Celebrating Chloe Nicholls, Swiftclean’s Head of Operations on International Women’s Day
To celebrate International Women’s Day 2024, we take a look back over Chloe Nicholls, Head of Operations, 12-year history at Swiftclean.
Chloe started in 2012 at Swiftclean as a Key Account Administrator for a railway and airport client, working solely on one client account, Chloe recalls, “it was a new client, there was a lot of time spent getting to grips with the logistics, airside and landside passes so it was such a busy time but also a fantastic learning opportunity for me.”
“The main thing I remember finding out was the sheer amount of maintenance work that goes on behind the scenes at travel locations, and how important the fire safety element of compliance is to the units and our client,” explained Chloe.
Following a successful onboarding period for the new client, Chloe then became the Senior Key Account Manager, in 2015; she remembers “Not only was this a big step up as it was the first time I managed people, a team of four, I was looking after our largest account, but I also got the freedom to start running the account how I wanted to which helped create some good efficiencies.”
Life outside of work, Chloe lives with her boyfriend Joe and their two dogs Milo and Nala, Chloe spends a lot of time with her horse Jack whom she has owned since she was 13, and he has taught her a lot in terms of responsibility which has translated into work.
“if I’m honest, I didn’t particularly enjoy school,” admits Chloe, “having Jack and the responsibility and commitment that comes with owning and caring for a horse changed me as a person, and being at Swiftclean even more so.” During her years at Swiftclean not only has Chloe developed in her role she has been through countless courses and qualifications including the Grease Hygiene Technician course, and Apprenticeship in Business Administration, Confined Space Training and IOSH Working Safely.
In February 2018, Chloe had a change of role, still within the Service Delivery department, to become the Surveying Services Manager, looking after a larger team and changing her speciality to legionella compliance.
“I find that the types of compliance areas within Legionella compliance is vast,” said Chloe, “there are so many services and tests we offer, not forgetting that you’re also dealing with things you can’t see – such as bacteria growth in water – whereas in kitchen and air compliance, you can physically see the grease or dust levels within the duct”.
In March 2021 Chloe then progressed in her career to become Operations Manager which meant being involved with the running of the internal and external operations, across all services.
“In this role, I got the opportunity to work more closely with Martin (Swiftclean’s Commercial Director) and learnt a lot from him being my line manager; for example one of the biggest things I learnt from him was a better understanding of commercial awareness and being able to consider the balance between sales and service, particularly finding that middle ground.”
“I also worked a lot more closely with Richie Dove, our National Compliance Manager, and I was astounded by his knowledge of the air and kitchen services and his ability to problem solve,” added Chloe. “He is such a valuable team member in the business and his commitment, not only to Swiftclean, but to getting the job done and done well, is commendable.”
Then, in Feb 2023 Chloe progressed to her current position as Head of Operations, taking on overall management of the Service Delivery team including the warehouse and field staff. She is now the manager overseeing the most staff in the business, accounting for over 60% of Swiftclean’s headcount.
When questioned on her favourite element of the role, she said it’s being able to have an impact on the future of the way the business operates, such as being involved in the strategy planning of the business.
“No day is ever the same,” explains Chloe, “time flies and there’s always a challenge to overcome, and I enjoy the problem-solving element.”
“I like the people at Swiftclean,” she adds, “it’s a close-knit team where I have been here such a long time – since I was 17 years old, so I’ve built up great relationships with different people in the business. We’re small enough that everyone knows everyone else, but big enough to cope with big contract work and Nationwide accounts.”
She added “I like seeing people progress, for example, Vinney started as an apprentice in my team when I was the Surveying Services Manager, he then progressed to administrator and coordinator, and it has been nice to see him develop through the business to now be the Integrated Systems Support Administrator.”
