Louise Richardson was born and bred in Turramurra Sydney’s leafy North Shore and moved to Dubbo with her children 16 years ago, worked at Fletcher International Exports for the past 15 years and, it all came about by chance.
“Good friends of mine moved to Dubbo and I was coming up here visiting and then I just decided to move because of the lifestyle,” she told Dubbo Photo News.
“In Sydney I mainly worked in the cosmetic industry, I worked for Yardley of London and Revlon in department stores, I did a lot of merchandising and that sort of stuff and when I moved here I worked at a motel cleaning rooms but I was looking for a full time job and someone suggested I come out to Fletcher’s and I’ve been here ever since.
“I’ve stayed here because the company has just given me so many opportunities.”
She started as a labourer up in the cold boning room and learnt all the jobs that were required up there, then was asked to move into Quality Assurance, then as an AGAO which was working for the Australian Government and checking off the carcasses to make sure they were fit for human consumption, onto helping run the Chilled Loadout before Melissa Fletcher tapped her on the shoulder to have a crack at her current role of Specifications Officer.
“What I do is liaise with Export and the Floors and if there’s any issues with products for customers then I’ll fix that,” Louise said, pointing out there’s an awesome amount of responsibility because Fletcher International’s mantra is producing directly to the specifications of so many individual customers and supplying them exactly what they want.
“It’s very important, if we don’t have our customers, then we don’t have a job, we’ve got keep a good rapport with our customers.”
“I get here at about 4:30am, we’ll sit down and work out what products we’ll be producing for that day and then we’ll go up on the floors and set up for that.
“I enjoy the challenge and I feel very honoured that I’ve been given the opportunity to do the job that I do, and that the company has seen the potential in me to progress further - the Fletcher family has been a great source of encouragement to me to further myself, more education, gaining skills, development, me broadening my horizons and my whole outlook on life.
Louise said the training and mentorship offered by the company and embedded in its culture is unsurpassed and explains why so many employees start a job out there and never leave.
“Fletcher’s training programs are absolutely phenomenal, they get excellent teachers and with the age group and the diversity of the people working here, they really spend the time, they explain things well, there’s plenty of one-one one teaching, the learning facility is excellent, it’s absolutely incredible.
Louise said she loves the fact that everyone at the plant is accepted for who they are, with males and females from countries across the world judged simply on their attitude and the job they do, an egalitarian outlook.
“I think that’s very important, particularly in this day and age, the diversity that we have here is incredible. I love working with people from all around the world, absolutely love it. It’s nice to learn all about the cultures of other people as well as being able to help them transition into the Australian lifestyle which is so different for so many of the people who come to work out here,” expressing her passion when it comes to mentoring newer employees coming up through the ranks.
“It’s wonderful to actually have that opportunity to help them flower and progress.”
