MEET OUR PEOPLE KATIE BOND, Senior Associate Joining Hazlewoods straight after my A-levels, I have now been working in our Corporate Services team at the Cheltenham office for nearly six years. I chose the AAT route to becoming an accountant, which has meant that I qualified at 22 and I am much younger than many of my peers. Whilst there is a lot of pressure to go to university, I felt that AAT was the best route for me, and I am now further in my career than I would have been, gaining added experience along the way. I am a senior associate, which involves leading audits for a variety of clients. I am also involved in non-work-related activities, such as the social committee, which involves organising events throughout the year and our annual Christmas party. A typical day pre lockdown involved visiting clients to perform statutory audits, mentoring trainees and working alongside other departments within Hazlewoods to solve client problems. I am often the main day-to-day contact for clients and therefore also answer ad hoc queries. A highlight of my role is meeting new people and having an insight into a variety of different businesses and industries. COVID-19 has changed my day to day role in a variety of ways. I began lockdown working on my dining room table with only my laptop and portable screen. As lockdown has continued and working from home is here to stay, I have invested in equipment and have now set up a permanent comfortable and motivating space to work from.
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Summer 2020 - Hazlewoods Magazine
Thanks to our IT team, IT issues have been minimal and overall it has been easy transitioning to this new working style and environment. Working in the audit team meant I was already set up and used to working away from the office as I regularly travelled across the country, working on site at clients’ offices. Clients have adapted well to meetings moving from face-to-face to video calling. The rapport I have built with clients over my time at Hazlewoods has been maintained with regular contact to catch up, and to see whether we can assist with any of the new challenges that they are facing. Communication is by far the most significant skill which has enabled the ‘new norm’ to run effortlessly. In order to maintain team engagement and continue support between the team members, from managers to new graduates, over this period of working from home, we have introduced open microphone sessions. When a group of people are working on the same client we keep the video calls running in the background to create an office environment, whereby you can ask questions as and when they arise rather than inefficiently having to email or call. This has been positively valued and a great way to replicate the social aspect that could otherwise be lost from no longer working in the same room as the whole team.
