Name: Shane Long
Job title: People Manager
Store/s: Great Yarmouth Regent Road, ASDA Great Yarmouth & Beccles.
Shane Long is one of K Foley’s longest serving staff members, having worked for the company for 32 years.
Here she explains how she fits her role as People Manager around the demands of being a carer for her mum.
How I make it work:
“As well as having a full-time job within the K Foley group, on a day-to-day basis I am a carer for my mum – alongside my dad and brother.
“My mum has been registered disabled for more than 30 years and needs a lot of support – whether that’s at home with daily tasks, or out and about at hospital visits or other outings.
“Although I do work shifts, as part of my role as a People Manager I don’t do too many earlies or lates and this is helpful because of my duties at home. I’m not a morning person so not doing too many very early shifts means I still get a bit of time to myself, despite how busy I am.
“My job at K Foley works for me around my caring duties because I feel supported and know that there is always someone here who will understand. Working my shifts and then sometimes being up and down all night at home can be very tiring but Simon Bean, our Culture and Wellbeing Manager always checks in and makes sure I’m OK.
“Between us as a family we manage to get mum to any appointments she needs to attend and I am able to take time off if it’s needed. I recently took the day off to celebrate mum’s birthday and that was important.
“K Foley is a supportive environment to work in. I like the fact that the company rewards staff with Employee of the Month and Manager of the Quarter. I often to chat to people who work in other places and they aren’t recognised in this way, but I think it’s really beneficial to staff.
“My role as People Manager sees me help teams with their training and recruitment across four restaurants – talking to them and being someone they can come to for support. I feel that my experiences outside of work make me a good fit for the role and help me to understand other people’s needs.”
Would you like to share your work/life balance story? We’d love to hear it! Whatever you’re juggling – from family ties, hobbies or challenges – tell us how you make it work.
Email: penny@satsumagroup.co.uk with the subject ‘K Foley How I make it work’.
