them to share their top tips from their own career journeys:
Holly Wadeson, ESG Manager Don’t be afraid to ask questions or to change roles. Find out where your passion lies and run with it. It’s all about believing in yourself. Treat everyone how you would want to be treated, as mum once said - speak to everyone in the same way, whether that be the cleaner or the CEO. It’s something you will take with you all throughout life. Lastly, be nothing but unequivocally you!
Georgia Brooks, People's Operation Manager Be brave and get involved as much as you can! You will be faced with challenges, but you must try to embrace and learn from them. Take yourself out of your comfort zone and I can promise the exposure you will get to different individuals and experiences will be invaluable to your career. Always be authentic, genuine and act with integrity. Be grateful for what you have and appreciate how lucky we all are. Finally, it is SO important to have fun in all aspects of life. Make time for the things that make you happy, invest in yourself and your happiness.
Katy Brown, Reconciliations Specialist Don’t let anybody around you who may not be as passionate about their work affect your own passion. Take opportunities if you believe they are right for you. Work hard in everything that you do no matter what it is and most importantly be yourself. Setbacks are lessons! Take what you learn from one situation and implement it into your next journey. Confidence is key and always prepare yourself for every situation!
Integration Programme
update!
What’s happening with Integration? We heard from the Integration team at the ‘Lunch & Learn’ on 11th March - They provided an overview of the programme, more information on each of the workstreams and highlighted some key areas of progress made to date. Over 90 colleagues dialled into the call presented by Tricia, Kate, James & Bhavesh, and we gained some insights into what the team have, and have not, got up to outside the world of project management! If you missed it, don’t worry! The video can be accessed below using this passcode: hai%W5D&
Take a look
As a reminder, the integration work is split into five project workstreams and the team will continue to provide insights and updates on the programme through the integration newsletter and regular pieces in ‘In the Loop’. The Integration Team would like to hear from you please send any questions, queries, suggestions or feedback to integrationteam@tandem.co.uk
There's still time to get your suggestions in… Enter our competition to rename the magazine! Get your creative juices flowing to be in with a chance to win not only a prize from our lucky dip but to see your chosen name in 'lights’. Send in your ideas for the new name to hr@myoplo.co.uk
Mfit
Senior Leadership Team! Each month we'll be introducing members of our senior leadership team so you can find out a bit more about them and their business area. This month we're introducing...
Susie Aliker
Steve McNicholas
Richard Sharp
Managing Director - Unsecured Lending
An interview with
Susie Aliker CEO (Chief Executive Officer)
A bit about me I grew up in Derbyshire, where my parents still live. In my opinion, you have to go that far north to get to beautiful countryside. One of my main memories from my childhood was when I won a pony in the annual WHSmith 'Win a Pony' competition. My first horse was a beautiful chestnut called Jason. After a few years I sold Jason and replaced him with a black mare called Sascha. Sascha and I had our moments, it often seemed that when I wanted her to go left, she wanted to go right; or when I wanted her to get into the horse box she didn't want to. Winning a pony was one of the most formative events of my childhood. Having a horse taught me many things. Firstly, responsibility, I used to do a round trip 4-mile cycle ride every morning to muck out before school - whatever the weather (it can get pretty cold ‘up north’). Secondly a healthy dose of competitiveness - I did the rounds
of all the local pony club competitions and used to come back home with an array of rosettes and trophies. My career has followed a varied trajectory. I studied Economics at Leeds University and started work on the Unilever graduate programme. I subsequently qualified as an Accountant and also did an MBA. After a spell in the retail sector, I moved into financial services and spent 14 years at
Credit Suisse in a global COO role and then led Business Development for Credit Suisse across Europe, Middle East and Africa. I spent two years running my own business - we launched a niche health care insurance product, and then I spent 6 years with BACB plc, initially as CFO and then as CEO. Favourite thing to do in your spare time From a personal perspective, I am married to Phillip and we have 4 daughters (Camille, Juliette, Lucy and Eloise). Camille is a doctor (trainee orthopaedic surgeon) and Juliette a trainee lawyer, the twins are 15 and still at school. Weekends will often find me on the side of a netball court as my girls are all pretty tall and make good netball players. We have many friends and family in East Africa (mainly in Kenya where we love to spend our holidays). We named our lockdown puppy Saba as this means 7 in Swahili and he is the 7th member of our family. When we were in East Africa earlier this year we went to look at some land we bought a few years ago where we hope to build a family holiday home. Highlight so far of working for Tandem I have been at Tandem for over 10 months and my highlight has to be the Friday afternoon call with PRA and FCA Sponsors telling me that the Oplo Change in Control application
had (finally) been approved. This was the culmination of a lot of hard work by so many of our colleagues and was the start of the next step in our journey together. Describe what your business area does and anything you want the rest of the business to know As CEO of the Bank, my time needs to be split between the big picture, strategic development of the Bank, and day-to-day operational matters. In a regulated Bank, governance is important and the senior leaders take personal responsibility for ensuring that the Bank is run in accordance with regulatory expectations. People and culture are really important to me and I try to prioritise spending time with colleagues across the business. I am always interested to hear your ideas on for how we can take Tandem forward both to make the Bank a great place to work and to deliver on our profit, customer and impact objectives. I truly believe we have a fantastic opportunity to build the Tandem franchise, deliver strong profitable growth, and in parallel, building our customer value proposition - both the product and technology capability and our purpose led ‘greener fairer’ strategy.
