JAY SLATER
The following is a little about me and my working life so far...
There isn't a lot of information, just some headline detail about where I've worked and what I've done in the past 20 or so years. If you'd like a full CV or just like to know more about what makes me tick, please click on the link above and we can take it from there.
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Thank you for taking time to have a look at what I've got to say.
MY JOURNEY...
Just a little 'about' me and how I've got to this web page...
SINCE THE 80'S...
Through my early working life, perhaps my time with Securicor has given me the greatest exposure to a multi-faceted organisation with a heritage that spanned so many years. The experience was second to none. I met some fantastic people who spared me their time to share their experiences and help me grow as an individual. I was fortunate enough to work with all of the divisions both directly and through collaboration on major projects. I don't believe I will ever have such an opportunity again and achieve so many goals that were both strategic for the business as well as personal to me.
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Working with the many companies within Securicor as well as external organisations (British Standards, Metropolitan Police, Forensic Science Service, BT, just to name a few), I was pretty much grounded in all forms of regulation and standards - they've all helped me in my subsequent roles: understanding the need for regulation but also appreciating that regulation has to be balanced while all of the time maintaining and improving standards. Throughout my time working with head office, I was fortunate to have had a fantastic boss; a man who taught me so many values as well as respect in the workplace and for people I work with - values I still hold true.
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Below is a link that describes what Securicor was all about (back in my day). As you'll see - quite dated; but I still enjoy looking back knowing I was part of that world of Securicor.
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MY START INÂ THE CONTACT CENTRE WORLD...
Well, my time within the world of contact centres started in 2003. It was a shock to the system. Whilst I'd worked with teams of people in varying environments previously through a branch network, my life now was working within a call centre and it was without doubt a real eye opener - but in a good way! I quickly learned that I had to adjust my approach to work as well as those I worked with, adapting to a style that was was much more focussed on a closer team-working (and in some ways a very much more competitive way).
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I was very fortunate to have been in the right place at the right time at Egg - they were ground-breaking in so many ways, including employee development, which is where my journey within the world of workforce planning began, and where I came across the biggest eye-opener (surprise-surprise) calls didn't happen by accident! There was/is always a reason or plan behind customers contacting the centre. I learnt so much from the forecasters, schedulers, real-timers as well as the marketing and strategy teams (whether through sales, retention or credit control).
AND, I'M STILL LEARNING...
I've had a varied career since leaving Egg / Citi / Barclaycard, that's for sure! The environment that had become as predictable as it could be changed when I moved to an insurance provider. That meant a major adaptation in both the way I was working, but also how I worked. Customers behaved differently, drivers were very varied with wider ranging external influences playing in to my world now (and have done ever since).
There really was a different dimension to planning, not just by the nature of the work, but also with colleagues and internal stakeholders. What I'd got to know as a call centre became a contact centre, with multiple ways in which to engage with a customer that in turn led to the need for an increasingly and suitably skilled workforce, requiring as much focus and support as the customer to ensure service was delivered successfully.
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My most recent time within planning has taken me back to working within the NHS. I'd forgotten just how satisfying it can be. Yes there are frustrations, but overwhelmingly the reward in knowing what you contribute toward does make a difference to so many people on so many levels. Perhaps my biggest sense of achievement is appreciating that there are many others there as well who also want to make the plan work by delivery excellent patient service.
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Having worked back within the NHS, It really does focus my ideas and approach and appreciate that the planning role is not just about managing costs, making sure there is an agent available or even hitting service level (though they are all equally important)... it's also about appreciating that people make the whole service work - irrespective of the operation(s) in which they work.
January 2019Â - August 2019
WORKFORCE PLANNING CONSULTANT
SOUTH EAST COAST AMBULANCE SERVICE NHS TRUST
I was engaged by the Trust to support a transition from a shared WFM services to their own / preferred platform, involving the integration of the WFM to a new pan-trust telephony network. As part of the journey to deployment, a framework was provided that supported the setting-up of a formal planning processes to be adopted by both the 111 and 999 / EOC working groups. By the end of July, another 500+ personnel from the 999 / EOC operational area had been uploaded and were in the process of being planned and scheduled.
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During my time with the Trust, the 111 operations data was moved across along with the building of all resource requirements to the new platform. Within 10 weeks a full deployment of the WFM application was made ready for operational go-live, while at the same time, insight and training support around the Planning Cycle and its application within the operations was given a good grounding.
