Reflecting on the Past, Embracing the Future: Happy Retirement!

Christchurch Electrical would not be a long standing, well respected and trusted business without having long serving, knowledgeable, dedicated staff at its core. Ask anyone linked to the company and they will be able to tell you who Carol Robinson is, how she’s helped them or how she’s made them laugh. Carol has been one of the friendly faces as you walk in through the door, the voice at the end of the phone and the go-to person for all facts, figures and a general fountain of knowledge for a great number of years. You could say she’s been an institution.

We look back at Carol’s time with the business and find out what the next chapter will bring.

Carol started work at Christchurch Electrical in April 1986 and had a couple of small breaks, (one of which was when her son was born) until June of this year, when she hung up her keyboard after 29 years.

Her role evolved over the years as the business grew in staff numbers, changed computer systems and expanded its service offerings. She adapted to those changes, learning new skills and making more friends along the way. She started initially as receptionist/typist including job costing (at that time manually entering purchase invoices against job numbers into a logbook). There were not quite as many invoices back then as there are today!

Later that year a new computer system was installed, and she was responsible for the setting up of creditors and job costing systems, followed by debtor’s ledger and payroll.

Further down the track Carol became responsible for the General Ledger, Health & Safety and other accounting tasks and generally keeping the office running smoothly, which extended to assisting the management team with anything they might need (including how to navigate their computers). We won’t name who woke her at 2am while on holiday in London with a computer issue - someone forgot the time zone!

Some of the biggest challenges Carol faced included adapting to new computer systems and keeping things up to date during the earthquakes and COVID. Always adapting to company needs.

Technology has moved on quite a bit since Carol joined the team. The electricians used to have RT (Radio Telephones) and the few cell phones staff had were rather large! Now smart phones are commonplace, and everyone is a lot easier to contact! Outgoing mail was posted, now most communications are sent by email.

When asked what Carol enjoyed the most about working for Christchurch Electrical, she said meeting and working with lots of people over the years and enjoying socialising with the many friends she has made. She will miss the Monday catch ups and friendly banter between colleagues, not to mention the morning tea shouts!

Every end should be followed by a great new beginning and Carol plans to start the beginning of her retirement by spending time with family and friends here and in Australia (when possible), travelling around NZ (still lots of beautiful places to see). Walking, biking, reading and maybe even golf again. There is so much to look forward to doing with no set time frame.

It goes without saying she will be missed by all the team, so much so, she had more than one leaving function!

Enjoy your retirement Carol!