A Day at Wiggle – Thursday 10 December 2009

Have you ever wondered what the offices of Wiggle look like? Have you ever thought who works on the Bloggle site as well as the fancy ads that you see in the press? Or who the creators of the email and website banners are? If so, then read on.

A couple of months ago I thought it would be a great idea to give everyone who reads our Bloggle site an insight into a ‘Day at Wiggle’ for me – Richard Pearman – and to show you some pictures of our offices. However, before commencing any further into this article, I’ll quickly explain how I ended up at Wiggle and with the role I have now.

In April 2007, after having been made redundant from my previous employer, I applied for a part-time role at Wiggle with the intention of becoming full-time once I had successfully completed a thirteen week probation period. I began my time at Wiggle working downstairs in the processing department, which involved taking customer orders from the system, going out into the warehouse and collecting the goods then finally packing the items before they were loaded onto the lorries with the good intention of being delivered the next day (or two).

After 12 weeks in the processing department, I heard of a job opportunity upstairs which was just what I was looking for. It involved creating web pages and filling them with images and content so that customers could view and eventually purchase the goods displayed. This was something I was used to doing and had knowledge of from my previous employment as well as it being a great personal interest of mine.

After having worked upstairs within the Merchandising department for a further 4-6 weeks, Paul informed me that I had fulfilled the tasks given to me and that the position was mine if I wanted it. I accepted the role and this is now my position at Wiggle.

My day starts at 8.30 am and after greeting the ladies in the Finance department, namely Sian and Barbara, who can’t believe how chirpy I am in the morning, I sit down at my desk, prepare my notes and press the button to boot up my PC.

Once booted up, I started my working day answering several emails which I received from suppliers and also the good-in department. I also sent out emails to suppliers requesting image content for future projects I have in the pipeline. Today I had more than the usual emails to answer as I had just returned from a holiday trip to Cyprus (more on this in a future Bloggle piece). Once any problems have been sorted out it’s down to the tasks for the day.

One of the tasks today was to upload more products from the Token brand. These included various items such as spacers, lockrings, track sprockets, handlebars and stems, as well as many more. Once I had finished with Token the plan was to continue with FSA, but Wiggle is a very busy place and my priorities change on a daily basis.

As my job involves communicating with other departments within Wiggle, I’m usually sent emails regarding new images, extra items to add on to already existing pages (say a new colour option or size option), so inevitably I get side-tracked a lot of the time as these need sorting out virtually straightaway. I was sorting some of these emails out when Richard Land (known as Lando within Wiggle) walked through the door, plonked himself down in his chair, asked me about my holiday (which I told him), and then told me about his swine flu experience, which sounded nasty.

Lando sits next to me and we work well together – Rich buys the stuff you buy and I place it on the site for you to see, so we are always communicating with each other about products and what to put on the site and what not to put on it. Rich tries to get all the information I need, but sometimes this is not possible so it can be a struggle to get images and content at times.

Once Rich had his tea, not Cadbury’s hot chocolate, and I finished off a few more emails, Rich told me of a range of clothing that needed to go up on the site ASAP. Like I mentioned before, my priorities can change daily which I don’t mind as the needs of the business change daily too. The range of clothing I had to get stuck into was the Madison Range. So my first step was to download all the images from the Madison b2b site in one large zip file. As this was going on I opened the latest edition of the Madison ‘Parts and Accessories’ book which contains details such as pricing and part numbers to see just how much I had to create.

By now the time was just shy of 10.30 am. With a couple of emails sorted out it was time to start creating the Madison range. The CMS (Content Management System) I use is very simple and is designed in such a way that creating pages is easy to do. It’s like a crossword puzzle to a degree – you fill in the gaps and once completed I send it ‘Live’.

The images have now been downloaded onto my PC, but I have decided not to manipulate the images until I have finished creating all the pages. This means that I need to create all the size options as well as the colour options and add the text to the pages which I have taken from the b2b site. I scan the text for any errors and take the time to rearrange the text to make it more easily understandable.

Whilst doing this, Rob Mort, who sorts out the ordering for the cycle side of things, decided to make a round of drinks for our table. I then decided to take a few shots of the surrounding desks to give you an idea of what our department looks like.

Firstly let’s start with the boss, Paul, who was not in today as he is away on company business. I think he’s lost and unwell in Taiwan somewhere.

Lando sits to the right of me with Paul sitting directly in front of Him. Dan, who is a wizard with excel and who sorts out many IT issues, as well as running reports, plus sorting out pricing and a whole host of other stuff, sits in front of me and is to Paul’s right.

Rob, delivered the tea and I asked Rich if I could pinch one of his Granola bars as I was getting a bit hungry. As you can see our desks can get cluttered with various items such as brochures/catalogues, items for us to test or for me to photograph, and, like many other thousands of office desks, the usual pens, papers, etc. Being the fit guys that we are we also have a bowl of fruit which we tuck into from time to time.

Well, after a few minutes of banter, I got back to the job in hand. I also decided to listen to some music so clicked onto the Spotify icon and went to my play list and selected ‘Lemon Jelly’.

Now, I have been told that whilst typing away I can sometimes be slightly annoying to my fellow colleagues by either singing out random lines from a song or humming away to a song – probably much to the annoyance of Dan who sits opposite me.

The hours soon fly by and it’s not long before its lunchtime (12.30 pm). I have created the majority of pages so ask Rich if he wants to visit Tesco’s. He does so we go by car and take the short trip over to the supermarket. We return to find our department empty, apart from Big Si, who is busy answering customer’s questions.

