Renfrewshire Council

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Staff stories

Stories, messages and blogs from colleagues across the council.

On this page



You're living our values

Our nominees recognised for being fair, helpful, great collaborators and learning

Values led approach to supporting young people

Living our values leads to success for Project SEARCH team and supported interns


Celebrating our colleagues

Your living our values nominees, March 2023


Values at the heart of cancer support

Louise and Charlotte recognised for their help and care


Collaboration key to our digital experience ambition

HR&OD, Procurement and DXP teams add value with combined expertise


Achieving more with kindness and understanding

Susan Allan explains how being fair at work makes all the difference


Crew talents not wasted!

Alan Connelly's quick thinking team save the day


Serving up smiles and support at The Atrium

Café team praised for their positive approach


Values recognition for Ukrainian refugee welcome team

Our housing support staff embody our values in action


Taking care of colleagues' wellbeing

Jock's inspiring work on mental health and wellbeing


Megan inspires nursery kids to love reading

Early years graduate Megan Goldie's innovating approach to improving kids' learning experience 

 

Our Chief Executive's blog

Videos and blogs from our Chief Executive, Alan Russell

Video message from Chief Executive, Alan Russell - Thursday 09 February 2023

Alan celebrates some of your recent success and looks ahead to some exciting developments for Renfrewshire


Video message from Chief Executive, Alan Russell - Monday 16 January 2023

Alan looks ahead to what promises to be a challenging but exciting year for the council


Video message from Chief Executive, Alan Russell - Thursday 22 December 2022

Alan's festive message for colleagues


Video message from Chief Executive, Alan Russell - Friday 09 December 2022

Alan reflects on his first year in the role, and the challenges it presented. He also discusses what we are doing to address the financial challenge, the work to improve our office buildings, and how you can share and recognise examples of colleagues or teams living our values


Message from Chief Executive, Alan Russell on living our values - 24 November 2022

Nominate a colleague for living our values and share great stories of people truly making a difference

 

Meet our senior leaders

Greetings and introductions from our senior leader team

Meet Mark Conaghan, our Head of Corporate Governance

Getting to know our chief officers


Meet Tracy McGillivray, our Head of Schools (Inclusion and Quality Improvement)

Getting to know our chief officers


Meet Marlene Boyd, our Head of People and Organisational Development

Getting to know our chief officers

 

Health & wellbeing

Colleagues share their stories and advice.

Hazel's story

Hazel*, who works in our Chief Executive's service, tells us how talking about mental health at work set her on the road to recovery.


Brenda's story

Brenda Rankin, Head of Glenburn ELCC, explains how the nursery has been transformed into a supportive place that priorities mental health.


Diane's financial wellbeing advice for colleagues

Social renewal lead officer Diane Dunn shares her advice and top tips for helping you manage your income.


Kevin's story

Kevin Milliken, procurement advisor, tells us how opening up and talking helped him take control of his mental health.


Jock speaks about mental health support at the council

Supporting colleagues to open up on Mental Health Awareness Day 2022


Catherine's story

Catherine O'Regan, content designer, shares her wellbeing story


Moya's story

Moya Garner, team leader, tells us why she became a mental health first aider.

 

Cyber security

Learn from your colleagues and stay safe online

Three signs it's a scam

Cyber security architect Carol Peters' latest advice for colleagues


Look out for winter fuel payment scams this season

Advice from Lynsey Duncanson in our Trading Standards team


Alerting students and young people to online threats

Cyber security architect, Carol Peters, shares her insights and top takeaways from RenSafeOnline


Learning sessions to keep children and young people safe online

Digital learning manager, Pam McDowall is on a mission to help colleagues in our schools and parents learn how to protect children and young people.

 

Inside Classrooms for Malawi

Many colleagues have taken part in this amazing campaign over the years. Here are some of your inspiring stories.

Kimberley's story

Principal teacher of flexible learning, Kimberley Roan McVeigh, was excited to use her skills to help Classrooms for Malawi in 2019


Gwenyth's story

Assistant infrastructure and assets manager, Gwenyth Heaney visited Malawi in 2019 and was amazed at the difference the project was making


Margaret's story

Senior day service officer, Margaret Brennan learned more about herself and gained a new self-confidence during her trip to Malawi in 2015


John's story

Supervisory engineer, John Everett marked turning 50 by packing his bags for the trip of a lifetime to Malawi


Jenni's story

Recycling Officer, Jenni Nicolson tells us what she enjoyed most about her trip to Malawi in 2019


Lynne's story

Depute Head Teacher, Lynne Docherty visited Malawi in 2015 & 2017. She shares her story of making friends and great memories


Megan's story

Data quality & assurance officer, Megan Baird reveals what visiting Malawi in 2019 was like for her and why it was "life-changing"

 

More stories and blogs

Read more about some of the great work and achievements of your colleagues

Balancing work and caring responsibilities - Martin's story

Martin MacNiven shares his experience as a working unpaid carer and how getting the right support has made a difference


Letterbox contact - keeping in touch for birth parents and adopted children

Social work assistant, Kayleigh Wilson reflects on her role this Adoption Week Scotland


Fundraising to support veterans and their families

Colleagues raise £960.40 for the Scottish Poppy Appeal


Joyce's medal win for Scotland at Masters Hockey World Cup

Silver for our facilities manager, Joyce Robertson and her teammates in Cape Town


Kickstarting their careers at the council

Owen, Daniela and Harry reflect on their journeys as trainees with the DWP Kickstart Programme


Farewell Rosemary!

Best wishes to Rosemary Carlin from members services who is retiring after 47 years


Our climate change ambitions for Renfrewshire

This week is Scotland's Climate Week, and we caught up with our Climate Emergency Lead Officer, Roz Smith as the first phase of our Plan for Net Zero is approved by elected members


Meet this year's trainee teachers

We caught up with some of this year's teaching undergraduates


Not Far? Leave the Car - Elaine's story

Supervisory engineer, Elaine Lorimer ditches her car for local rewards


Siobhan Gray is Scotland's Youth Worker of the Year 2022

Congratulations to youth worker, Siobhan Gray, for being recognised as Scotland's Youth Worker of the Year at the National Youth Awards 2022.


 

Got a story?

Share with us at internalcommunications@renfrewshire.gov.uk.