Siblings share secrets to success

A brother and sister who work together say their sibling rivalry is the secret to their career success.

Katie and Ross McIver both work for online retailer PerfectHome, and say it’s important not to ‘talk shop’ at home, but that the company lift is fair game when it comes to airing their grievances.

Katie, 29, is a team leader for the customer experience centre in Birmingham, and she said: “Lots of people wouldn’t like the idea of working with their brother but it works for us. It’s a weird balance of competitiveness and loyalty that you can only really understand if you have a brother or sister.

“We love to see each other succeed and can be quite defensive of each other, but at the same time we don’t hold back if we think the other could have done something differently! I’m not shy about shouting at Ross for something, but we don’t do it in the office – we save it for the lift when no one can hear!”

Ross, 25, said: “We don’t talk shop at home because there’s too much other stuff going on, but It’s really nice to have your sister working alongside you. She understands the business but is also really encouraging when it comes to giving me a bit of a confidence boost.

“It was Katie who suggested I go for my first job at PerfectHome, she even spotted my latest job as a training manager and encouraged me to apply. She’s always rooting for me which is really reassuring.”

One thing the pair definitely agree on is their passion for working for PerfectHome.

Katie was the first to join, starting in February 2016 after working her way up in a small domiciliary care company. At PerfectHome, she began in the administration team and moved into the customer contact centre where she is now a team leader.

Ross, who joined in October 2016,  said he was at a bit of a loss when he failed to get into the RAF due to a slight stigma in his eye, but the culture and passion at PerfectHome has given him a new challenge to focus on. He has since had five different roles with the company and now works a training manager.

Katie said: “PerfectHome is an online business, so the contact centre is really important to our customers. It’s where they can have a real conversation and get support, and for us it’s really satisfying dealing with another happy customer."