Lando and I visit various cycling related websites to catch up on the latest developments within the cycling world. I also view the new Avatar trailer as I want to see this very soon as it looks like a stunning film to watch. The time soon goes by quickly and it’s not long before others return from their lunch break and work picks up again. Going back to my inbox I notice that I have received more emails from a few suppliers. Some are answers to the questions I had asked earlier in the morning.

During the day Lando emails me new orders. He has copied Rob in as well as he sends the order across to suppliers. I use Lando’s spreadsheet to create the new pages for the site as they are filled with the correct pricing, part numbers and size or colour options. For example I have received spreadsheets for DVD’s from Paligap and also clothing from Descente, which I’ll be sorting out on Monday/Tuesday.

Back to the Madison stuff and I’m onto the gloves. I’m busy creating the Peloton Gloves page when Jason (Jase) comes over and speaks to Big Si. It concerns a question from Team Wiggle Tandem regarding Dura-Ace working on a tandem. I don’t get the full picture as I have my earphones on at the time, but the music isn’t too loud so that I can still hear what’s going on around me. During this time I receive another email and have been asked to change the index image to another image, so I stop what I’m doing and quickly sort this little problem out.

By this time Jase has returned to his desk and starts working on the Bloggle site. After sorting the problem out I remember that I need to tell Jase some things, so I get up and walk over, armed with the Wiggle camera, and mention to him that my BC Licence should be received in the post anytime soon. I also mention that I’m writing a couple more Bloggle pieces and that they should be ready next week.

So, do you want to know who Jase is? Well here you are.

He’s camera shy so turns away just as I’m taking the photo – never mind. Also in the picture are three other Wiggle employees – Cathryn, who works on the Google side of things, and Chris, who creates the emails you receive on a weekly basis as well as the ads. Chris is a fellow cyclist and likes to ride Sportive events from time to time. He has also done some modelling for Amy at short notice earlier this year too.

Also pictured, well just about, is Steffen. Steffen gave me the nick-name of the ‘Pearmanater’, which I think is great and is used on my Team Wiggle profile. Steffen is involved with the web site side of things and also creates the ads on our website as well as cleaning up the site (HTML stuff I’m on about now). He also likes to wear caps almost every day!

After a few more laughs I head back to my desk and carry on with my work. The pages are now completed and it’s time to add the images. I open up Photoshop, select the relevant images, and start to layer them up on each other to show you the colour options. On rare occasions the suppliers sometimes don’t have a colour option so I have to complete the image. This can be a pain at times, but I have to go with what I have until they send it to me.

The job of creating the images takes up the rest of the day really, with a few little bits in between. Rich reminds me that he’s off to Italy next week visiting the Castelli factory. Rich mentions to me that the DVD’s and Descente will be the next thing to start from my ‘Things to Do list’ which grows daily with jobs shuffling around in order of priority.

Before taking the images from the camera I take one final shot of the office behind me. In the image you have Ben, Jase, Cathryn, Andreas, Nick and Dan, and at the far end of the office is our IT department, but you can only see their heads. Every Friday, Dale (IT chap who loves swinging his key chain around every day – office joke for us upstairs) asks us if we want any hot bacon rolls from the van just up the road from us. Most people do and when he returns there’s a lovely aroma of cooked bacon in the office. Anyone not wanting one soon regrets it as you suddenly feel very hungry.

Back to the photo – Ben creates the ads you see in the magazines and press – you know the ones at the back of Cycling Weekly, etc, and as always is a very busy chap getting the ads ready. Andreas, who is our Finance Director, keeps a close eye on the cash flow at Wiggle, which can be a hard job at times as you have both Paul and Rich trying to spend it all the time.

Nick, the guy in the orange vest, runs the warehouse and processing departments, as well as the bike workshop.

The desks directly behind me belong to the Finance Team. Barbara sits to the right of the photo, with Sian sitting to the left. Andreas sits opposite Sian and a lady called Cheryl sits opposite Barbara.

My day nearly comes to a close and the bulk of the Madison range has been completed. All that is left to do is to create the Size Guide for the range of clothing. For this I will use a program called Dream weaver, but this will be done in the morning as time is getting on. I should finish work at 5.30 pm, but most often I’m walking out the Wiggle doors around 6.00 pm. The day goes very quickly and I’m never bored as I have plenty of work to do and every day is different thanks to changing priorities.

Before switching everything off I tidy up my desk, finish off any bits of work, and close the windows near our desks. I usually open the windows when I arrive in the morning as it’s always hot in the office. This can annoy the ladies as they say its freezing cold all the time. Sometimes Sian wears her scarf and Barbara puts on her ‘Dream Coat’, which is red in colour, just to drop big hints or to protest. Even worse, I get moaned at sometimes by Ant, Amy, Nic and Charlene who also say it’s too cold in the office. Nothing wrong with a bit of fresh air!

It’s a great place to work at with a really good crowd of individuals from the guys and girls processing your orders (James and Richie to name two), the friendly chaps in Goods-In (Alex how you doing, not forgetting Dan and Jack), the helpful returns department (Howdy Mo), the sales team (Toby), our translators (Hi Rosa and Masie), all the mechanics (Steve, Guy, Ben, Doug and Quinny to name a few) and finally us lot upstairs, ie Merchandising, Finance, Marketing and IT all working hard to make your shopping experience an enjoyable one.

Well it’s now 6.05 pm and I’m off home to do some training on the turbo. It’s a tough session tonight, so my legs will be a bit sore tomorrow no doubt.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 3:23 pm and is filed under Richard Pearman, Team Wiggle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.