A day in the life of…our General Manager, Beth MacLeod-Birch

In our latest ‘day in the life’ series, we caught up with our General Manager, Beth MacLeod-Birch, who joined our team in 2021.

After working in hospitality for 15 years and care for three years, she’s now the glue that holds everything together at Care Connection Partners, with her varied role covering so many elements of what we do.

Let’s hear more from Beth about how every day brings a fresh challenge…

“My alarm goes off at 6am, ready to take our therapy dog Martha out for a walk before work.

Martha belongs to my husband, James, who is also our Business Development Manager, and I, and we love taking her to visit our partners to bring joy to residents, service users and individuals.

Our partners can’t believe we offer Martha’s visits for free and it’s not a charged exercise. They’re always really grateful we give up our time to share #feelthelove far and wide.

I arrive at the office at 9am and check in with the team to make sure they’re all okay or need anything. We always have a coffee and a catch-up each morning, which is nice.

I check the emails to see what needs to be actioned and check in with partners to book Martha in for her visits. I also send feedback in a thank you card to the homes or care settings following each visit, mentioning the highlights and the people we met.

I also keep an eye on forthcoming events which I may need to bake cupcakes, cakes or sweet treats for. I’ve baked so many over the years!

James and I come from a hospitality background and he is a trained chef, so we can usually be found in the kitchen if we need to cook or bake for our partners or events.

We met while we were working together and James has always been my boss, so working at Care Connection Partners is the first time those roles have reversed.

I receive lots of reference requests for staff, the post comes to me, and I also prepare, record and reconcile receipts for VAT returns.

I liaise with the bank and accountants for various accounting elements of the business and I manually pay up to 500 people per week, which has to be right as it’s a huge part of people’s lives.

We pride ourselves on paying correctly and on time every week, so I make sure everyone gets paid after Sarah, our Payroll and Finance Manager, has done everything she needs to do regarding payroll.

I’m here if our partners want to speak to me about anything and it’s on my desk if it needs escalating, such as rates, any issues or compliments.

My job is so varied. Back in 2021, I worked from 10am to 2pm three days per week. Now I work eight days per week!

It’s amazing to see how far the business has come and how much the team has grown.

I officially leave the office at 5pm but I sometimes answer the office phone out-of-hours to deal with any queries or requests, as the team rotate being on call.

I’m also the chief giver of cuddles when it comes to Marnie, our office dog. We love our furry friends and wouldn’t have it any other way!”