Janna's Story

​Janna joined us as a Compliance Coordinator in 2023, and quickly showed a dedication to learning and developing so he could make his job easier - not just for himself, but the rest of his team too. His willingness to help others with his technical know-how has afforded him a promotion to Deputy Team Leader, where he's able to work hard to enable his team to learn, develop and succeed.

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Where were you working before you joined Carrington West?

I was working on the floor above at an online sports retailer. I started off working in the lost post department, looking after investigations for lost parcels, so it was a combination of administrative work with customer service, and then it ended up being heavily just administrative work. Before I worked there, I worked for a company where I did a lot of screening for candidates, which is what we do now, looking at CSCS cards and things like that.

How did you come across Carrington West in your job search?

I saw the ad, and had heard a lot of great things about Carrington West. I knew Sam was working here as well; I worked with him before, so there's a couple of people that I knew that were already here.

I knew it was a great place to work already - I did my research and just went for it!

You started with us 2 years ago and have received 2 promotions - what are the main changes you've experienced?

The main change is that when I was just a Compliance Coordinator or even just Senior, it was just coming in and focusing on the candidates that we're working on for the week. But now, as Deputy Team Leader, it's very much, "What can I do for the team? How can I help the team? What deadlines do we have coming up?"

So it's not just about me anymore; it's about bigger, wider things. "How can we be more efficient? Where can I help to make someone's life a little bit easier?"

It's like, when we were doing extensions beforehand, it was a very manually driven process. I remember doing it on a Friday and thinking, "God, this is taking too long." I was sure that with the AI tech we have now, we could get it done much faster. A lot of people said we wouldn't be able to do it, but that kind of made me want to do it more! We just kept trialling it, and eventually, we got there and then it worked.

What's been your biggest challenge in your time working here?

It was probably back when I first started, when there were a lot of roadworks nearby - so my biggest challenge was actually getting in on time! I remember one day I was three hours late. Back then, we didn't have flexitime for new starters. But we're a company that really takes feedback on board and then makes changes. One of the things that came up was having flexitime for new starters, which then got integrated. So now I start later than everyone else and I finish later as well, which has been a massive help - as I have children and do school runs.

What would your advice be to anyone starting their career at Carrington West?

My best advice would be to take some time out, maybe on a weekend, get away from social media and all the noise. Grab yourself a notepad and a pen and write down what you actually want to achieve. What are your goals? What is your "why"? This is something that we really like to talk about - James, one of the directors, does a whole training session about vision and goal-setting, which was brilliant for me!

I wrote down that I wanted to be a Senior Compliance Coordinator and I put that in my desk drawer. So when I'd come in in the morning, I would open my drawer and it would be a little reminder of why I'm here. You need to have that little time to yourself to actually find out what it is that you want to do, otherwise you're just drifting.

What motivates you to get up in the morning to come to work?

Quite a few things. I really enjoy the job, actually. It's just a great company to work for, and we have a great team. Every day, I feel like I'm making progress within myself. Before I started at Carrington West, I didn't do much about self-development. I would watch videos and podcasts about it, but I would never take action.

But we have systems like monthly reviews at Carrington West, meaning there's always going to be someone there to hold you accountable for your goals, which I think is really important. We also have coaches that we can discuss anything with - completely confidentially - and that's something that's amazing. So what motivates me is that I actually feel like when I'm coming here, I am improving myself as well as helping my team become better and reach their goals.

What motivated you to join our ED&I team and can you tell us a bit about the work that the team does?

What motivated me to join is that when I went to school, there wasn't really much diversity. It was a predominantly white school; I was the only brown person in my school. A lot of things are different now, and with the current times, it's really important to make people feel safe and show that you are an inclusive employer. The ED&I team here plans around things like Black History Month, Asian Heritage Month, and we do World Food Day.

There are loads of things that we do. We get involved with charities. We recently retained "Investors in Diversity Silver," and that's off the back of an anonymous questionnaire that was completed by everyone in the company. We really value feedback regarding how we are doing with making this a great place for everyone to work.

What are your plans for the future?

My current plan is to develop my team. Beforehand, it was all about developing and progressing myself, but at the moment, it's really about making sure Alesha and Maddy are developing and hitting all their personal targets and ambitions. My goal is to support them to achieve that. I'm also working together with Abby, who is the other Deputy Compliance Team Leader, just making sure that we're passing audits.

We've been nominated for the REC Awards for Shared Services Team of the Year, and we've had a couple of other nominations, so we've had a really great year. With both our team leaders on maternity leave, the short-term goal is just to make sure that everything's running smoothly, we're passing audits, and everyone is progressing.