We hear lots about the project delivery teams within Barhale, however, it is equally important to recognise the support staff who are often key players and unsung heroes providing the backbone of our Barhale team. Our support staff work year after year, getting the job done and supporting our project teams as part of their daily duties. We have many people who fit into this category. With many years under her belt, Hannah Stratton from our eastern region is an example of this and she talks to our comms team about her journey with Barhale so far.

Hannah’s background and first introduction to Barhale

Hannah starts with how she was first exposed to Barhale which came about in a time of her life when she was dissatisfied with what she was doing. “So, before Barhale I was actually working in a pub in one of the villages where Barhale were installing a first-time sewer. I went to work every day, walking past pipes and drills and I found it all quite interesting. One day I just got fed up with the pub and decided to do something completely different and applied for a role at Barhale. I spoke to the lads on the project and took it from there. My journey with Barhale started in 2006 where I started out as a chain person for the engineers.”

The job and progression

Hannah had a variety of tasks to do with her job in the early days from setting out drill shots, to helping to put together dig packs for the gang onsite. She also helped to look after the small tools on site, off hiring and hiring gang kits. Later, her role developed where she was helping the fleet department monitor vehicles, doing monthly checks for damages and repairs.  Further still, her role developed even more when she started working with the training department and she made it her own by creating her own database, detailing all the site personnel and listing all the training and expiry dates. In comparison, today her job still incorporates these elements but to a greater degree, particularly on the training side of things. Hannah is now a training coordinator and aside from her main duties, makes hotel bookings and orders PPE for the site team.

In terms of her progress, Hannah is very reflective; “Obviously having children in between, put my progress behind. Now that they are older, I am being trained to become a trainer within Barhale. That would be more one to one stuff, which I am looking forward to. I thought I might be freaked out – standing up in front of everyone – doing the training 90% of the time. The ‘train the trainer’ course will last 6-8 months. Initially, I’ll be focusing on the eastern region to start with before going across regions.”

Flexibility of the job

Hannah then goes on to talk about how flexible her job is. “I am able to work in a hybrid style – both out on site and from home. My line manager is quite flexible.  It’s really, really good. I feel quite lucky, to have this flexibility. It’s not every day you get a job where if my daughter’s sick, I can be there. It’s been like that since day one. Before, I would do three days on site and two days at home and then obviously with COVID, you’re stuck at home anyway.”

Highlights and challenges

Hannah shares that her highlight of the job so far is her current training to become a trainer. “We hit a lull after COVID when nothing got done. We had nobody in the training department, so I’m going to take the reins on this and just go out and do it myself. I have had the support of Barhale’s training manager. In terms of challenges, one of the biggest is that I have to get the site teams to juggle meeting their commitments on site whilst keeping up with their accreditations and training requirements. That can be quite a challenge.”

Mentorship

Hannah shares that her line manager is very supportive and helps her whenever she needs support or a chat. Dominic McDermott, Operations Manager (Eastern Region) shares his thoughts about Hannah’s journey: “Since joining us as a site clerk many years ago, Hannah has taken on a huge amount of work mainly of her own choosing, keeping both myself and our site teams in check. Hannah is the go-to person for all of our site teams with any issue that may arise. If there is a question on anything it is Hannah that the site teams will call, hence her phone never stops ringing.  This is both due to the trusted relationships that she has built up over the years and the willingness to help those that may have just joined us. Hannah’s role is training co-ordinator but has become much bigger than this. Hannah typifies the Barhale values and is a hugely respected member of our team with all that know her. It is a pleasure to work with Hannah.”

Hobbies and recommendations

Hannah’s spare time revolves around her family. She enjoys going to the beach, the movies and other outings. She also likes having a chilled night in watching Netflix, socialising with friends and had a great time recently at a local beer festival. Hannah is keen to share how much she would recommend  Barhale to those looking to enter the industry. “Overall, Barhale have been really good. You know you have someone to talk to and lots of people say it’s hard work but I don’t think it is but I know some would find it daunting. I just find it easy and comfortable because I’m used to working in this sort of environment and I prefer it to a pub where the men get angry and the women can be even worse. Working at Barhale can be a great career choice and the people do make you feel comfortable, so I would definitely recommend it.”

It is clear how well-regarded Hannah is in the Eastern region and what a great support she has been over the years. Good luck and best wishes for her upcoming training and may she continue her good work within her team.