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As part of my handover, a ‘criteria for success’ agreement between the WFM vendor and SECAmb that laid out an annual support plan in relation to training and development around the application and it’s use by the Trust was designed, proposed and acceptable by all parties.
November 2017 - December 2018
PLANNING & REAL TIME MANAGER
EXPERIAN PLC
I took the opportunity to join Experian at a time the organisation was going through a period of service recovery as well as operational change, which was key to the success of the UK&I operations.
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Operational changes being made led to significant change also within the planning team where a greater focus on service delivery was necessary (and achieved), along with support for overseas colleagues who were beginning to take on none core work from the UK. Both service support and training of other planning staff was undertaken at the same time as wide ranging training and development was being delivered in the UK, with service levels steadily improving throughout.
April 2015 - November 2017
WORKFORCE MANAGER
DOMESTIC & GENERAL
I was fortunate to be successful in applying to D&G for the newly created Workforce Manager role. The brief was three-fold: to introduce a new workforce management platform, roll-out a new planning function - the Bridge Team and review schedules across 10 operational areas.
​
The Bridge Team - a link between the scheduling and operational management of each area - allowed the Real Time team to manage the intraday operations whilst the planning of resource from day +1 to four weeks out sat with the Bridge Team. The aim was to be
operationally more resilient with a closer / improved, and more productive dialogue with CCM's and Team Leaders taking place. This was successfully implemented across two sites with eight Bridge Analysts appointed. The appointment of the BA's allowed the four members of the Scheduling Team to focus on reviewing and re-designing shift patterns that supported the business direction and change initiatives taking place. Having specific BA's assigned to operational areas ensured that the focus for each area was managed well and where changes were made, there were as few issues as possible.
​
The biggest single success was to implement and deploy a new WFM platform. This was done on time and to 10 individual operating units at three locations. The process involved the designing, delivering and providing ongoing support for the training of operational, management and support roles in using the new WFM platform.
January to March 2015
RESOURCE PLANNING MANAGER
STAYSURE.CO.UK
I was offered a great opportunity with Staysure to help set up a planning function, something they'd not had previously, and due to the fantastic growth they were experiencing, they needed a more formal planning framework within which to work.
​
During my short time there, I was able to steer them toward understanding more effectively the operation in terms of its drivers and behaviours, while at the same time reviewing forecasting methodologies for staffing the operations as well as recommending appropriate changes in order to ensure the business delivered an effective customer service.
July 2013 - January 2015
ROTA MANAGER
DERBYSHIRE HEALTH UNITED (DHU)
Working with DHU was my first experience of being directly involved with the NHS, and discovering some weird and wonderful methods of scheduling... I was always learning (and still am) new techniques and applications.
​
My role with DHU was being responsible for the management of a staff rota system for the Derbyshire NHS out of hours GP and District Nurse services as well as the out of hours walk in centres (minor injury units at multiple locations) serving c950k patients with c650 directly employed and sessional staff. My role also supported the operational staffing rota of the NHS 111 service in three locations covering the East Midlands population of around 4 million. To help me with this, I was incredibly fortunate enough to have a team of ten supporting the services.
My time working with DHU gave me a real wake up call in understanding how so many different skills and people were needed just to make the operation tick. Every member of the out of hours and 111 teams provide such a fantastic service that, unless you witness it first hand you just don't appreciate how valuable a resource they are, and having witnessed some patient interactions, just how resilient and gracious they are.
February 2012 - July 2013
RESOURCE PLANNING MANAGER
HOME3
Appointed to the new role with Home3 of RPM where I was responsible for operational staff planning for the claims centre as well as short, medium and long term forecasting. With the organisation being much smaller than my last three roles, it was a full-on position that also made me responsible for operational MI, telephony requirements (routing) as well as business continuity processes. It was also a time where I was able to start to hone skills around supporting and developing staff assigned to me as part of my team.
​
This was a tremendous time for me as I learnt so many different skills that helped to really cement understanding gained during my time with Egg, Citi and Barclaycard. It was unfortunate that the business had to relocate - something I then was not in a position to do.
2011 - 2012
FORECASTING & CAPACITY PLANNING ANALYST
BARCLAYCARD
Responsible for the planning of customer facing operations staff during the transition of the divested Egg Card businesses from Citi to Barclaycard (and other business partners).
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Unfortunately, the role was then made redundant due to the closure of the Egg credit card and loan operations in Derby.