An interview with
Steve McNicholas Chief People Officer
Tell us a little bit about yourself… Well I was born and bred in Liverpool - a proper ‘scouser’ - but I've spent the last 20 years living on the beautiful Fylde coast in Lancashire. I have been married to Caroline for 18 years and we have two teenage kids who cost us a fortune! My career started off in banking, I moved into private equity for a decade and even had a spell selling mobile phones for a year when they first came out in the 80’s! I’m proud to say I have managed to write two books on ‘leadership and success’ and even stood on a few international stages to speak about them. Highlight of working for Oplo… Well it’s been a year or so now since starting at Oplo and plenty of different highlights for me. Firstly, the significant increase in the levels of training and development we now provide colleagues. Also, the buzz and culture of the Blackpool office when were able to come in is a real highlight of working at Oplo. One thing however which really stands out is the work we (well not me, but a handful of super talented people) have achieved under ESG in the past year, or Oplo/Tandem Impact as we now call it. It’s incredibly memorable and super important, and we’re only just warming up! Favourite thing to do in your spare time… I provide a constant taxi service to Mollie and Daniel! When I’m not in the cab, I am an avid supporter of Everton FC. I do try and keep fit as much as time permits but I also like a beer or two (and then maybe a glass of wine and then...) at the weekend so I’m never quite as fit
and healthy as I’d like to be. Relaxing with friends and family is important to me and I also enjoy reading when I get some quiet time but sadly that’s not too often. Describe what your business area does and anything you want the rest of the business to know… As the Chief People Officer, I have the great job of working with the teams to deliver our strategic objectives under People and Culture, this is under HR advice and policy. It includes our deliverables in learning and development as well as leadership development and talent management. We look after employee engagement and communications and also our ESG internal focus alongside the management of facilties across several hubs and offices! I know the team do a lot more than that but hopefully it gives you a flavour.
An interview with
Richard Sharp Managing Director
Tell us a little bit about yourself… I’m 47 years old, I live just outside Northampton and have been married 20 years this year with two lovely (most of time anyway!) daughters aged 16 and 18. I’ve been in financial services for over 20 years spanning across large PLC’s and equity house owned businesses. I’m passionate about the customer experience and firmly believe if we get this right, along with putting our people first, our business will continue to grow, improve and add value for everyone. Highlight of working for Oplo… I’m in my 4th year with Oplo and there’s probably two main standouts for me. The first being the people; we have a great culture across the business and this has got us to where we are today and long may that continue for our future growth. The second would be the work we all completed to rebrand 1st Stop to Oplo. This involved lots of our people inputting to our brand values and taking part in various workshops on what our culture means in their eyes. It’s great to see our brand estate (our colour palette, images and fonts etc) continue within the new bank too! Favourite thing to do in your spare time… I think most of you probably know but I’m an absolutely huge Rugby Union fan! I’m a 10 year Northampton Saints season ticket holder along with my youngest daughter,
and I also enjoy the odd beverage whilst taking in the rugby. I also have a Cocker Spaniel and a Springador and enjoy taking them out at the weekends. I’m obviously Dad’s taxi far too often to mention! Describe what your business area does and anything you want the rest of the business to know… I’m the MD responsible for the unsecured lending division where we currently offer personal Loans to our customers, via all the main price comparison websites and aggregators in the UK. We have ambitious plans for both growth and new products within the division throughout 2022 and beyond so watch this space!
Hidden talents - Oplo Chris Ryan Chilli Jam
I hear you have an interesting hobby, please tell us more.. Following a visit to a South Devon Chilli farm a few years back I developed a passion for growing chilli plants, but my family will probably call it an obsession. I have always loved spicy food and felt that chillies from the supermarket didn’t provide the flavour or heat I was looking for. So, in 2016 I bought a couple of books on how to grow chilli plants from seeds, I got a starter pack from the farm we visited and germinated my first seeds. So what is the process like? Germinating them is tricky because they need a warm but damp environment. It’s best to start this process in January/February. When the first root starts to show it’s time to plant in some compost. It takes 7- 10 days to germinate and then another 10 days for the shoot to pop up out of the soil. They can be quite high maintenance and need to have a good supply of water, sun and heat to develop. A windowsill is ideal to start them off and as they grow, they need to be transferred into progressively larger pots. By June they can go outside and by July they will be fully ripe until August. Once harvested they will last a few weeks in the kitchen, but I normally freeze them and use in whenever I want!
