A Day in the Life of a… Visitor Operations Manager

Meet Richard, our Visitor Operations Manager who has been employed in Hatfield Park within our Visitor Operations team for almost 3 years.

A typical day

My job can be split into two parts, there is the role I do in the Spring and Summer months when the House and Park are open and there is the role I do when we are closed.
A typical day in the summer usually starts around 9.00am. I open up the office and the first thing I do is log into the ticket system. That gives me an idea of the sort of numbers we will be expecting that day so I know how busy we will be.

I then check the rota and communicate the numbers with the team so they are prepared, particularly if we have events or weddings on. I make sure everyone has suitable uniform such as jackets and also give out the radios to the team. I open up the kiosk, gates and car park and check everything is ok before the visitors arrive.

Once this is done, I go back to the office to check my emails and respond to any visitor enquiries.

After lunch, I usually do a circuit walk, checking the kiosk and make sure all our visitor advisors are happy and have everything they need. I can then take a view of what time we will start closing things down and sending people home.

At the end of the day, I make sure the kiosk is closed, the gates are locked and that the visitors have let.

Favourite part of the job

The variation of the job is what I like most. In the summer, I like being out and out meeting and talking to visitors. In the winter I enjoy doing all the preparation work planning for the new season. I also work with an incredible team who are fantastic to work with and they make coming into work really enjoyable.

Least favourite part of the job

In the summer, I have to work some weekends which can impact my days off as I don’t get to spend as much time with my family as I would like to. I have to make the most of my days off.

What you do like best about working at Hatfield Park?

It certainly does make me feel immensely proud when I can tell people I work for such a well-known and prestigious organisation and spending my working week in such a beautiful location is a huge perk.