"Challenges that don’t break you, build your strength and resilience…" In conversation with Evelyn Tourish

Tell us about your professional story and how you started your career.

Sure, I started working for Europcar when I was 21 and will celebrate my 30-year anniversary this October! Transitioning from a full-time job that didn’t inspire me, I took a risk and joined Europcar on a zero-hours contract as a rental sales agent at Glasgow Airport, with the hope of securing a permanent role within six months. Luckily, it worked out. Honestly, car rental wasn’t a career I envisioned, but I embraced the opportunity.

Within four years, I was promoted to duty manager at Glasgow Airport. I later transitioned into a regional support role, then became the UK ancillary product manager, regional manager, and now, the UK customer experience manager. I always share my career journey with our team to inspire them to aim high. I'm also part of Europcar’s mentor programme so I absolutely encourage anyone I mentor to get involved with any projects they’re passionate about. I really do love working for Europcar because they’re such a people-centric business which makes it a great place to work.

How do you manage your work-life balance?

I feel when we're younger and we're establishing our careers, we tend to have more work in our life than having time with our family and friends. But I think over the years, that’s certainly changed for me. I’ve always had a fabulous family network but when I had my daughter, Amy, that was really the first time in my career when I addressed my travel for work with my manager. My concern was being able to manage my work-life balance because of my daughter and I was very lucky that my mum heavily supported me. My manager and I came to an agreement that all my travel plans were down to me and I was in control of my diary. I typically travelled from Tuesdays to Thursdays so I could have the weekends at home with my family. My manager gave me that autonomy and it really worked. This approach allowed me to plan and prepare with the family – organising weekday dinners and the school timetable.

What has been the biggest challenge you had to face in your career?

My biggest career challenge was getting through a huge consultation period when Europcar acquired another major rental brand, inheriting new station managers and integrating the two different cultures was challenging. Definitely people management has been my biggest challenge. But clear communication every step of the way is key – I cannot stress how vital that is when managing a team. There are also certain things that your team does not need to be exposed to and as a senior manager it's your responsibility to safeguard them from all of that. But we got through it and I’m a firm believer of "challenges that don’t break you, build your strength and resilience." This experience significantly strengthened me.

What’s your proudest work-related achievement?

During COVID, I collaborated with the NHS, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the British Vehicle Rental & Leasing Association (BVRLA) to create procedural guidelines for our business. With minimal existing information, I developed a Europcar COVID guidance document that the BVRLA recognised and I was invited to help in the creation of an industry-wide guide. This comprehensive guide was later published, it was a significant accomplishment, and I was thrilled with its impact. You can see the guide here.

Reflecting back, is there anything you would have done differently?

That’s a good question! Probably in my younger years, I would have worked less over weekends. But if I hadn’t worked as hard as I did, then I wouldn’t be where I am today. I always tell people never to have any regrets. I'll not think in 10 years’ time that I’ll regret doing something. Having said that, my only regret in life is that I didn't travel more when I was younger but it's not something that I would have done differently.

What's the best piece of advice you received?

Keep your game face on! When you get up in the morning, it doesn't matter how you're feeling, keep shining bright!

Have you seen improvements in the gender gap?

For me at Europcar, I feel there has always been a good balance between male and female employees, and I don't feel that it’s particularly male-dominated. If you look across our operations department, I would actually say there's probably more female station managers than males. My personal opinion, however, isn’t about what gender you are, it’s about whether you are the right fit for our culture. But from a gender perspective, I do feel that we're very well represented.

Do you have any advice for the next generation of women?

Never stop learning. If there's anyone who you feel that you could learn from, then make sure you connect with them. Establish strong working relationships and business connections. I would also encourage mentoring – both ways, to seek out a mentor as a mentee and additionally, to offer your own expertise as a mentor yourself.

iGROWW is Protiviti’s internal women’s network group and stands for ‘Initiative for Growth and Retention of Women at Work’. It has a strong voluntary membership that tackles women’s professional issues through forums, and facilitates networking events and community service activities.

For more information, please contact Rhianne Williams [email protected].