This year our wonderful Procurement Manager, Paul Lewis, reached a remarkable milestone of 30 years at Timewade, and our team put on a fantastic surprise office party to celebrate.
In this blog, we sat down with Paul to hear about how he first joined the company, what’s changed over the past few decades, and what it is about Timewade that’s made him spend the last 30 years with us.
From cash registers to cutting-edge tech
Paul joined Timewade in 1994 as a trainee, on day release from college. At the time, the company was called Cash Register Services, and Paul started as a cash register engineer.
Paul said: “Back in the day we were working on old school cash register machines, but as technology moved on and times changed, computers really took off. Although I originally joined to work on cash machines, I was really interested in new computer technologies, and the team made sure I could get involved with them, and gain hands-on skills with evolving tech.”
“Luckily we were always keen to adapt and evolve, so jumped on the opportunity to work with these new technologies – something that’s stuck with us ever since.”
“There was always a brilliant ethos of everybody being able to do everyone else’s job. Our boss at the time, Peter, would be answering the phone with us, doing customer support, and taking me on service calls with him to learn the ropes. It never felt like a rigid hierarchy, which made it such an open and supporting place to learn and grow.”
“Even now, I’m still learning. I truly believe that you learn something every single day. And being part of a team with that same mindset has been one of the reasons I’ve managed to stay and grow at Timewade for so many years. I’ve always been encouraged to try new things, which has kept my roles varied and interesting.”
A family dynamic
Timewade was founded in 1984 by Peter Wills, and as the company has grown, we’ve always strived to retain the open and friendly nature of our team.
Paul said: “Although I had originally trained as a service engineer, I stayed at Timewade because I loved the working environment. We’ve always been a close-knit group, and even today, with a much bigger team, that dynamic still makes this a wonderful place to work.”
“I’ve known Julian, the CEO, and Jordan, the Managing Director, since they were both at school, so it feels really special to have watched them progress and ultimately lead the company today.”
Timewade’s ‘secret sauce’
After 30 years of seeing the company evolve, Paul knows better than anyone what has been the secret ingredient to Timewade’s success.
“Helping each other is at our core, and it’s been there since the day I joined. We’ve changed a lot as a company, but that core value has remained the same. We always help each other, and put each other first. I really believe that’s what has led to our success over the years; and whatever direction we go in, no matter how big we get, that will never change.”
Discover more about what it’s like working at Timewade.
