Being recognised for your hard work and support is a fantastic feeling. It’s made even better when it comes from the people you work with day in, day out – your colleagues.
At Altavia HRG we make it a mission to champion our colleagues who we believe really embody our core company values.
Meet Melvyn Walker whose selfless support throughout the business garnered him much praise for countlessly going the extra mile.
Giving hours of his time (even weekends) to support colleagues, he also took time to create valuable training tools to aid employee development. We caught up with him to learn more.
What is your role at Altavia HRG?
I’m a Senior Creative Artworker
Did you always want to become a creative artworker?
It’s something that I wanted to do since I was about 10 years old. I was always fascinated by print and design and never really wanted to do anything else… except perhaps restore historic racing cars.
What sort of duties do you have at work?
There are several key elements to my role, but mostly it involves working closely with the Creative Directors and the Customer Service team to develop initial concepts into working assets that meet the needs of our suppliers down the line. It’s not just adding bleed and crop marks.
What does a typical day at Altavia HRG look like?
It’s incredibly fast paced, one minute I’m working on print-based projects, the next I’m creating motion graphics, or retouching, digital assets such as web banners and email templates, or a pitch presentation… it all comes around eventually. Wherever I can help, I’m glad to.
What motivates you at work?
Getting the job done properly. With digital, it’s incredibly easy to cut corners and be sloppy, for me the motivation is to try and make even the most mundane task less mundane and to give it the same care and attention as the glossy jobs.
What do you wish more people in the business knew about your role?
Job titles are subjective to a sliding scale of skill sets. With the speed and advancement in apps, mine is a constantly evolving role and with the ever-changing arena of mediums available to clients, it’s a role that can constantly expand, it just requires keeping half a step ahead of where I am now.
It’s great to be able to offer the business other services that can keep the creative in-house and it’s always nice to still be able to surprise people.
Is there a standout project you’re proud of?
There have been several motion graphics projects I have been quite proud of, they’re mostly internal comms so they rarely get to see the light of day with clients, but a couple have gone down quite well that clients have requested the file to use for their own presentation needs, so that’s always nice to hear.
Aside from your role as Senior Creative Artworker, how else do you support the business?
I supply in-house photography and video for clients as well as internally. This includes assets for presentations and pitches, case studies and social media. I also regularly do photoshoots for one of our client’s campaigns which includes pack shots and food photography.
Motion graphics are a fantastic addition to any video marketing strategy, they can be dynamic and contribute to the brands storytelling. I think they will continue to be a growth area for retail point of sale and so are a high-demand skill. With this in mind, I created a number of guides and training tools to help colleagues develop their skills in this area, at their own pace. Combining tutorials with an in-depth guide detailing the tools available and its incumbent terminology. I think they really proved to be valuable assets and were a way for me to support my colleagues and pass on a bit of my wisdom. It’s great to be able to add my bit in the company’s mission to stimulate employee growth and development.
It’s no wonder you were awarded with Above and Beyond winner. How did it make you feel to be recognised in this way?
Honestly, I felt a bit guilty as there were other colleagues I felt were more deserving. On the other hand, it felt great to know that they voted for me. I’m still not sure I deserved it, but I’m not giving it back.
So, are photography and videography a passion of yours outside of work?
Yes, though my biggest passion is photography, which is mostly split between motorsport and music photography and between the two I’m passionate about live music photography. The lighting is dynamic, and all the various stage clutter make for fantastic framing and bokeh.
My biggest gig was a two-day event a few years ago, 12 hours of running back and forth between two stages to capture each act. It was absolutely worth it; I got some fantastic shots.
How do you live the company’s values?
At Altavia, what’s important to us is our people and our passion. Our values apply to not only our clients and partners but also to our colleagues. It’s embedded in the way we make decisions, the way we strategize and the way we treat each other. I make it my mission to let it be known that I’m always ready to help, learn and I’ll always be a friendly face. Generally, we all have a work ethic that promotes going above and beyond and increasing positive outcomes at work.
If you could give your younger self some advice, what would it be?
It would be to listen to advice . . . and buy shares in Apple.
What are 3 words that you believe make our team unique?
Wisdom, Dedication, Support.