If you could give any tips to someone looking to get into it too, what would they be? •
If you can get hold of a warming tray then this will accelerate both germination and growth.
•
Warm soil is dry soil (bad), if it feels cold to the touch it has just the right amount of water. Although you can drown the roots if its overwatered.
•
Get a small plastic greenhouse for when the plants go outside, they will thrive in the shelter it provides whilst keeping warm overnight.
•
Get a solution of chilli plant food to add to the water.
And finally, what is the best and/or hottest chilli you have grown? I love to cook with an Apache or Ring of Fire variety, they are about 20 times hotter than tabasco sauce (5000 on the scoville scale). The hottest chillie I have grown was in 2021 when we had a great crop of Trinidad Scorpion (2nd hottest chilli in the world 1.2million Scoville’s) and Carolina Reaper fruits (the hottest Chilli at 2million Scoville’s). Both these were used to make a very spicy Chilli Jam.
Hidden talents - Tandem
Gwilym Williams Creative Writing
How did you get into creative writing? What’s odd was this wasn’t something I was interested in during school. As I am dyslexic, I took the scientific root, studying mathematics and physical sciences. This continued into university, where I further studied mathematics. It’s difficult to pinpoint when I began this hobby, but I think I got the ‘bug’ when I watched an appalling episode of Doctor Who (the one with the moon egg). I can recall thinking, “I can do better”, to which I started writing little notes in my books on what I would do to improve already published works. During this time, I also read a lot of Terry Pratchett, Neal Gaiman, Margret Atwood, and Brian K. Vaughan works, developing an interest in fantastical fiction. After a while, the ideas in my head would continue to grow and stories would begin to form my head, idea upon idea. It didn’t help that during my retake of English Language GCSEs, the teacher told me I had a particular style of writing. So, during the pandemic, I did things to help this. I bought Masterclass and took lessons with R.L.Stine (writer of Goosebumps) and Neil Gaiman (writer of Good Omens, The Sandman, and The Graveyard Book) and I took two classes at University of Cardiff in screen writing and creative writing. During this time, I discovered I much preferred writing short stories over any other form of narrative, probably as it didn’t require as much formation and world building.
I had then written about 20 short stories and decided to partake in the NYC midnight contest, a charity writing contest taking place worldwide. I wanted to sign up to this because it meant I could get a professional opinion on my work. To my surprise, out of 6,000, I manage to pass the first and second round, reaching the final along with 124 others. Let’s hope I make it to top 10. If I had to pick my favourite piece of writing, it would have to be “The Old Man and the Begging Bowl”. Some quick and short but they build entire worlds. Who doesn’t love a little bit of magic?
My book/story recommendations: •
‘My Sister, The Serial Killer’ by Oyinkan Braithwaite. A woman is struggling with her double life of being an overlooked nurse and her sisters ‘cleaner’.
•
‘Y The Last Man’ by Brian K. Vaughan. A story where in the space of a few seconds, every man on earth dies.
•
The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, need I say more?
•
‘Trigger Warning’ by Neil Gaiman. A collection of fantastical and beautifully described stories.
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‘SCP-2845, The Deer’ by Djoric. It asks the question, “How do you contain a god?”
The Old Man with The Begging Bowl Hundreds, if not thousands, walked Southwark Bridge every day. On their way to work. On their way home. On their way to a club, or a bar, or a theatre or a tube station; and nobody gave The Old Man with The Begging Bowl so much as a second glace. If anyone was to give the man another glace, they would have struggled to guess his age, and would probably have just concluded that he was very old. They’d be right, of course. He was old. Very old. Impossibly old. The Old Man with The Begging Bowl was not like the other beggars of London. Most would sit and sulk, and be thankful when a kindly stranger offered them change. Others would scream and shout and scare people, blaming anything or anyone. He, however, did nothing. He would just sit patiently on the pavement, hold out his bronze, begging bowl and smile a knowing smile. --One day, to his pleasant surprise, a coin was tossed into the bowl, making it ring, merrily. Through cloudy eyes and overgrown
eyebrows, he saw a young, black girl, no older than 20, standing respectfully before him. Immediately, he knew she was special. For you see, she could see him, not glimpse him like the other around them. For her to see him, she had to know him. “I’ve no interest in money, child,” said the old man, courteously, “Please let an old man be.” “Are you The Janus,” she asked, “The Ménshén? The Papa Legba? The guard to all hidden and hushed.” “I am,” said the old man, “What is it you seek, child.” “I seek the Spire of Miracles, the Place Between Places and those who practice the Quiet Languages.” “You’re awfully young to be practising thaumaturgy, my dear,” questioned the old man, eyeing the girl up. “Is that bad?” The old man didn’t answer. It was true. Interest in the esoteric had been waning for decades and those who showed a hint of curiosity tended to go looking in all the wrong places. “May I enter,” asked the girl. The old man smiled. Slowly he got to his feet. The others around them froze in place, as did the river beneath them and the clouds above. All became still. The old man took the coin out of the begging bowl and examined it closely. “A Karshapanas. A coin of ancient India. Yes, that will suffice.” The old man threw the coin in the air and clicked both fingers loudly. “The path is paved before you. The way is yours to take.” And with that, the girl vanished, the water flowed, the clouds flitted and the others walked one more. --Hundreds, if not thousands, walked Southwark Bridge every day. On their way to work. On their way home. On their way to a club, or a bar, or a theatre or a tube station. And nobody gave The Old Man with The Begging Bowl so much as a second glace.
