Ashley Nicholls

Ashley joined BDO Stoy Hayward a year ago and manages a team of seven sales and marketing professionals and is responsible for 27 partners and 350 staff across the south east of England Based in Epsom, Ashley works out of three offices in the Southern Region and travels regularly to London.

When Ashley started at BDO Stoy Hayward she was provided with a Blackberry, laptop and mobile phone and taught how to use BDO Stoy Hayward’s remote server. Ashley introduced Monday meetings for her team, providing them with the opportunity for one-to-ones.  She now works at home every Friday and divides her time equally between the three offices in the region and London.

“There are so many companies who don’t have a nine to five culture; it’s just the way everything is moving. We all have busy lives and it’s great to be able to schedule work around our lives and not the other way around. Flexible working is definitely the future.” says Ashley.

• Be disciplined with your diary. Clients will always be your priority but try not to cancel your internal meetings. Regular face-to-face meetings provide your staff with the opportunity to raise concerns and your clients will definitely benefit in the long run.
  
• Work smartly with the technology you have available. For example, Blackberry’s don’t pick up attachments easily, so include as much content as possible within the body of the email.