Longstanding colleagues at the Commission
Having recently written a series of blogs about our new joiners we asked some of our longstanding colleagues what keeps them at the Commission and the types of roles that they have worked on during their time here. Today we hear from Lindsay Phillips, Dan Newby and Rebecca Ahern.
Posted 16 November 2021 by People services, Communications
Although we are a small organisation, we try to ensure internal movement where possible and really value the experience that our Licensing team can bring to other roles within the Commission. The in-depth knowledge they have on the gambling industry is hugely important to all of our departments and in this blog we hear from 3 people who started in Licensing before moving onto other roles and projects; Lindsay Phillips who recently celebrated her 15th year anniversary with us, Dan Newby who joined in 2015 and Rebecca Ahern who joined us over 8 years ago.
What is your current role at the Commission?
Lindsay: I am currently a Senior Regulatory Caseworker in the Licensing Department.
Dan: Assistant Casework Investigator in Enforcement.
Rebecca: I am currently a Casework Investigator on the Enforcement Team.
During your time here have you worked in a variety of roles or departments or worked on any defined projects that have taken you away from your substantive role?
Lindsay: I have undertaken many different roles in the Commission with Data, Legal and Insight but have come back to Licensing twice. I have had fixed term roles as a Targeted Development Officer helping with the roll-out of Siebel, Senior Officer in the Lottery department providing vital support and more recently I was a Voluntary Facilitator for the Unconscious Bias training. The roles I have undertaken have given me an insight into the Commission’s workings and helped me develop within the Licensing department
Dan: Yes – I joined the Commission in 2015 as a Licensing Administrator. Due to a department restructure, I officially joined the Contact Centre as a Contact Centre Advisor in 2017 and finally joined our Enforcement team as an Assistant Casework Investigator in 2020.
Rebecca: I started work at the Commission as a Licensing Officer, progressing to be a Senior Account Manager after the restructure of the team. Whilst working in the Licensing team; I have been assigned to the Remote Licensing Team (following the implementation of The Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act) in 2014, I have represented licensing in the test house onboarding project 2019-20 and have undertaken two six-month secondments with the Enforcement team (in 2017 and 2020). All the experiences have been invaluable and have helped me with my personal development.
What keeps you at the Commission?
Lindsay: Everyone says it but it’s the people. The work is varied and can sometimes be stressful but the people around you help in these situations. Also, the free tea, coffee and squash helps!
Dan: The people at the Commission are incredibly supportive and great to work with. The culture at the Commission is very easy to work in, you are trusted to do your job in a way that suits you. You are trusted to make decisions that are best for you and your workload. I genuinely believe that my manager and people on my team care about my wellbeing.
Rebecca: I feel that the people make the Commission a great place to work, both Licensing and Enforcement have wonderful teams of people. Everyone is supportive and are always willing to share knowledge with each other. This support has been even more important whilst working at home during the past year or so. Personally, I have had to look after two young children and balance working with home schooling which has had its own challenges. I have had catch ups with colleagues on the team when things were tough. It felt like they listened to me, and it felt safe to ask for help when I needed it.
Is flexible working important to you?
Lindsay: It wasn’t important before I became a homeowner but now, I appreciate it a lot more. I am in the office 5 days a week out of choice but know if I needed to WFH one day for any reason that this is available to me.
Dan: Yes – my eyes have been opened (due to the pandemic) to the benefits of working at home, how flexible your work/home life can be with addition of home working, I’m not sure I could ever go back to strictly office working.
Rebecca: Flexible working has become important to me, having two young children. It means that I have been able to fit taking the children to school & nursery and after school clubs around my working pattern, without having to factor in a commute. It gives me the time to focus on reading complex material and drafting letters whilst the children are not home, and the ability to plan my hours around the children - giving me a better work/life balance
Are the Commission's benefits important to you?
Lindsay: I don’t tend to use a lot of them, but the annual leave purchase has come in handy for those longer holidays
Dan: Some benefits are really important to me, mainly the pension and flexible home working. I am not too familiar with some of our benefits, but the ones mentioned are genuinely excellent.
Rebecca: I do not tend to use many of the benefits, in the past I have purchased a taste card through the voucher service which has saved me money on meals whilst out.
If you would like to join one of our teams at the Gambling Commission or would just like to explore the work that we do then get in touch by emailing recruitment@gamblingcommisison.gov.uk and we can tell all about the work we do, the people who work with us and generally how friendly we all are.