Welcome to our monthly series Meet the Team, where we spotlight the extraordinary people that make Bayley & Sage so special. This month’s feature is on Jess, part of our fantastic HR team. Read the full interview below!
1. How long have you been working at Bayley & Sage and what different roles have you held within the company? What is your role now?
I have been with B&S since February 2023 and I work in the HR team as their People and Culture Generalist.
2. What’s your favourite thing about working at Bayley & Sage?
I love the people and the banter! Never a day goes by that I don’t get to laugh with my colleagues and I really enjoy spending time with them.
3. Who or what has inspired you the most throughout your career?
Of people I’ve got to know personally, I was most inspired by my old boss. He taught me so much and was instrumental in all of my pre-B&S career success. He remains my model for how to behave in management (and life): demonstrating that confidence, competence, and strength never need to come along with arrogance, condescension, or unkindness.
4. Have you always worked in this industry? If not, what other types of roles have you held?
In my life before B&S I worked in higher education, specifically in universities. I started as an English Teacher and left the industry a decade later after spending several years as Department Director. This gave me many experiences and insights that still prove useful in my current work.
The biggest takeaways though were the importance for mutual understanding and effective people management; the vast benefits of education and training; and the amazing lengths to which students will go to to get out of submitting assignments on time!
5. What’s the best advice you could give someone who’s just starting out in their career?
It can be better to ask for forgiveness than permission if you’re sure you’re making the right decision, but treat everyone with grace and kindness because you never know who you’ll meet again!
6. What are some of the accomplishments you’re most proud of?
At work I’m so proud of the staff survey! Though it was our first time running it as a business it went relatively smoothly (thank you again to everyone!) and I learned so much during the process. At home I am proud of my 2 young daughters who are an endless delight and fill our house with love and joy. I have also kept my favourite houseplant ‘Big Cheesy’ alive for almost 10 years now (please don’t ask about the others).
7. What are you most looking forward to this year, both personally and professionally?
Professionally, I’m looking forward to addressing the survey feedback and implementing the recommendations that came out of it to make Bayley & Sage an even better place to work. Personally, I am most looking forward to a summer with the girls on the beach! Everything is booked. Now we just need to survive several hours in the air with two small children (apologies if you end up on our flight).
8. If you could only eat one thing from Bayley & Sage for the rest of your life, what would you choose?
It would definitely be the Hokey Pokey milk chocolates!
9. How do you spend your time when you’re not at Bayley & Sage?
I run a book group which has been going for almost 15 years now. It’s given me a set of friends for life, uncountable numbers of good times and the feeling of being smart and well read 😊 (Apart from when someone selects a Sci-Fi book. Never managed to acquire a taste for those)!
Most of my time though time is spent chasing 2 young children around a rotating selection of playgrounds and fending off a never-ending stream of nursery acquired plagues.
10. What’s one interesting fact that we might not know about you?
I have lived for extended periods in half a dozen countries before settling in London. Oh, maybe more interestingly, I also grew up without any screens in my life, and before meeting my husband 12 ish years ago I had seen less than 5 films in my life. He was scandalised by this so he’s been trying to catch me up on 120 years of film history ever since.