THE wide range of roles qualified accountant Phyl Radloff has held across more than 21 years in the Almondco Renmark office is testament to her team-first attitude but her selfless unofficial role as a company confidant shines above them all.
Phyl said while she doesn’t have a defined position as a counsellor or mentor, colleagues have gravitated towards her over time in moments of need.
“I think that’s really because few people actually want to be seen speaking to a dedicated counsellor but if you knew there was someone who you could go and talk to, maybe have a cry too, it’s fine,” she said.
“It’s never advertised but I do have quite a number of people coming to talk to me and it is confidential, they know it won’t go anywhere.
“If I can help out, put you in the right direction, I will.
“If not, I just shut up and listen, because sometimes people just need to have their say and then off they go again.”
Still, Phyl doesn’t think of herself as special by any means, encouraging others in every walk of life to reach out when things are getting tough.
“Maybe people have to give others the opportunity to be that person,” she said.
Her general attitude about give and take is rather pragmatic, throwing everything into her time in the workplace but also having that loyalty returned when she needed it most.
“It seemed to be a small family in 2000, we were processing 5000 tonnes a year and able to do so much with so little,” Phyl said.
“Now we’re processing 29,000 tonnes, it’s a big deal, but the feeling that the company will look after you has remained.
“It really has stayed that way and maybe that’s part of the board’s approach with how they want the company to be.
“There’s definitely a culture here that makes people actually feel like they’re worth something and that’s a big difference than just getting up, going to work to get your pay packet.
“When you come here, you feel like you belong.
“I don’t know how many people can get out of bed for 21 years and say ‘I don’t mind going to work, I’m quite happy going to work’, because I am genuinely happy coming to work.”
Phyl lost Mark, her husband of more than 40 years, in late 2018.
It was time for Almondco to give a little back.
“When my husband was really ill, this company looked after me and when he eventually passed away, I came back to work fairly quickly purely because I knew this was like a family,” she said
“I needed to be surrounded by people I knew who cared.
“They gave me the ability to work from home so I could look after him, no questions asked.
“It was the best thing that they could have done for me.
“That’s what I mean when I say this place feels like a big family, and it’s a really big family.
“Some days, I don’t damned well enjoy life, we probably all have those times, but I still get up and go to work every day because I still enjoy that.”
Her time with Almondco ticked over 21 years in September this year, after coming across from Yandilla Park, now known as Costa Exchange,
“My husband said ‘you need to get out of there,” Phyl recalled.
“I saw this tiny ad in the paper, no idea where it was, and I applied for it.”
She was initially told she was too qualified for the role but received a phone call the next day offering her the job.
“They didn’t want a qualified accountant, I don’t really know what they were looking for, but they wanted someone who could do payroll and general ledger work,” Phyl said.
She formed part of a small but stoic office team, which was down to three people at one stage, which encompassed accounts, sales and all administration.
With a shipment approaching, it quickly emerged no one knew how to do the export documents.
Phyl put her hand up.
“I had no idea what I was doing but I knew who to ring,” she laughed.
“Thank God we were only doing 30-odd containers for the year, so it turned out quite simple but I had to learn.
“In all honesty, that’s probably the best way to learn is to be thrown in the deep end without any floaties.”
Her significant contributions behind the company’s IT systems and accounting programs also can’t be understated.
“I don’t know why it is but if you put someone into a business who has accounting experience, for whatever reason, they tend to fall into IT as well,” Phyl laughed.
The need to change the accounting system, for both financial and intake data, emerged early in her Almondco years.
“The program we were using was ridiculous, so we went looking for what we could use,” Phyl said.
From inception in 2003, Almondco is still using the same software programming company, which developed the accounting and intake software packages.
“I had a lot of work and experience getting that program up and running,” Phyl said.
“We’ve had updates and changes to it over the years
“I actually do really enjoy it and when I talk to the software guys.
“They use me as an example because I’m old school.
“Would you say it’s a thankless job? Maybe, maybe not.
“It’s not something that’s always out there and visible, and I’m ok because I’d rather be sitting behind the scenes, doing my job the best that I can.”
Her Almondco career includes roles with payroll, accountant, accounts payable clerk, reception, IT support, program developer, human resources, OH&S and return to work coordinator.
“There’s one spot that I haven’t sat but that doesn’t mean to say I didn’t do that work, and that is at the reception desk,” Phyl smiled.
“I’ve had to put on a lot of hats because we haven’t had the staff to cover for it.
“Every year we seem to get bigger, we get new people on board and I’ve since relinquished a lot of these things.”
Phyl has graciously slotted back into the accounting desk.
“I still have the variety of doing other things that are not accounting, such as shareholdings and testing the new developers programs, because I like to try and break it,” she said.
“I’m enjoying doing that testing, it gives me something different to look at and it really is quite enjoyable because if I can’t break it, I think I’ve lost the game.”
She openly admits to being the oldest member of the office, one of a solid crop of long servants at Almondco.
“There’s a lot of us but most of them are out in the factory,” Phyl said.
“I think it’s more of a testament to the company as a whole that people actually stay that long.
“We’re all getting a bit old in the tooth now and that’s the problem.
“When all of us retire, we take away so much knowledge and information.
“It’s an ongoing issue for all of us, and for management, to make sure we don’t lose it totally.
“We all try to make sure that somebody else knows how to cover for one another.
“At the moment, I’m training one of our younger people studying for accounting to pick up some of the work I do.
“it’s quite sensible to make sure that whatever knowledge I have, I can put somewhere else, but there’s no USB socket in my neck, you can’t download everything I’ve got.
“I have to make sure it happens.”
Phyl has put together procedure manuals over the years but they keep evolving every time Almondco grows.
“It’s an ongoing document and some people don’t know it exists but we’ve just got to make sure they know where it is,” Phyl laughed.
The loss of Mark also instigated a shift in her life outside of work, where she now finds fulfilment in the community.
Mark was heavily involved in hockey and their sons and grandsons are now following those footsteps, which has led to Phyl joining the club committee.
“I quite enjoy doing that, which is something I didn’t think I would do,” she said.
Her brother in law also encouraged her to join the local Lions Club.
“It’s another passion where I can actually give back,” Phyl said.
“That’s probably where my life will head, so there’s a possibility my direction at work will go into training the new generation and then I’ll pick up doing more of the things that I enjoy doing that I haven’t had time to do.
“Even my grandchildren range in age from 20 to eight, so there’s a whole new world there as well.”
Since strolling through the gates at Almondco brandishing a freshly baked orange cake, a unique introduction in itself, Phyl said she still finds fulfilment in her job.
“I’ve seen a lot of people come and go, a lot who have stayed, but there’s no getting around it, you do feel worthy here,” she said.
“It’s a damn good thing, if you’re spending eight hours a day here, you may as well be happy.”
Her passion also extends to the Almondco product.
“An almond is not just an almond, it’s a lot of things,” Phyl said.
“I believe in what I’m doing and I think an almond is a worthwhile thing to get behind.
“Go buy a pack of almonds, eat them.
“You can leave them on the shelf and progressively eat them, try doing that with a mandarin.”
And 21 years on, having made that step to chase a career that gave her happiness and a sense of belonging, Phyl has no regrets.
“I gave up working with lemons and started working with nuts and I think I like the nuthouse better,” she said.