Shift Manager Review

I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement experience with Gist since day one. I was able to spend time at the beginning of my year to meet other IPs and Grads which I believed helped me feel comfortable and have a good support network around me. When I got to site I didn't really have a training plan in place and my first week was a bit of a wobble and I think that has been my only downside to my placement. After my first week at site things massively changed I had a strong plan set out for me and this was followed and exceeded. I have elarnt5 far for than I expected to on my placement year and am extremely grateful for the support I have been given.

Defiently which I really didn't think would happen. As a young female in the industry I really thought I was going to struggle to settle in to site and to gain respect as a manager. Especially form some of the older colleagues. However, not only do I feel I gained their respect but my calm approach I think gained me their trust and they became top value me and my management style. I had staff choosing to come to me instead of some of the other managers with their problems which I really valued. Walking away from my site and my team they really have become like a second family and I believe the people at this site are a massively element as to why I enjoyed my placement so much.

As in my first comment my first week from management wasn't the best, however after this I had a training plan in place and weekly catch ups with one of the operation managers. They happened every week until we went into our first peak at December when at this point we both agreed we would catch up when needed and the I would sit down with him when we choose too. We the went into COVID19 and I think trying to measure the support and guidance received then is extremely difficult. 100% we all supported each other in these extremely challenging times however no one could really provide guidance to anyone due to everyone been in the same new circumstances with things changing everyday. I feel our team worked extremely well together and supported each other throughout it all.

The site I worked at this is hard to measure as we had a peaks and throughs where you would go from and extreme volume and be so busy to very much nothing to do for our warehouse operatives. As an individual I am not one to be bale to not do anything so I was able to always find projects to start and manage in these quite periods. I think that for myself I was able to manage this okay, however unfortunately due to then nature of the operation on the site there can be a large variance.

I was given a lot more reasonability than I expected to get by the end of my placement year I was running either earlies or backs operation with no other support. I then went on to train 2 of our new manages and support them in their development. In my final weeks I went upstairs to shadow the operations managers to have a wider understanding of what they do. This meant I was involved with customer meetings, wage negations and some senior management meetings. The really good thing I think about my placement is that I wasn't just chucked in the deep end of running the operation in my first month. I was given the time to learn the operation rom the floor up, which not only gave me the knowledge I needed but also helped my deserve respec5t from the guys.

I learnt so much about myself and developed the skills I had a lot on my placement. I feel as though I am going back to University as a different person who is much more confident and knowledgeable. I know I have developed in my leadership and management style a lot. In regards to going back to University I hope what I have learn will help me in supporting me writing my dissertation. However with my topic not been known yet I hope if I need anything I would be able to come back to site and gain this knowledge which I think I would be able too. I do believe knowing what you are going to do your dissertation o should be a conversation that could take place with your University half way through your year which would then allow you time to be able to do you primary research.

The atmosphere in the office I would say depending on the day that you worked when working with another college it was great as you could bounce ideas off each other and have generally a good laugh. However, due to a shortness of managers there was often shifts that we had to work alone and when you had to do this they could be quite long as you where on your own and it could be lonely.

I think the placement was very well set up. We had a week induction with head office which was really good there was lots of communication throughout the placement and prior to the placement starting from the early talent team. The only improvement I believe would have been beneficial would for their to be one generic plan for IPs first few weeks at site that all sites get and then can adapt to suit. This would enable everyone to have a similar start.

The company one our first week informed us of what training was set in for our year whether that was to be conducted on that week, on future course by the early talent team, external course or just on site. This plan seemed to be very thorough and would have been great. However, unfortunately due to COVID19 this wasn't all able to be carried out - I have scored 8 for this reason as the IOSH course I went on I still am not aware if I passed or not.

Future employment for the company to me is very appealing. They offer a fantastic graduate scheme which is only 1 months for returning IPS and is very competitive within the Industry. In my MPP I was offered a position on the scheme which I am very excited to return back on. Th company is also trying to organise some part time work for me to able to undertake at a site back near home whilst finishing my studies.

We had a Christmas party where we wen to the races as a senior management team which was very good! I made friends with a few of my fellow managers and so we organised a couple of social nights which I really enjoyed. This was limited due to COVID19. I also have organised some leaving drinks with the shift managers and then also a meal out with the senior management which will be a nice way to leave and I hope to keep in touch with them

Very expensive to me as I am from the North so the price of rent was almost double and so was drinsk etc

I didn't go to any clubs etc, however, I went to numerous pubs and bar which had a good atmosphere. It was also good that your only 40 mins on the train to be in the center of London which is very handing for meeting people or to be able to do something exciting on a weekend.

Not really no