Staff Spotlight – James Murphy

At Gray & Adams, we are proud of our people, and we work hard to attract and retain talented individuals. As a result we have a number of valued team members who have worked for the business for many years.

In this edition, we speak to James Murphy, Repair Shop Manager in Northern Ireland.

 

What is your role at Gray & Adams and tell me about your day-to-day responsibilities

I’m the Repair Workshop Manager at Gray & Adams Northern Ireland. I manage a team of 13 in the workshop and an additional two staff members in the office. We are an incredibly busy department and there is always lots going on. Up to 100 trailers come through our workshop for either servicing or repairs.

We have regular customers who have signed up to service agreements at purchase or we have long term customers who pay as they go.

One of the biggest considerations in my role is finding the balance of keeping the customers happy with our ability to deliver to tight timescales, combined with not overloading the team who already work incredibly hard.

 

Why did you want to work for Gray & Adams?

I was working with another company when someone told me that Gray & Adams were looking for welders, I applied and that was 26 years ago. Since then, I have had experience in working with other areas of the business such as coach building and painting which has really broadened my skillset. Because I had worked in these different departments, I was in a good place for eventually progressing up to supervisor, chargehand and eventually workshop manager as I was able to understand all the different considerations for the team working in these departments.

 

What has been your biggest achievement while working for Gray & Adams?

The biggest achievement for me has been building a great team who work well together under pressure. Everyone respects each other and gets on well. Any time there is a problem, the whole team comes together to help resolve it and we all trust and rely on each other. I think that’s something that we can all be proud of.

 

If you could do someone else’s job (at Gray & Adams) for the day, whose would it be and why?

I would stick with what I’ve got! I worked in a number of different departments over the 26 years I’ve been here, but I really enjoy the role I’m in now.


What is the best thing about working for Gray & Adams?

If you are family orientated then Gray & Adams is a great place to work. When I started with the business, my second child was born with various health problems which meant that a lot of my time and focus was on family at that point. The business could not have been more supportive during that time, and it is something I will always appreciate. I’m happy to say that my daughter is in great health now but I really value the way everything was dealt with as a fairly new employee at that time.