Ready to make an Impact Everything you need to know about our environmental initiative
ESG Monthly Stats Tree Planting
16,962 trees purchased ready for planting and 15 of our people are giving a monthly donation to Trees for Life
Pawprint
237 people signed up with average score of 12.53 tonnes
EV Scheme
10 electric cars on the roads
Bike2Work Scheme
3 people signed up
The Green Deal
36 members, 47 eligible rewards for redeeming
Swap Shop
2 items donated, weighing 3kg
GiveAll
10 people total monthly donation £147
Financial Education
! e t a d p u s Bu
The bus is almost ready for it’s debut! Beep! Beep! After months of hard work, it’s nearly time for Andrew Hurst, our very own Educational Facilitator to hit the road and teach our younger generation all about the importance of financial education. Students and learners not only gain an understanding into areas not commonly covered by the education system, but they also gain lifelong skills that will enable them to make informed choices regarding their own finances as they transition to adulthood. We will be offering these interactive workshops for free to educate and empower the next generation.
Financial Education Brochure
Financial Education Framework
Ukraine needs our help Catherine Dunbar, Collections Team Leader recently called upon our Head Office to help collect donations for Ukrainian refugees. Well done Catherine!
“The photo is of all the donations that we received to help the Ukrainian refugees who have fled their country with nothing but the clothes on their backs. The response received was way above what was expected from a quick email. 37 large bags of clothes and toiletries received in less than 4 days. I was overwhelmed. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who donated. War brings out the worst in some and the best in others. It certainly brought out the best in us. The donations have been dropped off and will be on their way to the Polish border.”
! u o y k n a Th
Ukraine needs our help Before the conflict, 1.5 million Ukrainians were already displaced due to eight years of conflict. That situation is now even worse:
• • • •
400,000 children live in communities at high risk of violence 2.9 million people in Ukraine were already in need of humanitarian assistance 7.5 million girls and boys are now at risk throughout Ukraine Up to 7 million people could be displaced
The Disasters Emergency Committee, a coalition of 15 leading charities, is providing emergency aid. The funds are being used by charities inside Ukraine and at its borders to provide people fleeing the war with food, water, medical assistance, protection and trauma care.
DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal | Disasters Emergency Committee
Alongside the Disasters Emergency Committee, Save the Children has launched an urgent appeal to help people fleeing conflict in Ukraine. In Ukraine and neighbouring countries, they are distributing warm clothes and blankets as temperatures plunge below freezing. They are also providing cash and vouchers to help families pay for food, accommodation, medicine alongside offering vital mental health and support to children whose lives have been torn apart. Save the Children is collaborating with Amazon in a global partnership across several countries to help support the humanitarian response to the conflict in Ukraine. This is a combination of cash donation, and pro-bono services to enable large scale fulfilment of critically needed items identified by Save the Children’s response team. In addition Amazon is providing warehousing and logistical support where it is most needed.
Save the Children | Amazon Wishlist
Ukraine needs our help Online supermarket and Amazon shoppers can now help donate towards the Ukraine relief efforts - and it's absolutely free. The Easyfundraising website has teamed up with the British-Ukrainian Aid charity to turn people's everyday online shopping into free donations with retailers making a small donation in return. People just need to sign up by visiting Easyfundraising's website here and selecting their chosen charity including the British-Ukrainian Aid. They then just start their online shopping first at Easyfundraising and then continue to shop as normal. With the help of this platform it means you can do your bit to help. You can make a difference without it costing you anything!
Etsy is waiving all seller fees for Ukraine citizens. First, to help Ukrainians financially, Etsy announced it will waive all balances for Ukraine-based sellers. “Being part of a community means that when one part is suffering, the rest of us must step up and offer our support,” Etsy CEO Josh Silverman. How to Support Ukraine on Etsy If you want to directly contribute to Ukraine citizens,
• • •
Search “digital files” on Etsy.com Click the “All Filters” button and scroll down to “Country” Under “Custom,” enter Ukraine
The results will include all digital files created and sold by Ukraine-based Etsy sellers. Once you purchase an item, the file will immediately become available for download. The transaction allows Ukrainian sellers to earn money without having to produce anything new during this tough time.
Ukraine needs our help There will be no limit to the number of Ukrainian refugees who can live with UK host families under a new visa scheme, the government has confirmed. More details will be set out later, before a website goes live for people to express an interest in helping. Hosts will receive £350 a month as a "thank you" from the government. Under the new scheme people in the UK will be able to nominate an individual or family to stay with them rent-free, or in another property, for at least six months.
