Verastar turned 20 this month and to celebrate we’ve been taking walks down memory lane in our “20 years of Verastar” series.
We’ve had an inside view on the last two decades from CEO Chris Earle, and looked at the influence Verastar has had on the our colleagues in and out of work in 20 years of Verastar Colleagues: Part 1 and Part 2.
We are going back through the archives again in this piece, hearing about our colleagues’ top moments during the last 20 years.
Business highlights
Transitioning to a multi-service provider with one bill
“My top moments have been every year for the past 5 years we have taken on new challenges to fully diversify from a telecoms company to a licensed multi-service provider and the launch of our one bill solution for Telecoms, Gas, Electricity and Water in both England and Scotland. We are now very proud to be able to offer our customers a truly unique service which not only saves them money but genuinely makes their lives easier.”
Nicola Smith, Chief Commercial Officer
You can read more about the company’s evolution over time in our blog 20 years of Verastar from CEO Chris Earle.
Acquisitions
“Every acquisition we have completed has been a top moment for me. From entering new markets with businesses such as Clear Business Water and Sinq Power to welcoming new customer bases on board, it’s always an exciting step forward for the company and is a crucial part of our growth strategy.”
Piotr Nowosad, Development & Strategy Director
Read about some of our acquisitions in our blog ‘Verastar adds to growing customer base’.
Motivational meetings
“When I was a supervisor in Credit Control, I led morning meetings every day. To try and keep them interesting, I was always trying to think of new ideas. One day I did a rap about Direct Debits and card payments to the tune of Fresh Prince of Belair. That was definitely one the team remembered!”
Darshna Patel, Admin & Quality Support Supervisor
Internal interviews
“I had an interview for a training role with our Learning & Development Manager Stacie King. I was asked to do a 15-minute presentation followed by interview questions. To break the ice (quite literally) I made us both a non-alcoholic, glittery cocktail I named ‘The Vera Star. It is quite possibly the most fun I have ever had in a job interview and only adds to the extremely positive experience I have had in the short time I have been here already!”
Samuel Whiteley, Learning & Development Coordinator (He got the job!)
Process improvements
“A recent project I have been involved in to improve processes and give our customers an overall better experience was a challenge but also extremely rewarding. It meant working together with many different departments, including Training and MI, and with some solid team work we made great progress and are already seeing the results.”
Laura-Jayne Owen, Compliance Officer
Charity initiatives
Calendar Girls
“After my auntie sadly had breast cancer in 2007, we wanted to do some fundraising for Breast Cancer Care. And we decided to get creative! Inspired by the story of The Calendar Girls, we decided to do our own tongue-in-cheek calendar. We had massive backing from the company, who even paid for the photographer and we completely sold out of calendars. Not only did it gain press and radio coverage, we raised loads of money for a worthy cause.”
Rachel Gryckiewicz, Head of Customer Care Administration
Comic Relief
“Over the years, the charity initiatives we have done have been lots of fun. It’s a real passion of ours as a business to support worthwhile causes so we are always keen to take part where we can. For a number of years, we opened the Contact Centre for Comic Relief night. It was brilliant to take calls and support the fundraising and the atmosphere was always brilliant. We are hoping to take part again next year.”
Janette Palmer, Customer Relations Director
A bit of fun…
Friday Challenges
“To round the week off, we used to do 10-minute Friday challenges across departments. One week we did a ‘Bushtucker Challenge’ which involved a member of the senior team eating some very unappetising items. A game of Countdown was also played, where a very senior member of the Finance Department though he had it in the bag but actually lost to a member of Credit Control!”
Holly Mack, Programme Manager
Christmas Parties
“The annual Christmas party is one of the only chances where Verastar colleagues from across the company, including regional offices, get together. Teams and individuals are celebrated with an awards ceremony which is fantastic. It was my first one last year and you could feel the excitement in the air. I’m looking forward to this year’s, and all the party outfits, already.”
Susie Delves, CMO
Celebrating Verastar’s 20th birthday
“I have only been here a couple of months and my favourite moment has to be celebrating Verastar’s 20th Birthday on 13th November. The whole day was great complete with goody bags and gifts, prize draws, free breakfast and the offices looked unreal with all the decorations. Everyone was involved and there was a buzz in the air.”
Robert Quinn-Brown, Learning & Development Coordinator
Still to come…
“My favourite moment is still to come. The next 12 months is going to have a lot instore for the company and I can’t wait to see how much more we can achieve as a team.”
Chris Earle, CEO
So, the best is yet to come. And you could be a part of it! We have a number of vacancies available across departments, live on our Careers Page now.
