Servest is a people business, and people are the core of our business. We exist to support people and businesses to thrive by partnering with our clients to create an environment in which they can focus on the core of their business activities. Servest focuses on providing personalised, high quality service solutions to enable them to improve their triple bottom line.
Our people, whom we affectionately call Servestians, our colleagues, are the heartbeat of Servest. They enable the business to deliver to our clients.
Sunnyboy Lebea is one such proud Servestian, one of the longest serving Servestians, having joined the company in January 2003, six years after it was founded in 1997.
Visitors to the Servest headquarters in Midrand will notice that the front office ambience is different. Not because of the spectacular décor, but because of Sunnyboy’s bright smile and use of their first names to greet them on their second visit to Servest! This is what five-star service is all about. Sunnyboy lives his profession by fully immersing himself in his work, which he does with the most admirable pride.
In this article, Sunnyboy shares his experiences and what makes him serve with pride at Servest.
“I started as a security guard, was then promoted to site control, followed by a promotion to site supervisor, all at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), then promoted to Senior Controller at Wynberg. I am now stationed at the front desk, at Servest head office.” When he joined Servest, the company was looking for someone who would leave a “first impressions last” appeal with visitors coming to Servest. He was the right profile for a brand ambassador position like that one.
“I prefer the interactive and friendly environment of the Servest front desk to my previous role in supervising security,” Sunnyboy said. “At one stage at the JSE I was a senior controller of 562 colleagues across 32 sites in South Africa, which was not easy. It was a very challenging time in my career and personal life. I had to manage 12-hour shifts, duty rosters and incident reports. The operation had to be run with precision and detail; there was no room for error. This demanded a lot of focus from my side, as I had also taken over the parenting of my sister’s four children at the time.”
“I have enjoyed working at Servest, as the company believes in improving its employees, and for me that is important,” he said.
“There’s is always room for growth here. I enjoy interacting with different people on a daily basis. Servest is not just the place where I work. It has become more like a home for me.”
The timing of his move and the new role he plays could not have come at a better time, Sunnyboy said. “My managers are mindful of me as a human being and not just as an employee and I appreciate that they have accommodated my changing needs now that I am getting older.” He looks forward to seeing familiar faces each day, especially during the unfamiliar times brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Servest acknowledges the contribution of all colleagues, no matter what level they operate at,” Sunnyboy said. “And I interact with people in all the divisions, at all levels. That makes my job special.
“This is the best company to work for because it doesn’t only focus on the customer but realises that its own people are valuable to the business and it takes care of them.”
Although Sunnyboy now occupies a role at the front desk, his true passion still lies in security and his vision is to one day own a security company with a particular focus on hospital security. “I would like to manage it hands-off, and focus on my part-time great love, which is singing and dancing.”
It’s that love of life, along with his gift for making people feel special, that makes Sunnyboy Leboa such a treasured Servestian.
