I'm one of the Operation Team Leaders and have had the privilege of working with the individuals that make up my team for just over a year now. It is a great role with a lot of variety and interest; and of course there are some complex challenges to resolve along the way.

My role as Team Leader is to ensure that my team is well organised and motivated. My goal is to encourage a culture that recognises and practices a highly client focused operation.

Every day is different; Mondays start off pretty quietly, but before we know it Friday has come around again.

It's Friday today, it can be a really crazy day being pay day. We start off with the morning meeting; it's a chance for everyone to have a chat about the previous days' events, problems, news. By having a morning meeting I know that everyone - including me - is up to speed and there are no surprises to spoil the day.

After the meeting, it's all hands to the pump working through the list to ensure all our guys get paid. Everyone knows what they need to do, and my team are great at working together to get through the tasks. I only need to get involved if there is an issue - which thankfully is usually only something minor and solvable.

This week it's my turn to pay the batches - this adds a little bit of extra excitement to the day. We know from experience that the sooner we get our guys paid the happier they will be and as a result the quieter the phones will be, so we pay batches on the hour every hour throughout the day.

Another aspect of my role is to liaise with the external sales team. So I make a call to my Account Manager - who has probably been on the road since 6am and hasn't slept in his own bed all week (and I don't mean in an interesting way!!) so may enjoy a chat - as I don't watch Coronation Street, we have a bit of a catch up about work. It's important to keep each other informed about any news we may have picked up on competitors and customers. He is trying to find his way to his next appointment; I can hear his Sat Nav barking out orders in a usual charming fashion. I leave him to it, there are plenty more chances to catch up again later in the day between meetings.

As soon as the post arrives it is sorted and the contents handed out to the relevant team members. On a Friday, there are the inevitable last minute documents; registration forms, expenses and ID etc - all of which need to be processed before those guys can get paid.

We are seeing more and more of our new starters registering on line. We have a great website, it is really easy to navigate and many things can be done on line - workers can register, print off payslips and update us about any changes to their temporary work placements, which is great as these updates are really important.

One thing that does need to be sent in by post is copies of original ID documents. As a responsible employer we need to check the eligibility to work in the UK of all our employees, whether they are UK or Foreign Nationals. We understand it can be inconvenient around the time of holidays and that there is some nervousness about posting important documents, we suggest that our employees send their ID in by Special Delivery to avoid the nervous nail biting on both sides! And remember to get a receipt from the Post Office and add it to your expense claim.

Once the post is sorted it's time for another payment batch and that pretty much takes me up to lunchtime. I always help out on the phones, but particularly at lunch times - whilst my team want to see my ability to lead from the front they are also motivated from my ability to lead from the back! That's why I believe it is important for me to roll up my sleeves and help out with the daily grind - whether that is talking to clients, agency contacts or general administrative tasks.

I offer to make the next round of brews to get a break from the buzz of the office, it can be quite tricky to grab even 5 minutes to myself on a Friday so it's a welcome chore. But, still no let up: a phone call from the team... "Could you bring me a clean tea spoon back up with you?" I think I can manage. Customers internal and external can be soooo demanding!!

After the 2 o clock payments are sent it is time to print out the payslips and my thoughts turn to food. Usually on a Friday someone will have brought in some goodies, if we're lucky it might be a cake day. We always find something to celebrate... one of our customers hitting a milestone, someone's birthday, the fact it isn't raining - you can bet there will be a reason. And anyway, I read on the internet that if someone else provides the food then there are no calories in it!

We are starting to get close to the final deadline now... most of our guys have been paid but sometimes there is the odd one that we have not been able to resolve and we are right up to the wire. Sometimes things happen that are totally outside of our control but at the end of the day we really want to give ourselves and our customers that good nights sleep. Of course, we do all we can to get it sorted. Today, we are waiting on a last minute registration from a local agency, thankfully we managed to contact him and he is able to call into the office with both his form and supporting ID documents and we get him paid on time.

At this point everyone breathes a huge sigh of relief, but the day doesn't end there. Now is the time for dealing with any new registrations. Thankfully my CLO's (Contractor Liaison Officers) have these covered, so I can get on with preparing for the week to come. I'm lucky really: I can honestly say that I have never worked at a company that has so many self motivated, customer focused staff, and with really great attitudes towards getting things done - so my job is made much easier.