Suzy Pettican, managing director of Reflection PR, has been offered a prestigious opportunity of judging this year’s UK Financial Services Experience Awards in London.
After setting up Reflection PR in 2009, Suzy launched Reflection PR Awards, an awards writing division, one year ago which now partners with national awards company – Awards International.
With extensive experience of writing award entries over the past 10 years, Suzy is now on the other side of the awards process – judging entries from across the country.
The UK Financial Services Experience Awards takes place on Thursday 14th July at the Park Plaza Hotel, London. It’s here when the finalists get the opportunity to present their award entries in front of a judging panel followed by an awards ceremony.
Finalists include Capita, Visa Europe and theDirect Line Group.
Suzy is delighted to have been asked to be part of the judging process, adding:
“This is a great opportunity for both myself and Reflection PR. It’s been fascinating being part of the judging panel and reviewing customer experience strategies from the UK’s leading brands.
This experience has re-emphasised the importance of writing strong award entries and what makes them stand out, along with clearly understanding the judging process. I hope to be able to put into practice what I’ve learnt when helping clients enter both regional and national awards.”
For more information on the UK Financial Services Experience Awards and to see the finalists visit: www.f-x-a.co.uk
Reflection PR Awards is East Anglia’s only dedicated awards writing division. Using our vast experience, over 60% of all entries written by Reflection PR get through to the finals and beyond.
To discuss our award writing or editing packages, visit www.awardsagency.co.uk or call 01603 219191 to arrange a free consultation.
On 6th July 16, Peter from Human Capital Department was invited to speak at Kings Lynn Innovation Centre “Inkub8” event.
At the event Peter outlined (1) what human capital department do, (2) discussed business growth, and (3) how “Inkub8” helps:
“Human Capital” is the new term for HR [Human Resources], although with more emphasis on data and analytics relating to people management and development, such as data relating to recruitment and retention of staff and using this to predict trends and support business objectives.
“Department” as we want to been seen by clients as part of their business, not an external consultancy
Buying Signals
A client might approach us with a “problem employee” or “problem supervisor” – something has gone wrong and it needs to be resolved. Alternatively, organizations may want to check that their processes are complaint and adhere to the law and best practice – we can audit their HR processes and procedures and make recommendations for improvements. On the other hand, larger organizations may need what I call “HR Project” support. For example, HR Re-Structuring, Recruitment, Performance Management, Redundancy and so on.
What we offer:
For smaller companies [SME’s] we offer a retained service – providing on-going support and advice on all aspects of HR and Training & Development for a small monthly fee.
For larger companies we offer HR Project Support or any aspect of HR or Training and Development – providing extra resource and expertise to to meet the needs of HR departments. Our partnership with “Bright HR” means that we can offer low cost HR software [HRIS] enabling organizations to track, monitor and report on People Management matters, such as leave, and absence management.
Business Growth:
Initially its was not about growth but business survival; sales needed to be balanced with cost constraint.
Key Initiates are:
Bringing in co-director Rod Lee was necessary when the company won a major project in Oman. Purchase of a CRM [Client Relationship Management] tool, enabled us to track contacts and opportunities, and get a good sense of our business pipeline and potential sales. We hope to partner with other companies to enable us to improve our client offering – for example “PRINT” offer a psychometric tool for development of employees, and “Hoopla-HR” provide standard HR documentation, such as employee handbook, saving time in re-inventing the wheel.
Marketing Plan:
Networking: Word of mouth and referral marketing is the main form of Marketing for the business. We use BNI [British Networking Institute] and attend a breakfast networking meeting once a week. In addition, we attend Chamber of Commerce meetings held locally. I am also a member of the CIPD Anglia Committee, which is a voluntary group which organizes bi-monthly HR related talks and events. Social Media: As well as our own website www.humancapitaldept.com we have a company Facebook page, regularly Twitter [@hcdept], and Directors and Associates have their own up to date Linked-In profile. Press Relations: We have had a couple of articles published in People Management Middle East, as well as an article published in a Business Magazine in Qatar, and People Management [UK] edition. More locally wee have has a couple of press releases published in the local press [Lynn News]. Speaker about HR at Conferences: Recently I have spoken at several conferences [ATD Conference, Dubai – 30th May 16, Get Energy MENA, Abu Dhabi – 8th Dec 15, Oil and Gas Council, London – 17th Nov 15]. This are a great way to get our name out there and position as subject matter expert.