Airbnb.org is funding short term housing for up to 100,000 people fleeing Ukraine. Make a donation Every donation helps fill a critical need for emergency stays. How donating works
•
100% of your donation will go toward connecting people with short term housing.
• •
Stays are completely free for guests on the program. Donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed under your local tax laws.
Donate to Airbnb.org Or book an Airbnb in Ukraine as a Way to Donate Financial Assistance to Ukrainians. Paying for an Airbnb in Ukraine is a direct way to financially support refugees. It provides a source of income to local Airbnb owners unable to rent out their units due to the war.
Health and Wellbeing How to look after our mental health during these worrying times. Managing stress and worry Stress is the body’s natural response to feeling under threat or pressure. It can be motivating for short periods of times but other times, stress can be overwhelming and less helpful to the situation we are facing. When we are stressed, our body produces the hormone cortisol, it activates the sympathetic nervous system to help us prepare to quickly ‘fight or flight’ our way of a short term threat or danger. When we feel stressed over a longer period of time because of an ongoing situation, it can feel overwhelming and unpleasant. It can also impact upon our immune systems’ ability to work at its optimal level. Doing things that will reduce our stress and keep our immune systems functioning at their best is important for all of us right now. There are a number of helpful things you can do to help your body to manage stress from the inside out. Strategies to reduce stress will not only give your mind a break, they can also relieve the pressure on your immune system.
Apple helps us when we feel uncertain in a situation which is out of our hands. It helps us to refocus our attention and get outside of our internal world of anxious thoughts and feelings.
A
cknowledge and understand that what's in your mind is uncertain and unpredictable right now and that you are taking all the recommended advice to stay safe.
P
ause for a few moments and don’t react to the thought or feeling in any way, just let it be.
P
ull back from the thoughts or feelings you are having, telling yourself that they are just the result of feeling uncertain of the situation because of the lack of control. That it is ok. Thoughts are not facts, it is just what our minds do. Be compassionate to yourself. It is an understandable way of your body trying to deal with a situation that is uncertain. Let your body do its thing, it is designed to keep you safe. You can pull back from it.
L
et it go, just like Elsa in Frozen. The thought or feeling is not harmful although it may feel unpleasant, you can pause, allow the thoughts and feelings to just be and then choose to let them go by refocusing your attention on a task in the present.
E
xplore what is going on around you right now. Refocus your attention out of your own internal world and body, to what is happening outside of you. Notice things with your senses. What can you hear? What can you see? What can you do right now as a task to take your full attention back into the present? The same worries or feelings may come back, that is ok. Just remember when you feel those thoughts or feelings returning, repeat the APPLE process.
Health and Wellbeing Bounce Back Resilience Workshop We have scheduled another workshop with Andrea, who is a psychologist of 22 years (BSc Psychology, P.G.C.E, MSc Educational Psychology). What is Resilience Resilience is typically defined as the capacity to recover from difficult life events. “It’s your ability to withstand adversity and bounce back and grow despite life’s downturns.”
The aim of the workshop: • to help, develop and sustain resilience • to help people going through a tough time • to give you the tools to bounce back from adversity despite challenging times.
If this seems like something you would want to attend, pop your name down and come along on Tuesday 12th April 10:30am-4:00pm at Leighton Hall, Carnforth, LA5 9ST. Lunch will be provided. Sign Up Here!
Health and Wellbeing Menopause at Work Thank you to those who attended our Menopause at Work workshops with Julie, these were greatly received, and we thought we would share some of the feedback following the workshops. Why it's important we learn about menopause Demographics • Women make up nearly 50% of the UK workforce. • Women aged 50 – 64 are the fastest growing economically active group in the UK. • 75 – 80% of women of a menopausal age are in work. Legals • Health & Safety at Work Act • Equality Act protected characteristics: Age, Sex, Disability Benefits • Increased engagement • Improved performance • Employer of choice Corporate Responsibility • Fostering a culture of inclusion and belonging where everyone is treated with dignity and both current and future talent can thrive.
o Click here t e Learn Mor
How to start the conversation If a team member wishes to speak about their symptoms, or just to talk about how they are feeling, please ensure that you: • Allow adequate time and privacy to have the conversation. • Ask general, open questions such as ‘How are you doing at the moment?’ or ‘I’ve noticed you’ve been arriving late for meetings recently, and I wondered if you’re okay?’ • Explore solutions together. What steps has your team member taken to manage symptoms and how can you help. • Schedule a follow up meeting to check on progress. Discussing menopause should be treated with the same respect, sensitivity and confidentiality as discussing any other health issue.
4.88 Average Rating
“I was there to gain more knowledge so I can understand and be more supportive. Even mentioning that I have been on the course has sparked conversations.” “I walked away with knowledge on what to expect in the future for myself and for those around me in the working environment.” “I would say it probably exceeded my expectations and knowledge of some symptom's that I have or may have in the future.”
