If I can make one change, for one person, that’s a success to me
My name is Peter Holmes. I’ve always worked on the colleague side of the business of CX as opposed to customer.
As an Experience Design Manager, this means I look after the tools, products and experiences for the suppliers of our products, and for the teams that manage all that. It’s at the beginning of the product’s journey through Sainsbury’s — where buyers, suppliers and their relationships with us need to be negotiated: from price changes to promotions, to our supplier portal “Together With”, and more.
It changes day to day, which is something I love about it. It means working with a lot of colleagues as well as spending time with my team so that they’re always up to date and engaged. Yes, there’s probably more emails and meetings than design these days. But it’s great when I can get to work with the team on design, or their development and goals.
If I can make one change, for one person, that’s a success to me. It’s great going into a store or store support centre and seeing how happy people are with the changes I’ve made. My work makes a difference to around 6,500 suppliers and 200,000 colleagues, so their feedback brings me a lot of joy.
One project that stands out and that I’m proud of is the absence management app, which allows us to spend more time focusing on supporting colleagues back to work.
We were all in lockdown so couldn’t go into the store. I was working on my own, all remotely. It was a confusing time for everyone, especially when you’re trying to get hold of colleagues to complete research which would have normally been done in person.
The new app I designed is really quick. Managers can log absences on the go. It was designed for and by them, which has contributed to its success. It’s also saved them on average 20 minutes of time per absence logged, which scales up to around 10 years of labour across 12 months! Crucially, it’s simple to use. Nobody needs training — you just pick it up and use it, which is how I approach all my designs.
I’m also proud of progressing to be a manager. I have a team that I mentor, and I need to make sure that everything I do has a tangible meaning. And I get great feedback from them! It’s rewarding to have been able to step out of my comfort zone, learn new skills and be involved in new conversations. I’ve had full support from my line manager, and I get to make a difference to people’s lives!
