Dean is a man who clearly relishes a challenge, nothing he has chosen in either his personal or professional life has been to make his life easier. It was fascinating to learn about how he moved from a job where he was tipped with beer and pork scratchings to his role at WG Davies, as well as his very full family life.
Dean’s journey to WG Davies has not been traditional in any sense. “You could say it was as a result of a series of unfortunate events that landed me here but it is the best move I ever made. I was working in a warehouse and got made redundant in 2006. At the time I was given a grant to retrain and HGV driving looked like a good option. In truth it was extremely demanding and I can’t say that I enjoyed it.
For the first couple of years I was working as an agency driver moving heavy plant and it was often impossible to find where I was going. It was not unusual to get stuck in a country lane and not be able to reverse.” It wasn’t all bad but it was certainly hard. “I also spent some time working as a drayman and often I would get given bottles of beer, pork scratchings, or even a full English breakfast as a tip - they were really generous - but it was tough, I was quite shocked at how heavy the beer barrels were.”
Seven years after he started at WG Davies and with a big promotion coming his way at the end of last year, it is clear that Dean has eventually found himself exactly where he is meant to be. Today Dean is highly respected member of the team in Cardiff and his recent promotion to Office Manager underlines his qualities in working with people.
Dean has two very different areas of responsibilities, one is a largely paper-based role and the other very much people oriented. “Originally, I joined to submit the R&M contract and warranty claims. I still do that but now I am supported by Lisa. There’s lots of procedures and policies that we’ve got to follow to make sure we’re repairing and maintaining vehicles to MANs very high standards. If we don’t get it right, we don’t get the claim passed.”
Dean’s move into a management role, looking after the day to day running of the front office, was added late last year. “I am involved with ensuring the techs have all the relevant information to enable us to get our customers back on the road as quickly as possible, ensuring the vehicles are repaired first time, every time. It is people focussed, with broad responsibilities to ensure every member of staff is fully utilised and productive, while also making sure they have the tools and training to be able to do their best work.”
It is not the most obvious progression from his highly process-oriented claims role we suggested, “It’s a bit more challenging because you’re dealing with people, rather than just paperwork and processes,” Dean explained, “I have to try to keep everybody happy and motivated, while ensuring the work gets done.” Clearly XDMS has impacted all of that, “Yes,” Dean agreed, “The technicians are better able to manage their time, they have clear targets for a specific repair or maintenance task and I need to make sure we get paid for those hours. The new system will help the boys be more productive and we should be able to turn over more work with less downtime for our customers - it is key to both profitability and staff satisfaction.”
From his new perspective Dean is really positive about the future for Cardiff, “We’ve got some excellent people here now and some returning staff too, so that’s encouraging. Overall, it feels like we have got the right people in the right jobs.”
When he is not in our Cardiff depot, Dean embraces family life to the full. He lives with this wife Laura and their two children, Evan 17 and Ellys 15, as well as their foster child. “We’ve been fostering for four years now, she is our second child. My wife and I can’t have any more children but we both felt we had more to give and fostering was the obvious choice.”
Dean’s oldest son Evan is following in his father’s footsteps with a passion for rugby, “I played a lot of rugby in my younger days and then moved into coaching junior rugby. I am loving following my oldest son’s journey through youth rugby. He is currently training with the Dragons RFC and aiming for a spot in their under 18s team. He is with the Newport High School Rugby Academy, which means he effectively plays for three teams at scrum-half.”
Dean’s youngest son Ellys has Down syndrome, “He’s amazing. I took two years off work after he was born because he had a heart condition. He needed surgery to close a hole in his heart when he was just 18 months old, it was a difficult time but he’s now signed off as having a healthy heart.”
That sign off enables the family to get out and about together, “A family day out could be anything from a trip to the beach, or the park. We’ve got a charity cycle hire near us, Pedal Power, which offer specially adapted bikes and that means the whole family can explore the gardens up in Cardiff - we do that regularly throughout the summer to get some fresh air and keep active. We walk a lot too, we’ve got some local hills and mountains that we explore, there are so many gorgeous places close by, and we also enjoy going away for UK breaks.”
It is clear that Dean has enormous energy for both his work and his family and we were left more than a little bit awed by his generosity and drive for all that life has thrown at him.