L-R: Andrea Friend and Tanya Patterson
Personal travel managers (PTMs) enjoy the freedom and flexibility of being able to dictate their own work hours, location and areas of specialisation and TravelManagers provides its 480-plus PTMs with a strong support network, so that assistance is readily available when needed.
Andrea Friend, representative for Cranbourne East in Victoria, has been with TravelManagers for four months and she recently discovered how important that support network really is. Interestingly, although Friend is a relative newcomer, she was able to come to the assistance of a long established PTM, via the company’s ‘buddy system’.
Representative for Clyde North Tanya Patterson is located about three kilometres from Friend. Because of their proximity, the two PTMs paired as buddies, although they had only met briefly in person
“My computer crashed and I needed to book some clients to go to Port Douglas later that afternoon,” said Patterson.
“Andrea gave me amazing support: she helped with back office, then let me borrow her office, her phone, her computer… I sincerely and gratefully appreciate her friendship, camaraderie, support and generosity.”
Friend said the experience reinforced her belief that she had chosen the right company to work for, having been told by another PTM that colleagues would always be willing to help out.
“We have a strong focus on creating a family culture and spirit of mutual help, where the sharing of information and provision of assistance between our PTMs is made simple,” said executive general manager Michael Gazal.
“The buddy system means each PTM has someone they can call on for support at any time, without making judgements. Regardless of the different levels of experience, the relationship works both ways so that either one can call on the other and ask for help, or even just a chat when they are sick of their own company.”
The company also offers PTM-led webinars, intranet forums and closed user Facebook pages.
It may seem more likely that two PTMs working in such proximity might tend to view one another as competitors rather than allies, but Patterson said the opposite is true: the experience has allowed to their buddy relationship to grow into a genuine friendship.
The post PTMs buddy up appeared first on Travel Monitor.