“I think it was really informative and it should be much more of a topic that all staff are educated on! Like Julie said, so much slack is given for kids going through puberty and there is so much education over this!! But there is next to none for menopause even though it effects half the population!! I really benefitted from the session and its amazing to work for a company that is having this sort of training and it would be amazing to see it as compulsory!”
! ll a b y Charit Amber and Gavin Langley, from our Durham team, have helped to raise more than £7,000 in honour of 4Louis charity. Amber sent us some photos from the evening and the event was covered in the local news. You can read their story here
more than
£7,000!
! u o y k n a Th
s t n e m e c n u o Ann
Tandem/Oplo Anniversary!
10 years service -
Debbi Dullenty
Central Administrator Manager This month we celebrate Debbi Dullenty who has dedicated 10 years to Oplo! Debbi started as an Administrator in 2012, through hard work and dedication Debbi worked her way up the management career ladder and currently runs our Central Administration Team. We asked Debbie Waterman, Head of ESG & Facilities to give a few words to mark this occasion.
“Dedication means many things to many people, and the way you have dedicated yourself to this company is genuinely admirable. Every company needs someone like you, not just for your years of hard work and loyalty but for your humour, caring nature and your compassion towards everyone. Ten years is an incredible professional milestone, and something we are delighted you have achieved!”
6 years service -
Sven Schindele
Director of Banking Products What’s kept you at Tandem all these years? The variety of work, always finding new challenges and being able to make a real difference. I like to think of my time in Tandem in 3 stages. When I joined Tandem over 6 years ago, there were no customers, no products, no banking platform, not even a website. We had plenty of enthusiasm, purpose and ambition to built something new and different though. While I came from a “big bank” background, for me it was going back to my roots as I originally started out in Santander Cards which despite the big brand name was a standalone business with less than 250 people and run like a start-up. After years, I then moved to Tandem which was liberating as I was able to pursue ideas with conviction again. Build, test, learn. Outside of a start-up environment it would have been hard to get the same kind of deep learning experience I was able to have with Tandem. Whether that is credit decisioning, fraud, AML, marketing, risk, finance, operations, engineering/Tech, you name it. Just one random example, when we first launched credit cards I reviewed the first 20 thousand application decisions myself line by line - it wasn’t technically my job, but as the product lead I stepped in to support the credit team, making sure the decision engine works properly while truly learning and understanding the credit bureau data. Getting to build a credit card business and then savings business from scratch for what I consider the first iteration of Tandem, was a very rewarding experience. In the next iteration of Tandem I then moved on to a new role - Inorganic Growth. This allowed me to work closely with our major shareholder Pollen Street and learn a new craft from them in terms of how to assess asset purchases, forward flow agreements and M&A type opportunities. My prior experience in leading product functions was beneficial for this new role as it enabled me to leverage the knowledge when we go through due diligence.
Now in the third iteration of Tandem I get to expand and progress this role into Corporate Development. I had the privilege of working on the combination with Oplo right from the start in 2021 therefore had the benefit of seeing the exciting new future this offers to the business. What part of your role do you enjoy the most? I get to look at a lot of different business and product lines which allows me to rapidly learn about new businesses and asset classes. This keeps things exciting, and also very rewarding. It’s value creation in a very raw form which helps me see how I make a difference to our business and customers. What advice would you give to new joiners? Get stuck in and learn, learn, learn. Tandem can be a challenging environment but everyone is very welcoming and friendly. We’re all here to help each other and it’s up to you to make the most of it. So don’t be shy to ask for help. If you’re willing to put in the effort, it can be incredibly rewarding. Highlight so far for working for Tandem? Having met my future wife in one of Tandem’s previous iterations is probably number one. On a professional level, having managed to win and complete the B&C mortgage book purchase in December 2020 was very high up there (it was 5 weeks from our first offer to signing and transferring £100m which is very fast for these types of deals). Very early days, getting my first real time payments alert for a card purchase late at night was big (it was with a few minutes delay, but it was the accumulation of a couple of years of work and made me tear up) and having Martin Lewis review and praise us on TV was pretty cool too.
s t n e m e c n u o Ann
Tandem/Oplo Anniversary!
5 years service -
The Dream Team!
This month we celebrate Catherine, Jonathan, Peter, Salma & Samantha who started in our Home Loans Servicing team on the 13th March 2017.
Samantha Howarth What's kept you at Oplo for all these years? The people and the company! Always looked after. Which part of your role do you enjoy the most? The Dream Team! What advice would you give to new starters? Work hard and you’ll get the job satisfaction.
Peter Cunningham What's kept you at Oplo for all these years? No day is ever the same and the people I work with make it fun. Which part of your role do you enjoy the most? I enjoy helping our customers, especially those who have been through difficult times. We all work hard to ensure the right outcome is achieved.
What advice would you give to new starters? Take notes in the first few weeks because there can be a lot to take in at the beginning and it helps so much. Also, never be afraid to ask anyone for assistance and advice, everyone is friendly!
