Michelle Ferry and Shane Lafferty of McElhinneys up for two major awards

The general manager at McElhinneys is delighted that two of her leading staff are up for coveted awards at the much-anticipated Retail Excellence awards this November. 

Sandra Devenney said she is exceptionally proud of the two members of staff, 

Michelle Ferry and Shane Lafferty, whom she describes as being phenomenal, hard working, loyal and excellent employees. 

“We have two of our shining stars up for an award and we are really excited about it. The Retail Excellence awards take place every year,” she said. 

The Rising Star of the Year employee is Michelle Ferry who has shown extreme dedication and has participated in the accelerated leadership programme. Her mother Margaret Ferry has worked for McElhinneys for fifty-one years. Michelle went to college, travelled and returned home and became a serious asset to McElhinneys. 

Sandra said: “You don’t go to these awards unless you feel you are capable of winning because the competition is so strong. This year, I knew we were ready. I could have put a few of them up for different awards but I decided when I went through the criteria that there were two that stood out for me and one of them was the rising star and that is Michelle Ferry because Michelle has been developed through our accelerated leadership programme in the company.

“I have worked closely with Michelle over the past three years and what can I say about her? She is just exceptional. First of all her loyalty and passion for McElhinneys is second to none. There is nothing that girl couldn’t take on - she is so diligent, her skill set is accuracy and organisation, among many other things,” Sandra said. 

The manager is absolutely confident of Michelle’s skills: “I know that I could take her to any event and she would handle it and represent the company exceptionally well.”

Michelle undertook a retail apprenticeship course with Retail Ireland Skillnet, a course designed by Dr Oran Doherty, programme Director and Roisin Woods, E learning and communications manager, both who are from Ibec and garnered high praise indeed: “Word about her at academic level is highly complimentary as well,” Sandra said. 

Having won the manager of the year award in 2018, Sandra appreciates and recognises the hard work and standard keeping that goes into winning these awards and stresses how important it is to cultivate and retain good staff and positive staff relationships. During lockdown, Sandra took the opportunity to focus on her staff and help identify each of their strengths and skill sets. 

It was during this time that Shane Lafferty's ability came to her attention - a long-time employee who was instrumental in some of the major projects at the Iconic department store for over two decades. 

“This is the first year they have the Unsung Hero Category so it is basically someone in the business that does everything, works behind the scenes silently and gets things done without asking for praise or recognition so I could think of no one better than Shane Laffery for that category because that is exactly what he does for McElhinneys,” she said.  

Sandra said Shane has never got the recognition he deserves.

“All of the staff are delighted for Shane and Michelle,” she said. 

Sandra  said that you cannot underestimate the importance of staff: “You are always trying to retain your good talent and to cultivate talent and for this you must invest in people and I am so passionate about investing in our people. 

“That is what we did and now we have these two stars going to this event and everyone in McElhinneys is delighted for them because they have witnessed their journeys. These two have really absorbed the all-inclusive culture we have.”

Sandra says the most important part of any company is staff: “It doesn’t matter what you do - what marketing strategy or product you have, if you don’t have good people looking after your customers it’s a race to the bottom.”

Sandra is very focused on this year’s awards and is delighted to see her staff members receive recognition on the greatest stage for their industry in Ireland.