Above: Holly McGuinness, Account Manager, Webics
Webics is as much a part of the Awards as brilliant businesses, delicious food, award winning wine and engaging entertainment. Every year, Webics demonstrates its commitment and support to the Chamber and the Awards by sponsoring our event. And for the second year, Webics has been a major sponsor, and we are exceptionally grateful for their support.
It is fitting that in 2017, with the theme ‘Cultivate’ and our focus on nurturing and fostering growth, Webics is a major sponsor. Webics has seen tremendous growth over the last few years, and has most recently expanded their office to allow more space for a bigger team.
With more and more people joining Webics, we’re keen to know what life is like there. We chat with Holly McGuinness, Account Manager, to get Inside Webics.
What do you love about working for Webics?
From the moment I started at Webics back in July of last year, it was made immediately clear to me that Webics would support anything that would further my personal development. Whether it’s a course, a conference or even just a networking opportunity, it is backed up quickly and supported 100% of the time. Working at Webics has given me so many opportunities to grow and to build a professional reputation for myself. This is so important to me, especially considering I’m still very early in my career. I would ideally love to stay in the Shoalhaven for as long as possible, so having the opportunity to be in such a fantastic workplace, I have no doubt that I’ll be here for a while.
Describe Webics in three words
Innovative, Evolving and Stimulating
What is life like at Webics?
A day in the office at Webics is tricky to describe because it’s always very different. First of all – and most importantly – I’ll always order a coffee from The Hopper Society (jumbo of course). Most days we’ll have a discussion as a team because we find that it’s so important to have a really open communication between everyone especially when we have a lot of projects open at one point in time, it gives me a chance to run things past our web developers or for them to have a chat to me about a couple of the projects which in the end means we get a better result for our clients because it’s not always just one person’s idea it’s a collective.
If it’s a Friday we have lunch provided from a restaurant of our choosing and then everyone will come together in the boardroom to top off the week on a really good note, we either chat about the week just gone or what’s ahead of everyone in the weekend, but I find that it’s so nice to be able to sit back and relax with everyone at Webics instead of it being work focussed all of the time. There’ll be moments throughout the rest of the week when everyone’s able to relax for a little bit and laugh about something together, there’s a lot of little jokes everyone’s in on, but I find that the team has a really strong sense of determination so it’s either incredibly quiet with all of us concentrating on what we happen to be working on at that moment or we’re having a bit of a laugh together.
How do you think Webics differs from other web design agencies?
It would definitely be the dedication to our customers, like every business we try to keep our clients as happy as possible but I feel like that goes a bit further with the customer service at Webics, for example if a client should ask for a little out of the ordinary on their website that our developers haven’t done before the guys will always go the extra mile to investigate and see ‘if’ and ‘how’ it can be done to ensure our clients are getting everything they could have imagined on their site to represent their business. This can range from the functionality of an online shopping cart to even an unusually large design task. I think that’s a really key difference of Webics; the fact that I have never heard anyone say “that can’t be done” or “it isn’t possible”, the team at Webics is so determined to find a way to meet our clients needs’.
Our Awards theme this year is cultivate, which is all about fostering growth. How does Webics foster the growth of its employees?
As mentioned earlier, since starting at Webics I have always been given opportunities to attend conferences, training and networking opportunities that will allow me to grow as an employee and individual, and that isn’t just exclusive to me either if someone comes up with an idea that can work as a team or for that individual and their workload the company is happy to support it. As well as being able to physically attend training and events, we have all also been given access to a multitude of online forums and resources that we can access at anytime.
What do you love about attending the Business Awards?
My first Business Awards was only in 2016. With Webics being a major sponsor then, as well as this year, it has given me a huge insight into everything that goes on around the Awards. I found it incredibly inspiring to hear so many amazing individuals speak about their businesses and the dedication that they have to developing their business. This in turn builds the community, so it’s really nice to know I live in a region that makes me so proud to share the same space as such incredible professionals. As well as meeting and listening to some incredibly inspiring and hard working people we have quite a few clients in the local area who also attend the awards. It was fantastic to relax a little bit and get to know them on a more personal level – to have a laugh over a drink rather than just to discuss their online marketing campaign or a change needed their website.
Webics does a lot to support the local community, what is it like to work for a business that does so much to support its community?
It’s absolutely incredible, something that really stuck out to me when applying to work at Webics was that we have allocated paid working days where we can do some form of charity work for the day. I’ve also mentioned a couple of times about absolutely loving the local area, being born and bred here, so of course I’m all on board with helping the local community. When you make an effort to give back into the local community, the future benefits impossible to predict. With Nowra growing so quickly as well as the Shoalhaven being one of the most amazing places to live it gives such a sense of pride and satisfaction knowing that where I work is so determined to keeping this community growing.
Webics is sponsoring the Business Leader award, who is a business leader you look up to and why?
A business leader that I look up to would have to be Louise Winkler from Specsavers Nowra. I may be a little biased as our families have grown up quite close together but I suppose that allows me to get a better insight into how Louise would be as a manager. I definitely look up to Louise as a leader and as an inspiration, each and every time I see Louise whether it’s just around town or for a catch up of some sort event Even with two kids, she always seems to have a lot of time for everyone and I know that’s evident in her management style as well. Louise is such a kind, generous and all round incredible woman – I feel I would be lucky to even become half the person she is.
Who do you think might take out Business Leader this year?
I’m yet to meet a lot of business leaders in the Shoalhaven just yet so it’s kind of hard for me to offer an answer on this question. I’ve met some incredible individuals with definite leadership skills but I’m not overly sure who’s in the running for it this year or even who is eligible. But I’m sure whoever it may be, will be incredibly deserving, as a lot of other leaders in the Shoalhaven are.
Tell us, what’s Ory like as a boss??
I have to say this is a very dangerous question, I’ve never had a boss like Ory before and in fact he absolutely hates the term boss because he doesn’t want anyone within the company to feel as though he is on a different level to anyone else. It’s always been made really clear that he wants there to be an open field for communication and for no one to be hesitant in addressing any concerns or queries with him. It’s really nice to have a ‘boss’ that instead of just wanting you to come in get the job done then go home, he’s so dedicated to always motivating us for further development and encouraging us to grow. Without that encouragement during work there’s a lot I wouldn’t have accomplished in my personal life as well.
Something else that’s important to mention about Ory is he’s always been very keen on us making sure we take breaks to recharge a little bit. He also likes to ensure staff are comfortable in what they’re doing and are generally happy. Today I jokingly suggested we should get a bean bag in the office, and with me not thinking much of it, about twenty minutes later, Ory came back with a bean bag for us. Although this may not be the greatest example, it’s these little gestures that mean a lot to an employee. Just those little funny things really do make such a difference. You feel not only acknowledged, but to see a suggestion followed through on means so much. So if you happen to come into the office one day and there’s bean bags in our board room, I suppose you’ll have me to blame for that.
Thanks Holly – great to discover what happens inside Webics’ lovely huge new office on Worrigee St. There’s nothing quite like a supportive work environment that truly cares about and fosters the growth of its team. And we’re especially grateful for the heads up on bean bags so that we can dress bean bag appropriately for meetings at Webics!!
A huge thank you to Webics for being a major sponsor of the 2017 Awards.
