At Nightfreight, our staff's well-being is a priority. What they think and how they feel is important to us.
So every month we invite them to write down their history with Nightfreight, about their role within the company and how they feel about their job, their depot and their Company.
We then publish these 'thoughts' internally, but we'd like to share a few of them with you.
Meet Dave Berry - Nightfreight Operations Manager (Manchester Depot)
I got the job at Nightfreight as a traffic clerk when I was 18 yrs old. Then in 1998 I left the company as I wanted to see a bit of the world. I went to Australia and travelled up and down the gold coast.
At Christmas in 1998, I came back to England and 3 months later I came back to Nightfreight, this time working in the warehouse at nights.
In 2000 I became Ops Supervisor AM, and then in 2002 Ops Supervisor PM.
When Paul (General Manager Paul Bozman) arrived here at the depot in 2005 he promoted me to Ops Manager.
This year I will have been with the Company for 10 years.
For people who may not know what the main duties of an Ops Manager are, it's basically to oversee the day to day running of pretty much everything that goes on at the depot that is to do with handling and delivering the consignments.
Maintaining the vehicles, making sure that deliveries & collections are done to the best of the driver's ability and making sure that the depot staff work professionally and are doing a good job.
A typical day in the life for me is, I get up at 6am, and within 5 minutes of opening my eyes, I'm phoning the depot to make sure that everything is ok. That the vehicles are alright and to find out how many consignments we've got to go out and to see if there's been any problems during the night which I need to know about.
I arrive on site between 7.30/8am. Again it's a case of making sure the drivers are doing what they're suppose to be doing and that they're doing it all legally. Like making sure tacho compliance is being followed and that the 'pre-use' checks on the vehicles have been done before the drivers leave the yard.
Then for the next few hours, usually between 9am and noon, I phone our Customers to see what their requirements are for that day and what I can do for them.
I've got a really good relationship with the customers which I enjoy very much. It's a very important relationship, especially in the current climate, because these are the people who help to pay our wages, so they are my priority.
I also look after the warehouse staff and also the sortation staff as my depot is also a hub.
I don't want to sound like a company brown nose, but I think the management at the very top have made a huge difference to the Company in the last 5/6 years. Especially Peter (Peter Louden, Managing Director). I think he's got a fantastic attitude. He's a working lad who's worked hard and done well. He's had a lot of experience at the grass roots level, so he knows what it's like and remembers and uses that.
The best thing about my job? without a doubt its the people I work with and the people I meet. I'm very very lucky here.
Our GM has been the most important influence on me. If I turned out to be half the manager he is, I'd be a very lucky man. Also Tony, the Depot Manager, who moved here at the same time as Paul has also been a very strong influence on me too, he's a very positive guy and I hope they both feel that I've given something back.
Also, as those people out there who speak to Carol in our Traffic department will know, she's the most helpul, cheerful girl in the whole of the company. We get a lot of praise from other depots and we have a great reputation throughout the company and a lot of that is down to Carol. She's fantastic.
I think we've got some really special people around this company.
I am sounding sad now, but I have to admit, there's really very little I don't love about my job. You invest a lot of your life in the company and you take great pride in your depot. I take it personally if we have a bad night, the eye's drop and I'm an upset man. But it's down to me to keep moral high here. So heads up and get over it and get on, it will be better tomorrow. You have to put bad days into perspective but luckily, we don't have too many
My hobby, the same as most men, is 'footie', and of course it can only be Man United. I'm a season ticket holder. I get a lot of stick from Paul all the time, as he's a red hot Liverpool supporter.