How Inkub8 helps?
Having the Inkub8 service (or virtual office) really helps us:
We have our telephone answered in a professional way and in our company name – we are busy providing consultancy advice to clients or talking to potential clients, so having someone to field calls and take messages really helps us and ensures we never miss an enquiry. I’m amazed when a call up small business people locally and no one answers the phone – how many enquiries are they missing out on? We use the prestigious Kings Lynn Innovation Centre as our office address – this is impressive. We can use the meeting and training rooms as needed We have had a lot of help and advice from our NWES Business Advisor – Sergio. The Inkub8 also provides a route to expansion – in time we hope to recruit an apprentice who we can train and develop, so that we can grow our business. At that point we will want to take a small office in the KLIC.
Our latest salary and recruitment report shows that there has been a noticeable trend in the number of Norfolk organisations which are increasing their investment in employee development. This has been highlighted by the number of businesses in the county which have looked to appoint learning and development or training specialists in the last year.
We believe this is due to Norfolk employers looking to introduce more innovative and attractive job packages as competition for employees begins to increase. We’ve seen a steady growth in the Norfolk recruitment market over the last year, despite the downturn in the oil and gas sector. In particular food production companies, manufacturing organisations, professional service businesses, and the public sector, have all helped to make the job market in the county become more buoyant.
When the job market improves, candidates become more willing to switch companies and this means organisations have to work harder to attract and retain high calibre employees. Being able to demonstrate an investment in employee development is just one of the ways in which organisations can compete and encourage new employees to join them, or engage existing employees to stay and progress their career.
While our report shows that Norfolk salaries in general have remained fairly consistent, there is a potential that they will start to rise, if the competition for talented staff continues to increase. However, it is important to note that the result of the European referendum could have a significant impact on the trends we have seen over the last year. Recruitment is recognised as one of the first industries to react to economic changes and the decision to exit the EU could affect the confidence.
When the Brexit referendum was first announced, there was a noticeable slowdown in the number of new jobs and a significant amount of recruitment put on hold. Conversely, in the two months leading up to this historic vote, we were surprised by the high level of recruitment activity, so perhaps this indicates a greater economic resilience in this region. We will continue to monitor trends in our region and keep local employers and candidates informed.
In the meantime, we are encouraging local employers to use ourlatest reportto see how their current salary offering compares against other organisations in the county. Candidates can also use the report to benchmark their pay against others working in like-for-like roles across Norfolk.
TaxAssist Accountants has been awarded the prestigious accolade of becoming an AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) Training Provider to deliver globally recognised AAT Bookkeeping Qualifications to its franchisees and their staff.
Achieving such status highlights the excellence of the training offered by the Norwich-based Support Centre and the quality of the TaxAssist Accountants brand, the UK’s largest network of small business specialist accountants.
The AAT Level 1 and 2 Bookkeeping Qualifications TaxAssist will be offering cover the manual recording of financial systems, using both single entry and double entry bookkeeping, and will equip people with the financial skills and knowledge to manage books effectively.
The bookkeeping qualification is a great starting point for anyone looking to begin their career in the accounting industry or just looking to expand their skill base. AAT is a brand that employers trust and recognise, and it will be a great addition to a student’s CV to boost job prospects.
Everyone in the TaxAssist Accountants network has access to the Training Academy, which offers free or discounted access to events and services from partners, plus a wide range of technical continuing professional development (CPD) courses, software training and business development training both on and offline. Last year, 1,200 delegates attended face-to-face courses and more than 600 attended webinars delivered by the Training Academy.
Mark Farrar, AAT Chief Executive, said: “An AAT qualification is internationally recognised, and we are pleased that our Level 1 and 2 bookkeeping qualifications will be added to an already impressive suite of opportunities provided by TaxAssist Accountants.”
