Our youngest COM
Lois Hempston, at 18 years old, is our youngest customer operations manager (COM). What’s more, the Teddington COM is showing that age is just a number as she continues her progression up the career ladder.
Lois, who comes from a family of Royal Mail employees, began her journey with the company as one of the first cohort on our Postal Apprenticeship scheme in September 2021. And we’ve been following her on Workplace throughout her journey.
In this film, hear how starting as an apprentice has helped shape her management style. Colleagues including David Tomlinson and Dominique Knight explain the impact she is having and Lois demonstrates how she has tackled improving the culture and performance at Teddington – including grabbing a paintbrush and paint herself!
The likes of chief operating officer, Grant McPherson, and regional operations directors, Mark Wilkinson and Sean Watson have been quick to praise the impact Lois is having and the progress she has made in a short space of time, something echoed by our head of future talent, Charlotte Wakeham.
‘Lois is a fantastic example of how our apprenticeship programmes can provide new routes into the workplace and enable alternative access to education,’ said Charlotte.
‘My team and I lead our apprenticeship offering across Royal Mail and are continuing to work to expand the apprenticeship options we have available for both future and existing colleagues. Opportunities in the pipeline include project management and vehicle technicians, so please do look out for more information soon.’
Lois is also a part of our NextGen Employee Resource Group, and this week interviewed operations development director, Ricky McAulay, to discover some of his top tips from a full career at Royal Mail – which started for himself as a postal cadet.
‘I would signpost to younger colleagues, like Lois, our NextGen Employee Resource Group, which formally launched earlier this week ahead of National Youth Day on Saturday 12 August,’ said Charlotte. ‘This group is open to everybody and aims to brings together colleagues aged under 30 - and their allies - to create improved connection and support across the organisation.’
Click here for more on NextGen ERG and to join the conversation.
Look out for more on National Youth Day tomorrow.
