Need to know
For #TeamEEAST Last updated: 18 May 2024 at 13:55
This Mother’s Day we asked our mums and their children working at EEAST a few questions to know what it’s really like when a family member is also your colleague.
Sharing their story here are our EEAST mother and daughter, Sarah Vicary and Brannon Murrell.
Please introduce yourself
Hi I'm Sarah. I'm Duty manager in Norwich I've worked for the trust for 22 years first in Essex and then I moved up to Norwich about six years ago now.
I am Brannan, I started about five years ago now and I worked as a dispatcher. I joined as a call handler at first and then decided it wasn't for me so made the move over
Did your mum inspire you to join EEAST?
Brannon: In ways yes in other ways no because she's been working for the trust for basically my entire life so that's all I knew was the ambulance service. So I had a pretty good understanding of how it worked and the stresses of the ambulance service but when I lived in Essex it I just wanted to go to uni. I worked at Iceland before I worked with the trust. So it was nothing really that and then we moved up and then I didn't go to uni and I was like oh I wonder what to do with my life now and she was like well we've got call handler roles coming in and I was like oh lovely I'll take one of those. It's just it's quite nice to work so close because I don't really see it at home otherwise because we're sleeping or working.
Were you pleased that Brannon wanted to follow in your footsteps and join EEAST to?
Sarah: Yes because it's a stable job and it's a good job and she's already progressed really well. So she started as a call handler, then became a senior call handler and then progressed to dispatcher. So you know there's lots of progression for her. Part of me worried how she would deal with the stress but I think she's seen me and her brother deal with the work stresses that we've gone through over the years and so you know we all support each other when we're at home.
What’s it like working with your mum / daughter?
Brannon: It's funny most of the time because when you get into a proper work head space, she's not my mum, she's my duty manager. So it's quite easy to make that switch until it's like two in the morning and I'm like can you make me a coffee please mum I'm pretty tired and that's when she becomes like mum. And I do call her mum unless it's serious. Calling her mom is just such a natural thing to do, so calling her Sarah is so strange. To be fair we don't bicker as much as people usually expect because we do enough of at home let alone at work in a job that you really don't need it.
Sarah: Pretty much the same as Brannon said. You know there are times that it's difficult if you need to have a difficult conversation, it's not great having a difficult conversation with anybody but as Brannon said when she's at work and working she's treated exactly the same as any other member of staff. I enjoy it, I enjoy having her there. I think I'm quite lucky as a mum. I think when they get to 24 and 25 usually, they've moved out and they work somewhere different and you'd see them maybe once a month I'm really lucky even if they're not around at home, I see work. So you know for me I think it's a big bonus, that's how I see it anyway.
Tips on getting the work/life balance as a mum?
Sarah: They're probably the best ones to ask both Louis and Brannon. We've all missed birthdays, Christmas Eves, Mother's Days but they're used to it and they've been used to it from when they were really young. It's just making the most of the time you do have together.
What is your favourite memory of working with your mum / daughter?
Brannon: Spending Christmas here because we're on the same team sometimes. We can spend Christmas together or when we didn't spend Christmas together, I came downstairs to go to work and she'd left me like a bag of stuff to take to work on Christmas Day and let me open one of my presents alone at like five o'clock in the morning before I went to work yeah but packed me loads of chocolate and hot chocolate to have throughout Christmas day which was really nice.
What is the hardest part about working with you mum / daughter?
Brannon: So when I first started I got the ‘you only got the job because of your mom’, ‘you only got this because your mom works here’ or having people not be able to confide in me because they know my mom's a duty manager or they think that I gloat about having that job which has never been the case. I've always been treated the same. I treat her the same. People love her, everybody loves her. She's like a work mum to a lot of people because that's just how she is. She's comes up as a little bit scary but she's actually really nice when people get to know her. But I’ve always got that when I first started and it was about proving myself working here.
Sarah: And for me it's the same. It's just making sure that it's really open and honest, that people can see that neither of my children are treated any differently from any other member of staff. You know I think about that, and I make sure. So sometimes they actually might get it a bit tougher than somebody else just because I don't want people to think that just because either of them isn't in the room if they've got it any easier than anybody else.
What would you like to say to anyone out there who would like to follow their mum’s footstep?
Brannon: It can be very very tough at the beginning but in the long run it is always worthwhile because you always have an immediate support, because you can go to things about work and then non-work related, you always have your mum there.
What would you like to say to your mum this Mother’s Day?
Sarah: It's my favourite bit.
Brannon: Thanks.
Sarah: You're welcome.
Brannon: There's a lot of the thank yous for the lifts to work when I can't drive, thank you for the McDonald's breakfast and the tea most importantly, and just being very supportive because maybe a little bit a bit biased but I think you are the best at what you do and a lot of people agree. So you are very good at what you do, being a mum and being a team manager.
Sarah: Thanks.
Brannon: You're welcome, love you.
To all those being celebrated this weekend we wish you a Happy Mother’s Day. We understand that this time of year can be difficult for some and would like to remind you of the wellbeing services available to staff.
Published 19th March 2023