2003 - 2011
FORECASTING & CAPACITY PLANNING ANALYST
CITI (UK)
This was my introduction to contact centre working came about in joining what used to be Egg Bank (owned then by Prudential). Working through various roles within the organisation from a customer facing team member to being responsible for managing the outbound dialler for both income generation, retentions and collections operational areas (both located here in the UK and India).
​
Best achievement during my time with Egg / Citi was establishing increased use of the dialler technology available to the businesses. Using the dialler allowed for better customer contact and improvements in customer retention, as well as being used increasingly for credit control purposes. My responsibilities further expanded with the integration of the Citibank book. Using similar contact methods, better penetration rates were achieved ensuring better management of risk to the operations.
​
These roles lead me to work as part of the Forecasting and Planning Team with a brief to support the UK operations for the Egg products as services were wound down prior the sale of the Egg book to Barclaycard.
1986 to 2002
PROJECT MANAGER
SECURICOR
Working through the organisation from branch operations with a grounding in pretty much every single security service provided by the organisation, as well as a period of time working with the parcels distribution operation; ending my time with the company working in Head Office where my role was targeting methods for reducing the propensity of physical attacks on personnel as well as loss prevention within the cash handling operations through new and innovative technologies.
​
My notable achievements during my time with Securicor, working with over 60 branches within the cash services operation in to being the first nationally registered cash-in-transit company for BS5750 / ISO9002, followed closely with registration each for the safe rental / installation and the office services operations. This was soon followed by the successful establishment of a national ATM network that within the first 18 months of operation showed the lowest attack rate / cash loss for any operator in the UK.
January 2019Â - August 2019
WORKFORCE PLANNING CONSULTANT
SOUTH EAST COAST AMBULANCE SERVICE NHS TRUST
I was engaged by the Trust to support a transition from a shared WFM services to their own / preferred platform, involving the integration of the WFM to a new pan-trust telephony network. As part of the journey to deployment, a framework was provided that supported the setting-up of a formal planning processes to be adopted by both the 111 and 999 / EOC working groups. By the end of July, another 500+ personnel from the 999 / EOC operational area had been uploaded and were in the process of being planned and scheduled.
​
During my time with the Trust, the 111 operations data was moved across along with the building of all resource requirements to the new platform. Within 10 weeks a full deployment of the WFM application was made ready for operational go-live, while at the same time, insight and training support around the Planning Cycle and its application within the operations was given a good grounding.
​
As part of my handover, a ‘criteria for success’ agreement between the WFM vendor and SECAmb that laid out an annual support plan in relation to training and development around the application and it’s use by the Trust was designed, proposed and acceptable by all parties.
November 2017 - December 2018
PLANNING & REAL TIME MANAGER
EXPERIAN PLC
I took the opportunity to join Experian at a time the organisation was going through a period of service recovery as well as operational change, which was key to the success of the UK&I operations.
​
Operational changes being made led to significant change also within the planning team where a greater focus on service delivery was necessary (and achieved), along with support for overseas colleagues who were beginning to take on none core work from the UK. Both service support and training of other planning staff was undertaken at the same time as wide ranging training and development was being delivered in the UK, with service levels steadily improving throughout.
April 2015 - November 2017
WORKFORCE MANAGER
DOMESTIC & GENERAL
I was fortunate to be successful in applying to D&G for the newly created Workforce Manager role. The brief was three-fold: to introduce a new workforce management platform, roll-out a new planning function - the Bridge Team and review schedules across 10 operational areas.
​
The Bridge Team - a link between the scheduling and operational management of each area - allowed the Real Time team to manage the intraday operations whilst the planning of resource from day +1 to four weeks out sat with the Bridge Team. The aim was to be
operationally more resilient with a closer / improved, and more productive dialogue with CCM's and Team Leaders taking place. This was successfully implemented across two sites with eight Bridge Analysts appointed. The appointment of the BA's allowed the four members of the Scheduling Team to focus on reviewing and re-designing shift patterns that supported the business direction and change initiatives taking place. Having specific BA's assigned to operational areas ensured that the focus for each area was managed well and where changes were made, there were as few issues as possible.
​
The biggest single success was to implement and deploy a new WFM platform. This was done on time and to 10 individual operating units at three locations. The process involved the designing, delivering and providing ongoing support for the training of operational, management and support roles in using the new WFM platform.
January to March 2015
RESOURCE PLANNING MANAGER
STAYSURE.CO.UK
I was offered a great opportunity with Staysure to help set up a planning function, something they'd not had previously, and due to the fantastic growth they were experiencing, they needed a more formal planning framework within which to work.
