SOME QUESTIONS FOR DUNCAN:
Question: What do you do to unwind at the end of a long day? Answer: I like to read, particularly historical fiction. I’m a fair-weather golfer but what I love most is watching football – English and American. If it’s English then I’ll be found supporting my home-team Aston Villa but when watching American football I’m a keen supporter of the Arizona Cardinals.
Question: What do you like the most about being a Branch Manager? Answer: The best thing is the people. From the Partners and customers to the local producers and business owners, I get to meet and chat to such a wide variety of people from different backgrounds.
Every day is different and comes with its own challenges and I will often go back onto the shop floor during the day to understand the customer’s needs and expectations, listening to them and our Partners.
As Waitrose is a co-owned business, meaning that all our employees own the company, it is my responsibility to keep everyone in the business updated and ensure that they are happy.
I get to meet some great people from our local community. In branch we run the Community Matters and Partner Volunteering initiatives. Community Matters sees all customers receive a green token after their shop to be distributed to three local community projects that change on a month-to-month basis while our Partners volunteering scheme sees all branches donate 250 hours of employees’ time to local charities and good causes each year. Through this I have been able to meet with a huge variety of charities and organisations to see how we can help the local community.
I feel very lucky to live in Jersey. Nothing is too far away and I can dedicate a lot of time after work to my family as I don’t have the constraint of a long commute. This enables me to attend my sons various sporting activities and support them in competitive matches. In the winter it’s nice to treat the family to an evening at the cinema but in the summer it’s rare that you won’t find us at Gorey Bay, lighting up the barbeque. Coming from UK makes me appreciate the unique lifestyle that Jersey offers even more.
Question: What do you dislike most about being a Branch Manager? Answer: People often expect me to say that the thing I dislike is the Christmas Eve shift that sees me and the other Partners working until around 7.00 p.m. with hordes of last minute Christmas shoppers trying to get the last turkey (although we have usually sold out far earlier) but secretly I love the atmosphere and it gets me out of my wife’s way as she prepares for the day ahead.
Question: How did you become a Branch Manager? Answer: I have been working in retail from the age of 16 and, after making the decision not to go to university, I joined the Fine Fare management training programme. Retail is in my family as my grandfather and great- grandfather owned and ran Langston Stores, a local shop in Worcestershire – so I was stacking sugar from the age of three. From there I worked my way up through various management positions to then work at three or four UK retailers at branch manager level.
Question: What advice would you give someone, either just starting their career or midway through their career, who wants to be a Branch Manager? Answer: Retail is about commitment – both to your staff and your customers to provide the best service that you can. You have to make sure that you enjoy it – if you do the industry can take you anywhere – it brought me to Jersey! Retail is a great industry to be in but you must embrace new technology and the pace of change. It’s not just about stacking shelves; it’s about much more.
COMMITTED 20/20 A day in the life of... Page 103
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