Paul Talbot – 24 Years at White Light
At WL, one of our proudest
assets is our staff. We pride ourselves on offering our clients a level of
customer service they simply wouldn’t receive anywhere else. We’re fortunate
that a lot of our employees have chosen to stay with the company for a long time;
with one of these being our Quality Manager Paul Talbot. Paul has been with the
company for 24 years now so we thought we’d take this opportunity to sit down
and discuss his time at WL.
When Paul first joined WL, it was December 1995 and he was fresh out of college. He recalls: “I’d completed a micro-electronics course at East Surrey College and really just wanted any sort of job. I’d seen there was a vacancy at WL and went down to meet the company’s Managing Director Bryan (Raven). We got on really well and I soon joined the Operations team which saw me loading vans, doing deliveries etc”. After a few months in Operations, Paul quickly found himself moving around the warehouse: “I soon joined Bench where I was known as the fixer! Basically, due to my background in electronics, I was always been given circuit boards to fix, along with the more difficult wiring. I actually really enjoyed the technical side of things though; so much so that I joined Control where I got to play with as many toys as I wanted!”.
Paul soon found himself
running the Control Department which brought with it a few challenges; although
these were mainly due to WL’s location at the time. Paul explains: “This was
while we were still in the old Filmer Road building in Fulham so every time the
basement flooded (which happened more than it should) it was down to me to get
a group of us together and sort it out! There was also the challenge of pushing
consoles and flight cases down small corridors and over cobbled floors. It was
certainly a character-building experience!”.
Thankfully, WL was expanding
at a rapid rate and would soon move to a much bigger home in nearby Wimbledon.
Due to his role, Paul was in charge of overseeing the set-up of Control in
SW19. Shortly after this, Paul would continue honing his managerial skills as
he became Head of the Rigging and Followspot departments. Following this, he
was then promoted to Warehouse Manager; overseeing everyone who worked in the
vicinity. He comments: “My constant promotions within the company weren’t a
quest for world domination! Instead they were a natural progression. This was
during a time when I didn’t have a partner or any family so I was always the
first one in at 7am and the last one out at 9pm. They were long, long days but
I did genuinely enjoy them and the increased responsibility”.
Once in Wimbledon, the company continued to grow, now employing five times the staff compared to when Paul first started. As such, he worked with his team of supervisors to help oversee the growing workforce. It was also during this time that Paul’s personal life dramatically changed and the long hours he used to embrace were no longer a possibility. He explains: “My son was born in 2006 with Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy which meant he needed constant care. Funnily enough, I didn’t go part time straight away – I just had to finish on time! It was strange as finishing at 5pm for me was like doing a half day!”.
Since then, Paul has continued working in managerial roles throughout the company and for the past couple of years has worked as WL’s Quality Manager. He explains: “My role is exactly how it sounds: ensuring that, as a company, we maintain ‘quality’ and that everything leaves our facilities as it should. I’ve also put in procedures and systems that are bespoke to WL. As someone who’s been here for quite a long time now, I’m in the fortunate position of knowing what works best for our customers and how we’re able to give them the best service possible”.
As Paul has been at WL for
almost a quarter of a century, it seems only right to ask what the biggest
changes have been during this time. However, Paul wants to actually talk about
what’s stayed consistent: “What I love about working at WL, and perhaps the
biggest reason I’ve stayed, is the people. During my time here, we’ve gone from
a company of 25 to 250 yet it’s still retained its family feel and everyone is
so friendly and just wants to do the best job possible. Personally, I’ve also
made some great friends here, including Andy Cullen, Neil Adamson, Andy Johnson
and many more, and think of the company as my extended family – which not a lot
of people can say about the place they work”.
We’d like to take this
opportunity to thank Paul for his service to WL and the integral role he’s
played in the company’s growth. Here’s to the next 24 years!
The post Paul Talbot – 24 Years at White Light appeared first on White Light.