"It's like puzzle pieces"

Hamilton-based Kajal Reddy looks back on her 15-year career with Gallagher and sees each step a bit like a puzzle piece. Her story is one of leaning in, building confidence, raising her hand, having a positive mindset, and giving everything a go.

Kajal’s journey started as a Production Team Member in Modules, before becoming a Production Team Member for Security, progressing to become a Production Team Leader for Security, then Back Up Supervisor for Security – leading to her two most recent positions of Production Systems Administrator for Operations Support and now Customer Service & Sales Support Representative for Security.

“When I look back to where I’ve come from, I would never have seen myself as where I am today,” Kajal says. “I was very quiet and shy, and I probably held myself back.”

Learning the ins and outs of product manufacturing

Kajal and her family moved to New Zealand from Fiji in September 2005, and started her first role with Gallagher the same year.

“My daughter was four at the time, so I was looking for night shift roles to enable me to spend the day with her,” she says. “The hours Gallagher offered really suited me and my young family at the time, as I was able to work night shift, which was 3.30pm to midnight.”

The role enabled Kajal to learn skills that would help ‘build the puzzle’, from Printed Circuit Board (PCB) insertion, to running the Surface Mount Technology (SMT) machine.

“I enjoyed about five years in the role, and it was a great step into both Gallagher and life in New Zealand, but by that time my daughter was older and I was looking for hours which would fit in and around her schooling a little more.”

That’s when Kajal stepped into a similar role, but working during the day and focussed on Security products.

“This role was different because I got to see the bigger picture,” Kajal explains. “In my first role I was starting the product, and this role was finishing the product. It helped me understand the things I’d be told were important like ‘make sure the terminals are straight’ or ‘this needs to be flush’. For me it’s the learnings I got from the other end that helped complete the puzzle, that’s what helped me grow and learn and ultimately get the full experience.”

Taking core skills, and building on them

After about two years in the role, Kajal’s dedication to Gallagher and her work was recognised with a promotion to a Team Leader role.

“I was really nervous, but I took a leap and applied for the role,” Kajal says. “I was interviewed, and I got such positive feedback after the interview. This made me really proud, and boosted my confidence. Sometimes you don’t know your own worth, and it was a really big step when they saw me as more than I saw in myself.”

To this day, Kajal never regrets putting her name forward and interviewing for the role, which gave her more responsibility and new skillsets, and helped to build the puzzle further.

“The great thing about Gallagher is the amount this company is willing to invest in your professional development if that’s what you want. I did a team leadership course here, and even though I was the newest people leader on the course, they gave me really good feedback and believed in me.”

Kajal believed in herself too, and remembered through the good times and the challenging times what she was aiming for, which led to her next step.

“Becoming Back-up Supervisor enabled me to interact with an even wider group of people across Gallagher, such as Stores, and this grew me even more. It helped me gain an even bigger understanding of Gallagher and broadened by horizon and knowledge. I gained so much with this experience,” Kajal explains.

Taking the plunge

From there Kajal took a leap to her first office-based role, becoming Production Systems Administrator within the Operations Support team.

“I am a quick learner, but the experiences from my previous roles really helped. The one thing I didn’t like so much at first was sitting down for eight hours a day, five days a week,” Kajal laughs.

The role itself was yet another piece of the puzzle for Kajal, where she got to work on things like the job instructions that she referenced when she was on the front line.

“Here I was able to bring my fresh eyes and different perspective – I could say ‘what if’ and ‘have we considered this?’ I put myself into the shoes of manufacturing team members. I felt like I could add a lot of value really quickly.”

Kajal says it was her time building the products and the knowledge she built around things such as lean and continuous improvement that enabled her to do the role without too many challenges.

“I always go into things with a mindset of wanting to learn. I’m always someone who wants to say yes to opportunities wherever I can – I want new experiences. Think of your roles as steppingstones for the next experience. The power of positivity is another good one to remember,” Kajal says, referencing a few of the learnings she took from a conference in Hamilton.

Fast-forward to today

In March 2019, Kajal took on her next role. Whilst still associated with the security products she knew inside-out, this time it was a move from Operations to the Sales Order Management team in Security, with the role of Customer Service & Sales Support Representative.

“I really didn’t think the role would be for me, but again I encouraged myself to find out more because I was curious and love a good challenge,” she says.

Throughout Kajal’s career with Gallagher, she’s seen how our business operates from multiple angles. Where she was once making products for customers, she now interacts directly with customers.

“Helping people gives me a huge amount of happiness. I feel so satisfied when I can help people – knowing a part number by heart, solving problems, pointing customers in the right direction, fulfilling an urgent order. I love the customer service part of this role the most.”

Just some of the things Kajal does in her current role include processing orders, managing software licences, supporting the phone and email queue for customer service, and answering queries for internal team members.

“It’s yet another piece of the puzzle for me. There have been so many benefits learning from my previous roles. It opens your eyes. It means I can do things with awareness. I’ve got the why now.”

And Kajal’s parting words? “I’m very grateful for the opportunities we have here at Gallagher, and the people who have supported me along the way. I love my culture and my background, but I’ve had so many opportunities to grow in confidence – and that’s thanks to the confidence people have instilled in me. What Gallagher is doing is very wonderful. It really does help people. I’m so proud of where I am.”

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