Celebrating our 2022 All Stars

Celebrating our 2022 All Stars

At the end of every year, we announce who our All Stars are –  the individuals, stores and teams who truly excelled in living our Values and deserved special recognition.

Becoming an All Star is an amazing achievement, and we want to celebrate and learn more about the winners. Over the coming year, we’ll be interviewing our 2022 All Stars and the first in our series is Laura Davidson.

Laura received a huge number of ‘Thanks’ in 2022 as well as sent 61 thanks herself, Laura lives and breathes our values of ‘appreciating each other’. Laura is hugely proactive and goes above and beyond in both her work and her involvement within the Business – representing as a People Engagement Champion, in the DIB Committee and Green Park Social Committee. Her involvement in the graduate programme itself has also been recognised as she is always first to volunteer – and she has event taken the initiative to welcome, support and guide other graduates including our new cohort.

Tell us about your role and your career to date at Three.

I joined Three as the People Graduate in 2021. As part of this, I do 4 rotations around the function. I’ve done rotations in People Services, People Propositions and I’m currently in the People Business Partnering team supporting Retail; I absolutely love it! The role supports the provision of wider HR Business Partnering activities as part of our People Strategy, as well as more Retail focused activities to support them in achieving their business goals. Every day is completely different and I love working with people across the People team and Retail team to find new and improved ways of supporting our Retail colleagues.

How did being awarded an All Star make you feel and what does it mean to you?

I still think it’s yet to sink in! If someone told me when I first joined Three that I’d receive this award so early into my career, I would never have believed them. It came at a really nice point of reflection on the year and gave me a confidence boost to take into 2023.

What are your favourite things about working at Three?

I love the people! Everyone’s so welcoming and always happy to answer any questions I have. Everyone genuinely cares and wants me to be successful; I’ve learnt so much from so many amazing people in the business.

What do our values mean to you and which one do you most connect with?

I think our success as a company is underpinned by our values so having a platform to recognise these is really important. We work as one team is probably the value that I connect with the most – two heads are always better than one, especially when it’s done in the right way.

What is the best career advice you ever received?

When I joined the Mentorship Collective, I was working with my mentor a lot on self-confidence. One thing she said really resonated and I still think about it a lot. There’s only one version of you – when you’re in a room full of people, you’re the only person that has the same combination of skills, experiences and thinking and that allows you to bring something different to the table. I always keep this at the back of my head now when I’m taking on something new or when I’m being hard on myself.

How do you unwind off from work?

I love going for long walks, especially when there’s a pub trip or Sunday roast at the end! I also looove trashy TV. To me there’s nothing better than every brain cell leaving my body and switching off.

Have you any plans for spending your All Star award?

I treated my family to a few Christmas presents and I’ve got a niece or nephew due in June so I’ve got my eyes on a few things to spoil them! I’ve done quite a bit of volunteering with the Trussell Trust over the years and £1000 is such a generous amount so I’ve bought a shopping voucher ready to do a big shop for my local food bank. A shameless plug – but there’s usually collection crates in supermarkets so if you’re able to, it’s really easy to pick up something and donate during your shopping trip.

How does receiving a 3celebrates make you feel and what do you like about the platform?

I think everyone likes the feeling of being recognised when you’ve worked hard. The platform naturally encourages you to articulate your gratitude in more detail than you would naturally say in person. It can be easy to take for granted things that fall into BAU activity but there’s so many people working behind the scenes (Sam, Clara, Amanda, Suzi, the EAs, I’m looking at you!!) to make sure 3Celebrates is a success which I think is testament to Three – people are at the heart of every success we have and recognition of that is so important.

How do you ensure you use 3Celebrates to give back to your colleagues often?

Whenever I receive a Thanks, I ‘pass it on’ and send a Thanks to somebody else.