Meet Rachael, Finance Manager at Bluebird Care Fareham and finalist of our Team Member of the Year Award at our 2023 Bluebird Care Awards.
I started working in an office at 16 and worked in the construction industry for most of my career. Then when I went back to work after having my youngest child, I had this real moment of thinking: ‘what am I doing here?’ ‘What do I actually want out of life?’ That’s when I started working for Bluebird Care. I wanted the work that I was doing to make a difference.
I joined in 2018 as a Finance Officer. It felt a lot more fulfilling, and I felt a lot more passionate about the job I was doing. I was quickly promoted and now at 34 I’m Finance Manager.
My role involves managing the finances of the business. I work from 9am until 3pm, so that I can do the school runs, my children are now 8 and 7. Our director is so flexible and understanding. In the evenings and at weekends I study part time for a psychology degree.
The main thing I love is being part of a team that’s so caring and compassionate. The type of people who work in care are very kind and they’re lovely friendly people. The team feels like family to me. We’re very supportive of each other.
I was a finalist in the Bluebird Care Awards 2023. I was very honoured to be nominated and it felt nice to be recognised.
If a member of my team says that I’m always happy and smiley and never stressed, then I think I’m doing my job well. Being part of a team where you can trust and rely on each other is so important. You need to have that bond to be able to work to the best of your ability and to make the customers' lives as good as we can.
At Bluebird Care we go above and beyond to look after the customers. One of our customers was a fire risk, he couldn’t have any cooking equipment in the house, so he just ate sandwiches. On a Friday afternoon the carers would go and get him fish and chips for dinner from the local chip shop. It made a difference to his life. It makes me really proud of my team that we do that for our customers.
I enjoy the customer get-togethers and being at the events that we put on. At the big events we all muck in and get involved. I’ve decorated the hall and made tea and coffee. There are so many lovely moments.
We have some really lovely customers. I love chatting to them and hearing their life stories. It’s a joy to care for them.
Rachael
Rachael
/
South East
