It took a little push this month, but once the ball got rolling the temp of the month nominations for October really shook up our office. Each manager had some amazing things to say about their Temps, which left the London Works Team with an indescribably hard decision; how to narrow the competition down to just a single winner.

After much deliberating and a few head scratches, it was decided that two of the Temps really stood out, not only because of the glowing report their managers gave them but also because of the otherwise working relationships they have with London Works. This is to say that we knew they were doing an incredible job in their current roles because we had witnessed it first-hand.
The struggle continued. The struggle to choose just one! This task could be likened to the challenge of choosing between chocolate and cake.

Finally, we came to a decision, and the decision was, we could not decide and so for the first time in London Works history; the temp of the month award was presented to two amazing individuals from two equally distinguished and astounding companies.
The Temps of the month for October were none other than:

• Foquerul Islam – The London Borough of Tower hamlets and;
• Cherelle Byron – Poplar Harca Housing Association.

Cherelle Byron has been working as an Administrator in the Home Ownership Team at Poplar Harca since July 2016 and is an absolute credit to the team. During her nomination her manager Paul Stannard said:

“Cherelle is a hard working member of the Home Ownership team here at Poplar Harca and always displays a positive and supportive attitude. The last month has been particularly busy for us with the actual charges being sent out to leaseholders and Cherelle has dealt with a number of very difficult queries, providing complex information to residents and support to more experienced colleagues. Both I and the Head of Service continue to be impressed with the way Cherelle conducts herself and the contribution she makes every day to the smooth running of the department. She is a very popular member of the team and shows a great level of flexibility in her approach to work, and also takes on extra duties to assist her teammates. She is extremely professional at all times”.

Cherelle cemented this by adding: ‘‘Working at Poplar Harca has been a great experience from the moment I started. I work amongst a great set of Individuals who support me when needed. The role itself can be fairly interesting, especially when liaising with legal representatives’’.

It is this love and interest for her current role that shone through and resulted in Cherelle not only being nominated, but taking home the ‘Temp of the Month Award’ this month.

Our second winner Foquerul Islam has been working as a Senior Business Support Officer at The London Borough of Tower Hamlets since April 2016.

Foquerul is very helpful and reliable, always on call to help. He was nominated collectively by 3 individuals, Andy Scott – Head of Economic Development, Melanie Aust – Business and Town Centres Manager and his manager Aelswith Frayne who is the Economic Programme Manager. All members of the team wanted to acknowledge Foquerul stating that; “He had worked hard to get to grips with the Council’s systems and processes and to help the senior managers in Economic Development navigate them effectively.  He has a flexible and friendly approach which makes working with him a pleasure.”

Foquerul is enjoying his Team as much as they are enjoying him, when asked about his role at the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Foquerul says, “this has been the best organisation I have worked for thus far, a very professional environment and I hope to carry on being a valuable contribution to it. If it wasn’t for London Works, I would not be employed by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Hats off to this incredible agency for getting me into a job that I’ve been looking to get into for years!”

So, with so many nominations and such incredible explanation as to why each temp deserved to be awarded for their time-keeping, drive and flexibility; you can understand why we found it so hard to make a decision.  
We have no qualms about presenting two awards this month… it’s an absolute pleasure to have both candidates recognised for their hard work.

A huge well done to both Foquerul and Cherelle on their much-deserved award!