Phil Sullivan, Group Operations Director at TaxAssist Accountants, added: “This is a fantastic offering which we are pleased to make available to our network of over 200 franchisees and over 850 staff members. This achievement, in conjunction with our comprehensive range of regional face-to-face and online courses, rightly cements our status as a first class training provider.”
With low employee engagement costing the UK £340bn a year, a Norfolk Business Coach has launched a brand new initiative helping to improve employee productivity across East Anglia.
Roger Pemberton is one of only seven UK businesses coaches – and the only qualified coach in East Anglia – who was trained by the founder of the ‘Engage & Grow’ programme in Australia. This new twelve week coaching programme helps employees and business owners increase engagement and communication with staff and customers, improves team unity and boosts productivity.
According to an annual *Deloitte report, employee engagement is the most important business essential to be successful. With the *Hay Group recently revealing that low employee engagement is costing the UK £340bn per year.
Whilst traditional training methods are the least desirable way people want to learn, ‘Engage & Grow’ impacts teams through twelve one hour sessions, with employees and leaders given tasks to increase engagement with key stakeholders.
All courses are individually designed to suit the requirements of the business, with the programme proving extremely effective across 13 countries.
Roger Pemberton, who is part of Action Coach, hopes the engagement programme will take off in the East Anglia area, as it is critical to business success.
“Businesses are facing a time of extreme economic uncertainty and this programme will help employers navigate their way to boost productivity and improve communication with customers. I’m looking forward to improving employee engagement and team unity through this unique programme.”
Richard Maloney, the pioneer of ‘Engage & Grow’, is delighted to announce the expansion of the programme in the UK:
“Data tells us that 7 out of 10 people in the work force right now are disengaged, this creates a mountain of issues which impacts companies profitability, productivity and culture. So this simply says traditional training is not working.”
Take this quick survey to see how many people are fully engaged in your organisation – here.
The sun is trying its best to shine in London, on a rather chilly evening in June, as myself and 5 colleagues optimistically stroll the short distance from our hotel to the awards venue. We’ve been shortlisted for 4 out of the 12 awards at the 2016 TELCA awards (the Energy Oscars) and we are running on 45% nerves, 25% excitement, 25% pride and about 5% Dutch courage, courtesy of the hotel bar.
Last year we were over the moon to win the Most Trusted and Best Small Consultancy awards and realised that this year we were up against tougher competition in 4 highly contested categories –
Unsung Hero – Andy Kindleysides – our Innovation Engineer Business Person of the Year – Emily Groves – our MD Most Trusted Consultancy Consultancy of the Year
And the winner is…
Sumit Bose, Editor of Energy Live News and compère, had barely got the awards ceremony into full swing when a video camera swooped in on our table. It was the announcement of the Unsung Hero award and the winner is…… putting composure to one side, our table erupted on hearing Andy’s name and he made his way through the sea of hugs, applause and congratulations towards the stage.
The client who nominated Andy stated – “I’m delighted you are entering Andy for this award; in my honest opinion he deserves an OBE for his commitment, positive attitude and diligence.”
Consultancy of the Year
The ceremony progressed and we missed out on 2 categories, leading us to the penultimate award of the evening, our sweaty palms clapping all the entrants, and the winner is….. I can honestly say hearing our name being read out is one of the best moments of my working life. The past 7 years have been full of sweat, tears and plenty of hard work from all of us, making Indigo Swan what it is today, and being recognised for it is fantastic.
How do we feel?
“I have never been prouder of a company I have worked for and to be recognised as one of the best within our industry is a testament to all the hours of hard work that have been put in and confirmation that we are doing things in the right way.” James G
“We really care about what we do and it’s wonderful to be recognised for it.” Hannah
“Each Swan brings their own skills and strengths to the team and when you mix them all together you create an amazing award winning company.” Leanne
Why us?