Salma Ahmed What's kept you at Oplo for all these years? Working with an amazing group of people! Not only are the team in Manchester fantastic but everyone in the business is always friendly and supportive. Its a great company to work for. Which part of your role do you enjoy the most? Helping staff gain competency within their job role - it's lovely to see people’s confidence increase as they develop their skillset. What advice would you give to new starters? Always ask questions to improve your understanding of a process and ensure you make notes, notes and more notes to refer back to.
Jonathan Grant What's kept you at Oplo for all these years? Good atmosphere/friendly team (Manchester office). I’ve known many of my colleagues for over 6 years and two of them for about 17 years (previous employment). Even the managers/directors are a friendly bunch and genuinely care about your thoughts/feelings/concerns. Also, appreciate the realistic targets/bonuses, it helps keep you motivated. Plus, we get treated to a few free pints when the manager is down. Which part of your role do you enjoy the most? Building good rapports with customers and hopefully turning their financial situation around. We never know what life will throw at us and the same is true for the customer. It feels great dealing with a customer who may have been financially struggling but they put their trust in you to help work to an amicable solution which hopefully leads to getting them back on track. What advice would you give to new starters? Get stuck in! Everyone is happy to help!
! s r e m r o f r e p p o T Home Loans Collections
Joanne Coey Reasons for nomination: Joanne consistently works hard and always willing to work overtime to ensure all relevant workload is completed. QA quality consistently of a high standard. Well done! Salma Ahmed
Home Loans Packaging
Cavanna Quinn Reasons for nomination: Throughout February Cavanna has picked up work for the case managers during busy periods or if they have been out of the business. She has done this self help in achieving the £25m along with demonstrating some great team work. Michelle Mills
Our home loans team have hit £25million of lending for the first time ever!
Personal Loans Collections
Charlie Smail Reasons for nomination: Charlie has been with the business since November, this was his first admin role. Charlie was attentive and enthusiastic when completing his training with Danielle and always asks for assistance if he is stuck on any process or comes across something he has not yet seen. For most of Charlie’s tenure with the business, he has been 1 of 2 members of staff on his team - with one person completing Car Finance and Charlie completing Personal Loans. On the occasions of annual leave etc. Charlie steps up and completes the Car Finance admin requirements as well as completing the Personal Loans admin alongside this, sometimes with assistance from PL Collections. Charlie has a strong personality, and he regularly lifts the mood across both the admin team and the wider business within Durham. Charlie puts 100% into everything that he does and considering his lack of experience prior to starting with the business, he is doing a fantastic job that would make anybody proud. Louise Elms
Sales
Matthew Davenport Reasons for nomination: Matt has enhanced his overall performance in all areas for February bringing a real sparkle to the team. Well done Matt! Michelle Mills
! s r e m r o f r e p p o T Approvers
Chelsea Haslam Reasons for nomination: In the past month Chelsea has been a go to for knowledge and information when the team asks. She is always happy to help and does so with a smile. She is also the first to jump onto amendments, clearing her own and others, with her new title being the Amendments Queen. Michelle Mills
Admin
Claire Wilkinson Reasons for nomination: In what has been a busy time for us, Claire has been fantastic. She is always asking where and how she can help and is always happy to do so. She is our go to for Creditor Queries and is doing a wonderful job with it. Michelle Mills
Personal Loans Lending
Emily Wishart Reasons for nomination: She has done amazing with her underwriting training and is already making calls on her own. She is extremely polite and lovely to be around day to day. She is smashing her new role and will be a great asset to the team, she hasn’t been here long but is already paying out deals and being productive! Well done to Emily! Helen Travis
Unsung Hero is a Tandem tradition. Our people nominate and recognise someone who has gone above and beyond the call of duty each month.
Tandems Feburary Unsung Hero
Rory O'Neill For the past few months, Rory was acting as line-manager, delivery manager and mostly team-lead beside his actual tasks. And he did an impressive job on all of them. He is always supportive and approachable!
! s r e m r o f r e p p o T Personal Loans Collections
Shavaun Morrissey Reasons for nomination: Shavaun is always willing to pick up additional tasks and has a positive can-do attitude. Shavaun supports new starters with learning aspects or personal loans and has received great feedback on this. Adrian Watkin
Specialist Support
Aftab Aziz Reasons for nomination: Aftab has progressed well over the last month and has provided extra support while there has been holidays within the team while also balancing supporting a new member of the team. Adrian Watkin
YourExtra Mile Understanding At Oplo we take time to get to know you and understand your situation. We look for the possibilities, not the problems. Want to thank someone for showing a unique level of understanding or compassion?
Fair We believe that everyone deserves an equal opportunity to better themselves. We’re always open minded and even handed with our customers and with one another. Has your colleague gone above and beyond to help you better yourself by being open minded and accepting?
Enabling We give hard working people the tools to help themselves. We’re always helpful and practical in our approach. Has a team member supported you in powering your potential, enabling you to achieve a goal?
