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AN OFFICE MANAGER NZ Plumber talks to Sarah Avery about the Office Manager role and the importance of flexible conditions for those juggling work and family life.
“Y
ou name it, I do it.” That’s what Sarah Avery says about her role as Office Manager at Plumbing & Gas Works in Hamilton. Sarah joined six years ago when there were six team members and that number has since grown to 27. The company runs a large contracts team, focusing on commercial new builds, refurbishments and drainage and a smaller maintenance team focusing on day-today plumbing, gasfitting and appliance servicing jobs. Sarah started her career in the energy sector, primarily as a business analyst and project manager, delivering customer fronting projects. “After having three children, I decided I needed to work less and focus on family life for a bit,” she says. “I had a ‘gap year’ with the kids and during that time I was a customer of Plumbing & Gas Works. I made some comments to one of the directors—who I had worked with many moons ago—about improving their invoicing processes and it went from there.” As Office Manager, Sarah does everything from answering telephones, booking jobs and invoicing customers to process improvement and implementing new technology.
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“Sometimes it can be challenging juggling all the tasks to be done, along with playing Camp Mother to a number of our staff members,” she admits. “I have recently been out on some work sites doing Quality Assurance Checks. This has been enjoyable as it has given me an opportunity to work with other staff members who I don’t see very often and to see what goes on at a site.” Sarah was also involved in the creation of the company’s core values: Company Wide Team Work, Dynamic Business Culture and Strong Client Relationships. “Underpinning these values is the belief
“The overall company benefits if you can run your office smoothly, as well as putting processes in place to help the tradesman on site. I would like to see more women in the trade, especially as tradespeople, so they can break the ‘tradie’ stereotype.”
that our company creates an environment where initiative and hard work is recognised and rewarded. “We work synergistically to deliver consistent and quality services and build our client relationships on mutual respect, trust and understanding. These are the values I hold and expect of others, especially when working with our clients.” At the 2021 New Zealand Plumbing Awards, Sarah was the recipient of the Jackson Women in Plumbing Award for her outstanding skills in time management, documentation and for bringing this Master Plumbers member company into the 21st century by introducing systems and processes that increase efficiencies for the benefit of the staff and customers. As the Secretary of the Waikato Master Plumbers Association, she was also instrumental in making the Association’s annual awards night the showpiece it has become. Asked how it feels to be a woman working in this male-dominated industry, Sarah admits it was a bit of an eye opener when she first started working at the company. “I had come from a corporate background to a small, privately owned company where there were no other women.”
