Last week I was lucky enough to be in the company of two exceptional people. Emily Woodcock is a Fleet Administrator in the Compliancy team at our Head Office in Croft.
Emily was voted as employee of the month for going above and beyond her job. Being new to the HGV industry I didn’t realise just how many services, MOT’s and inspections a Heavy Good Vehicle has to have, along with the volume of vehicles that require taxing each month. The compliancy team ensure that these checks are conducted at the right time with the aim of maximising the time that the vehicle is on the road for our customers.
To ensure a smooth process for one of our customers we needed to tax a vehicle on 1st of the month to ensure it was complaint, which fell on a Saturday. It was no problem to Emily, and she taxed it at home on Saturday morning. It’s all the little things that make the difference when working in customer service.
As Employee of the Month Emily gets to donate to a charity of her choice. Emily chose the Action for Asperger’s charity. Action for Asperger’s (AfA) offers bespoke, autism-specialist counselling and emotional support. For those with autism/Asperger’s syndrome, and those living alongside them, they provide someone to talk to who has understanding and knowledge of autism/Asperger’s syndrome. Many years ago, this charity had helped a member of Emily’s family with counselling.
The second inspirational lady we met was Elaine Nicholson at Action for Asperger’s. Elaine is the CEO of the charity and a counsellor, who took time out from a busy schedule of counselling sessions to explain about the work of the charity. She shared with us her very personal journey of the stress on family life that living with an Asperger family member had on her which was so intense that she suffered with depression. This journey led her into counselling and the forming of the charity.
Asperger’s is a neurodevelopment disability that affects the ability to effectively interact and communicate with people. Elaine explained that people have up to 7000 different facial expressions, but those living with Asperger’s may only recognise up to 20 and may have difficulty with communication and social skills and empathising with others.
Elaine was really delighted with the donation and thanked Emily for remembering the charity. She said that they are an oft forgotten cause, so the donation has brought about some very wide smiles at the charity! She explained that the donation will allow for a full day’s counselling for either a person living with Asperger’s or family members coping with the stress.
It’s made me think a lot about how many facial expressions we do have and just to say If you see somebody driving along pulling faces, it could be me, I’ve not identified 7000 just yet!
Registered Office: Action for Asperger’s, Autism-Specialist Counselling Centre, 9 Darwin House, Corbygate Business Park, Priors Haw Road, Corby, Northamptonshire, NN17 5JG. Charity registration 1148790 www.actionforaspergers.org