Enterprising We’re entrepreneurial and authentic. We genuinely believe that when you fulfil your potential everyone succeeds. Why not congratulate one of your colleagues on showing great initiative within the team or towards a customer!
“Understanding” “Ebony Scotland is always happy to help whenever I have any queries and if she can’t help she always points me in the right direction to someone who can. I just wanted to say a big thank you for always helping, it’s really appreciated.”
“Jenna Wilkinson always goes the extra mile to help her staff and is very understanding and supportive. Jenna always comes to work with a positive can do attitude and nothing is ever too much trouble. She really is a credit to the PL collections team so thank you for everything you do for everyone Jenna.”
Francesca Chadwick
Francesca Chadwick
“Enabling” “I would like to thank Lisa Hudson, Jab Miah, Steve Chamberlain and Simon Walters from Allium and Shane McCormack, Hussein Patel, Dapinder Williams and Florence Valenzia from Tandem for agreeing to hold sessions with members of the Oplo QA Team and myself. You all helped us to better understand how the wider business and how our current QC/QA models work. This will be invaluable in the coming weeks and months as we refine our QA approach to a single model across the Bank.” Rick Keeble
Anthony Mould - “Ant has shown a lot of enthusiasm and flexibility in relation to the savings product that is coming into the Durham office. Ant has put a lot of brilliant suggestions forward and has shown commitment to learn throughout the training journey.” Chloe Smail & Shaun Wood
Your Extra Mile
Gavin Stewart, Laura Taylor, Anthony Mould, Nicola Maxwell, Ian Stuart - “All of the above have completed the savings product training recently and they have all shown a massive amount of commitment to the product already. They are all eager to learn and improve on the current processes that are in place.” Chloe Smail & Shaun Wood
Marlin Hobbs - “Marlin has spent over a week at the Durham site training with the first group of people moving to the savings product. The training that we have been provided with has been fantastic and has set up the whole team really well for taking over the product. Marlin has been patient with us all and accommodating to anything additional we required. He has taken time out of his personal life to spend over a week in the Durham office ensuring that we have all the support we require.” Chloe Smail & Shaun Wood
Vanessa Stell - “Vanessa has looked after my team whilst I was in Savings Training, assisting with any queries the staff had and setting daily work as required. She has also been stepping into the role of collector and answering a high volume of inbound calls. Vanessa also went above and beyond and completed some of my normal daily tasks, such as the exception reports so that I didn’t fall behind.” Chloe Smail & Shaun Wood
“Enterprising” Homeloans Sales/External Sales Team - “Thank you to the Sales & External Sales team for assisting in taking our inbound calls - was a massive help and allowed us to focus on working new cases.”
Kelsey Easter - “Although she has changed roles she has been a fantastic help multi-tasking and managing two roles and putting in a large amount of additional work.” Sara Evans
Sara Evans “I would like to thank every member of the wider Complaints and QA Team for working together in supporting the integration of the teams. Some of the required tasks are simple whilst some will take somewhat longer to move forward however every member of the team has been fully ready to embrace the changes and challenges that lie ahead - thank you all!” Rick Keeble
Homeloans Lending - “The whole team were amazing, working together, taking on additional tasks, supporting each other. Fantastic team work producing a record breaking month.” Sara Evans “I would like to say a huge well done to Paul Tansley, Emma Pettet and Jeremy Griffiths for working together in pulling our first group complaints report together. The feedback to date has been resoundingly positive and is a great milestone in the early complaint teams’ integration journey.” Rick Keeble
In light of International Happiness Day (Sunday 20th March). The Wellbeing workstream encouraged more shines across the business to brighten up someone’s day, we received 65 shines across the Group in total – thank you to everyone who participated!
“I want to recognise Dan Gray. Dan’s focus has shifted over the last 6 months to supporting the business with the production of Risk Appetite and Portfolio Management analysis, across all lines of business for Credit Committee. Dan’s approach to his work is brilliant, he displays all of Oplo’s values on a regular basis and he’s become a real asset to the business. Thanks again Dan.” Ben Thackwray
“Well done to Catherine Dunbar for organising donations for Ukraine refugees!” From all at Oplo
“Fair” “To all of PL Collections - My last day at Oplo is 25th March and I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of PL Collections for the last 2 years. I have enjoyed working with everyone. I wish everyone the best of success in Oplo/Tandem.” Richard Daly “I want to recognise Sheila and Alison for how helpful they have been during my initial days here at Oplo. They have always been available for support, answering any questions or simply giving me a tour of the office and introducing me to everyone. I also want to say a big thank you to them both as they were extremely helpful and understanding towards my travel situation to work and have made my life so much easier!” Sana Khalid
“I nominate Kyle Butler and Lewis Grisenthwaite. I am new to the business, and they have helped me settle in quickly. Also, despite it being our job to support the business, they go extra mile to resolve issues.” Cameron Scohfield