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Top Advice
British Airways is a great employer to work for. The range and variety of roles available is huge and the options to get involved in many of them is available. Everybody has the same goal to ensure that our customers have a great experience and whether you are part of the front facing Cabin Crew or Check In Agents, or Engineers ensuring the aircraft is safe and reliable or Ramp and Turn Round Agents making sure flights depart on time, it is all part of what makes it run so smoothly. Even back office roles, such as Payroll, play an important part of this whole process.
Career path
Payroll Team Manager
British Airways
Started 05/2012 to PresentPayroll & Pensions Manager
British Airways
From 09/1978 to 05/2012Company
What do you like about your job and the company?
Due to the numbers of colleagues on our payroll (over 35,000 in total across all payrolls) and the variety and complexity of the different roles that they do, we obviously have to have strict deadlines and processes in order to manage the different tasks that we have to undertake every week or month. However, we also have the freedom and flexibility to override these processes when the need arises in order to accommodate any changes of circumstance or individual requests that may crop up. It is this flexibility that allows us to help individual colleagues when they require one-to-one assistance with a specific issue and allows us to give as personal a service as possible.
Greatest achievements
Professionally, in my previously role in Local Government, I managed to obtain to nationally recognised Payroll Award for our organisation. One of the first London Boroughs to achieve it. At British Airways, I am very proud of my team who work extremely hard and are able to cope with everything that comes our way. Personally, I have done a solo parachute jump from 2,000 feet and abseiled off the top of Twickenham Rugby Stadium, both for charity. I have zip-wired across a slate mine in North Wales, very high and very fast. I have also been on Safari in Kenya back in the 1980s, when the wildlife was still wild!
Kate R
Top Advice
What do you want to do when you're older is asked of young people all the time. Few of us really know. I wanted to be a fire fighter, then in the army, then a pilot. That one stuck. I knew nothing about flying but I heard about the air cadets from a friend and joined. It was the flying that I was most focused on but it gave me an insight into the world of the RAF. The camps were the best and my highlight was a flight in a Hawk; it was so exhilarating. Despite all this I realised the forces were not for me and having no clear options I found nursing. This was never on my radar but I loved it and I tried it for a year before committing and then went to University where I got a degree in Paediatric Nursing. I took so much from being a nurse for those few years before flying raised its head again with another opportunity to get a cadetship with BA. I didn't have high expectations but if you don't try then you won't know. I had a go and here I am today as a Captain.
Joe B
Fleet Finance Business Partner
Top Advice
The relationships you build in every role and the credibility you build will provide you with timely and accurate information to make the right decisions.
Alice C
Fare Product Specialist
Top Advice
Let your personality shine - This is what will stand out to a potential employer. Other applicants may have just as much experience as you, but what they don’t have is your unique personality, so really bring that into your interview process. Do not let the job description scare you - it is ok to not tick all the boxes. Job descriptions are full of jargon and can be confusing to an outsider, do not let this put you off, if it is a role you think you are a match for, you are probably more than capable to perform in the role, and companies are likely to offer training to get you up to speed on the aspects you don’t yet have experience in. Don’t just be interviewed, do the interviewing – The potential employer want to ensure they are finding the right candidate, but you also need to be sure you are finding the right employer, don’t be afraid to ask questions and challenge the working environment. You spend most of your life at work, you need to be sure you are finding an environment that aligns with you personally. Be honest with yourself and the interviewer. A mantra of mine is to do a job you love. “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs
