Celebrating our 2023 All Stars: Kelly Cox

At Three, we know the importance of recognising our people. Our 3Celebrates programme is our way of celebrating our people for living our values.

Throughout the year, employees send each other ‘thank you’ cards to show their appreciation of the work they have done. Anyone who receives a thanks can be selected as a Monthly Star, Annual Star or All Star and can receive special recognition along with financial awards.

At the end of last year, we announced our 2023 All Stars. Our All Stars are the individuals, stores and teams who truly excelled in living our Values.

All Stars were nominated by the Leadership teams and all their Thanks were reviewed by a judging panel of people from across the business.

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 2023 All Stars and the next in our series is Kelly Cox.

Kelly’s cards show that everything she works on is delivered to an outstanding standard and nothing is ever too much to ask. She has been called out for her focus on the customer experience, her positive attitude, hard work and attention to detail. She has been described as a real role model for our Values – and champions We Work as One Team. She is always the first the jump in and support another member of the direct team, or one of the many stakeholders she works with daily.

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

I started working for Three when I was just 17 years old as a Customer Advisor in Retail. Ever since I was a little girl, I had dreams of becoming a Barrister, so it was a bit of a happy accident how I ended up working for Three! I’d just left school and was working as a waitress (not in a cocktail bar for any of you that started singing it!) and my then boss told me about a ‘new cool mobile phone shop’ that was opening up soon in Scarborough, about 10 miles from where I live. Being the competitive person I am, I made a bet that I could beat her to the job…and as the saying goes, the rest is history, and I’m still here 17 years later!

From starting as a part time advisor, I worked my way up to Lead Store Manager in Retail, until about 3 years ago when the opportunity came up to move over to Head Office and join our Go To Market (GTM) team. Now my role involves leading change within the business, making sure our channels and customers are ready for any changes, and executing delivery plans to bring new products and propositions to market.  I also get involved in delivering improvements or changes to existing products, policies and processes. Basically, we coordinate launches, making sure everyone stays on track to meet the deadlines and everyone knows what’s happening…no 2 days are ever the same!

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

I’m not at all ashamed to say it made me incredibly emotional, to be recognised as an All Star from the thousands of exceptionally talented people that work at Three was definitely a career highlight for me!

It really put into perspective that no matter where you start your journey, you really can make a difference to not just the people around you, but for our millions of customers too. Never in a million years did I think I’d be an All Star, and I’m very proud.

What are your favourite things about working at Three?

I think everyone who’s ever asked this always says the same – but it’s true! Without a doubt, my favourite thing about working for Three is the People! I’ve made lifelong friends, and it helps that the majority of these have a sense of humour!

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

Our values are at the very heart of everything we do, and I try to live and breathe these everyday. I think the one I connect with the most is ‘We go beyond the Expected’ because I can’t just sit by if something is inaccurate or not right – whether it impacts 1 customer, or a million customers, my mindset is ‘if something is broken, fix it, or find the people that can!’

What is the best career advice you ever received?

Well, there’s definitely been some memorable phrases in the last 17 years, although I’m not sure if these are solid foundations for career advice!  From ‘if a job takes you 2 minutes or less, do it there and then’ or from way back in my early Retail days – ‘TTL, TTC’ (time to lean, time to clean!)

But undoubtedly the best piece of advice I’ve ever received is ‘it’s ok not to know all the answers, just don’t give up until you’ve found the person or people that do’ – I honestly think I live by this every day.

How do you unwind/switch off from work?

I love holidays, actually more like, I’m probably a little bit obsessed. Specifically cruising. The nerd inside me loves reading / learning about ships too, and I’m at my happiest when I’ve got my next cruise booked!

Other equally nerdy things include skipping straight to floor plans on Zoopla of my neighbours’ houses, a little bit of doom scrolling of rug cleaning videos and hilarious animals, and I’m a little too attached to my dressing gown.

In my spare time, I enjoy smashing walls down…and have spent the last few years renovating our very *very* out of date house…whoever said buying a ‘fixer upper’ was fun?

I also obviously enjoy spending time with my husband, my ‘fake kids’ AKA: my 2 teenage nieces who live with me for which I am a Special Guardian to, and somewhere along the line we rescued 2 cats, who thank us by bringing headless mice inside the house, often.

Have you any plans for spending your All Star award. 

Without a doubt this will go on a holiday! I’ve always wanted to cruise around Alaska so I’m hoping to use my award to contribute towards a once in a lifetime holiday!

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

Receiving any 3celebrates card is always a little bit special – to think that someone has taken time out of their (usually very busy) day to go out of their way to share a bit of appreciation can really make your day. The platform is a great way of recognising someone at any time.

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

I try to send as many 3celebrates as possible, I think that if someone has helped you, done a great piece of work, or just generally displayed one of the values then you should make the effort to send a 3celebrates card. You just don’t know the positive impact it can have on someone’s day!