Stacey Torman PR Director for Avaya talks us through her day

Stacey Torman, PR director for Avaya, is a big believer in flexible working as she is convinced it increases staff production and satisfaction. Here she talks us through her day.

My Day

7.00am: Ideally I’d wake up to the Today Programme on BBC Radio 4 at 7am, but as part of a global organisation, I often work late and sometimes can’t resist hitting snooze.

7.10am: Snooze.

7.20am: Wake up, double strength Nespresso and turn on BBC Breakfast quietly in the background.

7.30am: Log-on to check and respond to overnight emails from Asia-Pacific and the States. Review national, tech, business and telecoms headlines. As head of comms I need to be the one updating executives on what’s going around the world, not the other way round!

9.00am: I split time working from home in central London, the Covent Garden offices of my PR agency Fleishman Hillard and our Guildford HQ. I dial in to my weekly agency call from home to discuss our integrated PR and marketing campaigns.

9.45am: With a gym three minutes from home a daytime work-out is easy. Managing my work flexibly is vital and we focus on it as a key benefit from our technology. Flexible working can absolutely increase staff productivity and satisfaction, if implemented and managed effectively.

10.45am: Back home, refreshed, I sign-off rapid response pitching around our flexible working campaign (there’s a theme here!). Thought leadership brings to life the business benefits of our technology and demonstrates to our target audience how we can help them.

11.15am: After responding to a few more emails, I dial in to my second call of the morning, a twice-monthly update with our European leadership team. I’m lucky that communications is genuinely perceived as a strategic business function at Avaya, which I know is not the case for all of my peers. Being part of the business’ EMEA leadership team, participating in the overall business strategy development, and generally knowing where we’re headed, not only makes my job more interesting, it also enables me to ensure that communications delivers benefits that can and are perceived positively by the EMEA teams.

12.00 noon: Quick Facebook and LinkedIn checks. Social media engages me with journalists, peers, and colleagues worldwide, keeping me connected and up to speed.

12.30pm: Journalist lunch meeting. Good relationships are vital or you quickly lose credibility and the ability to do your job. We discuss market trends and I identify some interesting story angles.

2.30pm: Check-in with Fleishman Hillard to brainstorm next quarter’s campaign themes. My FH team is a seamless extension of my internal team and their counsel is critical to my success, so I look forward to being there in person.

4.00pm: Another email check before meeting with my FH Public Affairs team. We’re arranging a dinner with important MPs in parliament to discuss our new paper on Public Sector IT spend.

5.30pm: With no evening function I’m home around 6pm. But if I entice the FH team, we often end brainstorms with drinks in Covent Garden.

8.30pm: Home for a late fridge dinner before final emails and scouring Twitter for interesting articles to do my “daily reTweet.”

11.00pm: I love clothes, so in bed I read Grazia or Elle. I also read The Week for global news in a tabloid format. If only all communications were this clear and straightforward!

11.30pm: Lights out, another early start tomorrow.