In part 2 of 3, team ReferAll share their thoughts, feelings and even fears as the pandemic continues. This issue features Lesley Angus, Stu Stokes, Uwe Khol and John Skinner. Enjoy the read.
Lesley Angus
What you do at ReferAll?
I’m the Support Manager at ReferAll, my main responsibility is making sure our Customers have all the assistance they require to make best use of our system. I also look after a group of Customer Accounts, prepare quotes for Customer Development work and compile articles for our Knowledge Base and monthly software release notifications.
What’s it like to be a ReferAll employee?
I enjoy being part of a small company where everyone is involved and feels they play their part in continuous improvement. My role is varied, no day is really the same. I find that we all make time for one another and colleagues are very supportive.
What motivates our business?
Providing a data platform that enables our customers to efficiently and effectively improve people’s health, both physical and mental. In the changing world of health and wellbeing it is important to stay abreast of public health news and stats and then look at ways we can enhance and improve our model to fit. It is great to be able to help our customers prove the worth of their services, using Outcome reporting – giving them evidence their programmes are working is a great tool when they’re seeking funding
What are you learning from this pandemic?
The pandemic has proved that I … we … can all work well from our homes. I feel that our communication has improved, and our customers have shown themselves to be extremely resourceful and proactive since their working worlds were turned upside down. I am very proud of all my colleagues at ReferAll and all our customers at this time.
Stu Stokes
What you do at ReferAll?
I’m the Managing Director and my job is to lead, inspire and direct our team towards our mission, which is to help organisations involved in the provisioning of health and wellbeing services to adhere to GDPR compliance by the secure management of referrals, for efficient data analysis and reporting.
My day can be as varied as the clouds, moving from problem solving, marketing and sales to finance and pastoral support for the team.
What’s it like to be a ReferAll employee?
For me, the ‘why’ has never gone. I’m inspired by the stories I hear from our customers. I celebrate the data our customers collect when they’re undertaking their work to improve the health of the nation. This is my inspiration and it’s what keeps me going. Now, when you couple that with a team of smart, passionate individuals then, for me, it’s pretty easy!
What motivates our business?
We are seen as a thought leader for many in our sphere of influence, and that we support people to do ‘good’. This is hugely motivating.
What are you learning from this pandemic?
We all have needs, wants and desires. But when faced with a situation like the one we find ourselves in, it encourages a different sense of need, want and desire. We are communicating more effectively, taking time to understand each other more. I firmly believe that we, as a team, as a set of individuals and as a business, are coming through this with smiles and wagging tails.
Uwe Khol
What you do at ReferAll?
I’ve been the senior web developer for three years now and deal with coding web-based applications, fixing system issues and working in customer support.
What’s it like to be a ReferAll employee?
It is a very pleasant feeling working for ReferAll. We are all very human and – I hope I am right! – we actually all like each other.
What motivates our business?
For me it’s being there for the customer, supporting them and coding applications to their brief. But also, because we are such a small company, we really push ourselves to show the big ones that size doesn't matter, attitude and a very good team spirit does.
What are you learning from this pandemic?
To be honest, I haven't told anyone yet but I am actually working from Mallorca, sitting in my favourite cafe, sun shining and enjoying my Cortado…
OK, I am lying, I am actually in Worthing sitting in the dining room and it’s raining outside! But this whole COVID-19 scenario, in allowing us to work from home, has opened up so many new possibilities. So, yes indeed I have to admit that I really like working from home and I would say that we as a team have been much more productive. I can divide my working hours how I like and I quite often continue working after dinner because I am engrossed in a particular piece and am all code-excited! I just love it.
John Skinner
What you do at ReferAll?
My role is Head of Information Technology and my responsibilities include infrastructure, licencing, data management and new customer due diligence. I work very closely with our front of house team to ensure total management, resolution and delivery on client work. I am also responsible for the Business Security and have got ReferAll through to certification of Standards for Cyber Essentials Security and the NHS Digital Security Protection – Toolkit in the past eight months.
What’s it like to be a ReferAll employee?
ReferAll is a great business, with an incredibly knowledgeable MD who has so much passion for the industry it becomes infectious. I only want to help the business grow.
What motivates our business?
Our customers.
What are you learning from this pandemic?
I think the team have become stronger and worked more efficiently because we have had to, to support each other. It's been a great eye-opener.
I’ve been stunned how all our staff relocated and re-engineered their personal lives to work with children at home, , with minimal impact to our operation, and still continue to deliver a first class service to our customer-base.
Despite being physically distanced we have ALL retained close contact and consideration for each other’s’ welfare, ensuring the entire business remains healthy.
On a personal note, working from home has allowed me to focus on my tasks with no background interruptions and highlighted that I can be as, if not more productive, in my own surroundings.
Watch this space for Part 3...in the meantime, I'd love to hear from you with any questions you may have for our lovely, cheery team members or just to say 'hi' and tell us how you are doing 😊 email me: