Seven and a half years ago, Keri Layton joined our Operations team as Contracts Manager in the London and South East region.  In this industry, it’s very difficult to find good, hard working individuals who are prepared to work unsociable hours but right from the start, Keri was willing to put the time in for the sake of her customers.

Always keen to reward reliable and hard working people, we promoted Keri to the role of Regional Manager. That was just 2 years ago….

“As a Regional Manager, I enjoyed meeting customers and supporting our Contracts Managers and cleaning staff on site. I found it very motivating to turn a bad situation into something good”.

When Keri announced her pregnancy, we were so pleased for her and her partner, Greg. We knew that Keri’s heart had always been set on becoming a mother and it had been a very long journey for her. But this news also came with a hint of disappointment – no one should be indispensable but Keri was going to leave a big hole….

“I found it really difficult to switch off from the business and forget about certain sites. PGS was the hardest one to step back from because it had been my ‘baby’ – I started it and put a lot of hard work getting it to the standard that the customer required. In the first few weeks I would ring up to find out how everything was going, I just couldn’t let go!”

Keri took a full year’s maternity leave and enjoyed every moment with her baby. She dropped in to visit us whenever she could but in her own words “my loose ends were pretty much tied and I was kept very busy with a newborn”.

When the 12 months came to an end, Keri was reluctant to return to Rapid in her role as Regional Manager – she simply knew that with a young baby, she wouldn’t have the capacity. Knowing what an asset Keri had always been to our company, we considered what role might suit her personality and offered her a position in sales….

“Jeff kindly offered me a position  with the hours and days that I wanted.  Becoming a mother has been life-changing and returning to work was a very difficult decision for me. Having such good, supportive bosses, has made it a lot easier – I’m so glad I made the right decision!”

We are thrilled to have Keri back at Rapid and she is already making a significant impact in her role as Sales Executive.

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