Celebrating 50 Years: Lauren Haines' Rise from Typist to Director at Elliotts
Lauren Haines, one of our directors, has recently celebrated her 50-year anniversary at Elliotts.
Lauren, from Romsey, joined Elliotts as a typist on the 10th of December 1973 and has remained at the company ever since.
“I’d been working in a hotel in Wales and wanted to be back in Southampton. When I interviewed for Elliotts I thought “it’ll do for now”, and I was offered the job in the typing pool for the brick department.”
Little did Lauren know that what started as a simple typist role would spark a life-long interest in bricks.
“Because I was typing a lot about bricks etc. it was interesting to understand what was happening and learn about the products. I felt that I wanted to be more involved in that side of the business.
There was an opening to work in the brick office and I put myself forward for the job. The director at the time thought I’d be too quiet for the role, but I was given the opportunity, and the rest is history.”
Lauren then went on to revamp and manage Elliotts’ brick library, the biggest on the South coast, before managing the sales office and then being made a Director in the early 2000s.
But as a female in a male-dominated industry, career progression hasn’t always been easy.
“As a woman, you had to push to be given the chance. You had to be better and work harder than some of the men to be taken seriously.
When I was running the brick library in the 80’s, it was quite noticeable at that time that being a woman in the industry was tough. Anyone coming into the brick library would automatically go to the guys, who were actually my apprentices.”
“But Elliotts has been very supportive over the last 50 years. I’ve done well through the support of the company and through working hard and wanting to do it.”
In Lauren’s 50 years at Elliotts, she’s seen the company grow from 2 to 13 branches and has worked under 3 different members of the Elliotts family, currently under Tom Elliott, CEO and 6th generation of the Elliotts family. But the biggest changes Lauren has seen over the last 50 years are with technology and how we work.
“Technology is definitely the biggest change I’ve seen, and it can be hard to keep up with.
“I remember when we first got computers and we (the directors) put ourselves on an evening course. We really engaged in it, and I’m glad that we did. You can’t slip backwards, you have to move forwards.”
“Covid-19 has definitely changed how we engage. Time wise, you can have much quicker meeting via Teams, but you can’t replace face to face. Everyone has been wanting to get back to face to face.”
Although she has 50 years of work under her belt, Lauren has no plans to give up work any time soon.
“I’m still enjoying it, I wouldn’t be at Elliotts if I didn’t. I know I can’t work forever, but I have no plans to retire.”
To find out more about opportunities at Elliotts, visit our careers page.
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