​
During my short time there, I was able to steer them toward understanding more effectively the operation in terms of its drivers and behaviours, while at the same time reviewing forecasting methodologies for staffing the operations as well as recommending appropriate changes in order to ensure the business delivered an effective customer service.
July 2013 - January 2015
ROTA MANAGER
DERBYSHIRE HEALTH UNITED (DHU)
Working with DHU was my first experience of being directly involved with the NHS, and discovering some weird and wonderful methods of scheduling... I was always learning (and still am) new techniques and applications.
​
My role with DHU was being responsible for the management of a staff rota system for the Derbyshire NHS out of hours GP and District Nurse services as well as the out of hours walk in centres (minor injury units at multiple locations) serving c950k patients with c650 directly employed and sessional staff. My role also supported the operational staffing rota of the NHS 111 service in three locations covering the East Midlands population of around 4 million. To help me with this, I was incredibly fortunate enough to have a team of ten supporting the services.
My time working with DHU gave me a real wake up call in understanding how so many different skills and people were needed just to make the operation tick. Every member of the out of hours and 111 teams provide such a fantastic service that, unless you witness it first hand you just don't appreciate how valuable a resource they are, and having witnessed some patient interactions, just how resilient and gracious they are.
February 2012 - July 2013
RESOURCE PLANNING MANAGER
HOME3
Appointed to the new role with Home3 of RPM where I was responsible for operational staff planning for the claims centre as well as short, medium and long term forecasting. With the organisation being much smaller than my last three roles, it was a full-on position that also made me responsible for operational MI, telephony requirements (routing) as well as business continuity processes. It was also a time where I was able to start to hone skills around supporting and developing staff assigned to me as part of my team.
​
This was a tremendous time for me as I learnt so many different skills that helped to really cement understanding gained during my time with Egg, Citi and Barclaycard. It was unfortunate that the business had to relocate - something I then was not in a position to do.
2011 - 2012
FORECASTING & CAPACITY PLANNING ANALYST
BARCLAYCARD
Responsible for the planning of customer facing operations staff during the transition of the divested Egg Card businesses from Citi to Barclaycard (and other business partners).
​
Unfortunately, the role was then made redundant due to the closure of the Egg credit card and loan operations in Derby.
2003 - 2011
FORECASTING & CAPACITY PLANNING ANALYST
CITI (UK)
This was my introduction to contact centre working came about in joining what used to be Egg Bank (owned then by Prudential). Working through various roles within the organisation from a customer facing team member to being responsible for managing the outbound dialler for both income generation, retentions and collections operational areas (both located here in the UK and India).
​
Best achievement during my time with Egg / Citi was establishing increased use of the dialler technology available to the businesses. Using the dialler allowed for better customer contact and improvements in customer retention, as well as being used increasingly for credit control purposes. My responsibilities further expanded with the integration of the Citibank book. Using similar contact methods, better penetration rates were achieved ensuring better management of risk to the operations.
​
These roles lead me to work as part of the Forecasting and Planning Team with a brief to support the UK operations for the Egg products as services were wound down prior the sale of the Egg book to Barclaycard.
1986 to 2002
PROJECT MANAGER
SECURICOR
Working through the organisation from branch operations with a grounding in pretty much every single security service provided by the organisation, as well as a period of time working with the parcels distribution operation; ending my time with the company working in Head Office where my role was targeting methods for reducing the propensity of physical attacks on personnel as well as loss prevention within the cash handling operations through new and innovative technologies.
​
My notable achievements during my time with Securicor, working with over 60 branches within the cash services operation in to being the first nationally registered cash-in-transit company for BS5750 / ISO9002, followed closely with registration each for the safe rental / installation and the office services operations. This was soon followed by the successful establishment of a national ATM network that within the first 18 months of operation showed the lowest attack rate / cash loss for any operator in the UK.
EDUCATION
BA BUSINESS STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF DERBY
January 2006 - January 2010
During my time with Egg / Citi, I decided to take some time to complete a Degree. This I managed while working full time - a real achievement! My desire to undertake the course was in order to somehow legitimise my roles within the workplace and prove - I suppose - that I hadn't somehow achieved the positions by accident or by being in the right place at the right time, but managed to get there by hard work and determination. It was a great experience during which I met some super people, both as fellow students as well as tutors.
LIKE TO KNOW MORE?
Please... call or drop me a line:
T: +44 (0) 7539 288 933
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If I can't answer for any reason, please leave a message, I will call you back as soon as I can.