Indigo Swan is a mix of tangible elements, that are relatively easy to replicate (a simple, transparent client report, complex but clear processes and a unique client portal), and also a great deal of intangible aspects that are unique to us. We live and breathe our values, every one of our colleagues 100% believes in our journey & we fully embrace innovation.
We are lucky that these intangible elements came right from the very core of why we started, which means they are naturally reinforced every day and shot through every activity we do. They are in our DNA, which isn’t easy to replicate. That’s the magic.
UK Internet Service Provider FreeClix is celebrating its tenth anniversary of Data Centre operations at its Norwich facility.
The FreeClix Data Centre was founded in 2006 and was the first facility of its kind in the region. Considerable investment has been made in the last two years to upgrade the Data Centre. It is now provided with a fully N+1 redundant infrastructure, dual-fed substation with UPS autonomous power delivering 99.999% uptime since installation. It offers highly resilient Connectivity & Internet Transit from multiple carriers with separate points of entry. Its diversely routed BGP carrier network can provide internet transit speeds up to 1Gb. The growing number of digital services used by UK businesses and local government has boosted demand for secure spaces for them to host their physical infrastructure including servers and storage equipment that run application servers and data virtualisation.
Managing Director Pete Freeman said “Businesses are increasingly recognising the need to guard against their data loss risk as part of their business continuity and disaster recovery planning. Using a data centre enables organisations to not only deliver their IT strategy into the future, by delivering the server and storage space needed but also reducing risk and improving energy efficiency strategies.”
The seemingly unstoppable rise in cloud based services which reduces the need for businesses’ own physical storage needs has not curbed the requirement for data centre space however. Pete explains “We’re actually seeing an increase in enquiries from organisations that need off-site disaster recovery or physical data centre space for legacy systems and services that can’t be migrated to the cloud.”
“It’s a fantastic milestone to have reached and we’re looking forward to the coming months in which we shall be launching our new self-managed hosting platform.”
The FreeClix Tier 2 Data Centre is securely located in central Norwich for easy access 24 x 7 x 365. Secure, resilient data centre solutions include colocation and hosting services, internet transit, secure data storage, virtual dedicated servers and network solutions.
FreeClix is offering free installation up to the end of August 2016 to all new colocation customers (up to half a rack).
In a move to supplement Alan Boswell Group’s insurance offering, the highly experienced Risk Management Adviser Gavin Dearsley has been appointed to support the firm’s clients with their Health and Safety and Risk Management requirements.
Gavin, who joins from NFU Mutual, will work alongside Risk Management Adviser John Neil, helping clients to reduce their potential exposure to claims.
Gavin commented: “I’m excited to be joining Alan Boswell Group at this time of growth. Providing risk management advice makes good sense for clients. By helping them to proactively manage risks we can help them reduce accidents, incidents, claims and ultimately premiums.”
John said: “I am extremely pleased to be working with an experienced and highly qualified professional like Gavin, who will help me to develop the service we offer to our clients.”
Gavin’s appointment follows that of three other employees from NFU Mutual: David Wheeler has joined the underwriting department; Michael Henderson has joined the account handling team and Sinéad Brogan has taken up a role as a Business Insurance Adviser. Kodi Burch has also joined the team as a Business Insurance Adviser having held roles at several insurance companies in the region. All four are based at the Group’s head office in Norwich.
The Group expects to see an eight percent increase in staff numbers in 2016. This will support strong growth projections, with commercial insurance forming a key area for expansion.
Chris Gibbs, Managing Director, said “We’ve seen substantial growth in the company as a direct result of winning new business. We’re anticipating similar increases this year and we’re actively looking to hire the best executives we can find.”
One such appointment sees Richard Sayer join the company as a Commercial Account Executive. He brings 24 years’ experience with him from roles with companies including Lowndes Lambert and AXA.
“Richard will complement the commercial team, bringing a wealth of experience with him, including expertise in the automotive and construction sectors,” said Chris.
The group, whose insurance division was recently named ‘Independent Broker of the Year’ at the Insurance Times Awards, is also recruiting new starters to the industry through their award-winning apprenticeship scheme.
Director of Human Resources, Gillian Anderson Brown, commented: “We’ve seen a number of apprentices successfully complete our apprenticeship scheme and becoming valuable members of the team. The programme offers hands-on experience in multiple disciplines, giving employees a chance to experience a wide range of roles and activities before specialising in a specific area.
“We’re now looking for the next intake and expect the scheme to be in high demand.”
Digital Marketing agency, Bigfork, were appointed by Norfolk Holiday Homes to design and build their new website. The clientwanted a website that was more appealing with easy navigation to help increase successful user journeys. They also wanted the new website to be integrated with their holiday home booking system Supercontrol.Headon over and take a look at theNorfolk Holiday Homeswebsite.
Newly-elected Police and Crime Commissioner, Lorne Green, is asking Norfolk residentsto share their views and help shape his Police and Crime Plan for 2016-2020.
Lorne’s public consultation, which closes on 12 August, is currently running online in the form of a short survey, andhe will be spending the coming weeksmeeting with people, groups and organisations across the county to gather their views on crime and policing.
Based on the feedback received to his consultation, the PCC will then develop his Police and Crime Plan,to be published in the Autumn, which will outline what hewill work to achieve over his four-year term, as well as setting out the objectives for policing, the resources that will be made available to the Chief Constable and how performance will be measured.
Launching the consultation, Lorne said: “My Police and Crime Plan will set out how we, as a county, tackle crime and disorder between now and 2020.
“In setting that plan, I must meet requirements set by the Home Secretary, such as ensuring our police have the capacity and capability to respond to threats like cybercrime, terrorism and child sexual abuse.
“I must also take into account what victims of crime, our police, partners and other agencies identify as the key issues affecting Norfolk.
“The final piece of the jigsaw, and the part that will enable me to ensure the needs of Norfolk people are considered, is the community perspective on crime and policing.
“During my campaign to become your PCC, I spoke with many people living and working in different parts of our county, and began the process of finding out about the issues of most concern to them.
“To build on what I heard, and get a fuller picture of what matters to our communities, I am asking people to share with me their views on crime and policing. Your views are crucial to ensuring the approach we take over the next four years is the right one for our county.”
Charlie has completed his work experience with TVC today and has written a blog about his week which you can read here. Along with the post are a couple of drawings he produced and some photographs taken during his week with us:
I chose to do my work experience at The Validation Centre (TVC) because I knew they do things to do with engineering which I would like to get into when I’m older. I saw it as a good place to get some experience about work and what goes on which will help me for when it comes to getting a job.
On the first day of my work experience, in the morning and up to dinner, I was helping out in the stores department with Morgan. He told me what goes on; how goods are brought in and sent out and also how to book things in and out. In the afternoon I then went into an office where Michelle told me what she does. I was taken to the photography room where she has a set up and she takes photos for the TVC website and also social media. I saw how she crops the photos using a specific editing program. I was shown by John what he does and how to design different types of equipment, or anything really, on a computer. You can do this with 3D objects as well. If you need to, you can look inside to see if everything is lined up correctly. I was then shown by Jim what he does with IT for the equipment and he was working on a piece of equipment which shows you how deep a weld is.
On the second day, to start the day off, I went into the reception and was shown what you have to do in there. You must answer the phone and put people through to the specific person they would like to talk to. You put things on the system which are being shipped out. Later in the day I helped work in the accounts area. I was placing all the files into number order and putting different invoices onto the system. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon with Louise putting jobs onto the system and invoices. All different things!
Day three has been my favourite day at TVC. I would like to be an engineer and I spent the day in manufacturing which is where they make equipment or assemble things. I spent the whole day working and I really enjoyed it. I was assembling Mini Arc Loggers (MAL III) cases so they could be ready to send out. This involved screwing the piece of equipment to the case and also screwing other pieces to the whole unit. After I had finished doing these, I started to modify small printers, these print out the results for the amps and voltage. This meant taking the plastic bottom off and taking the screws out. Through the screw holes I had to drill through to make a clear hole then by placing the metal bottom onto the printer, I had to line up the holes and put the screw through and tighten it on.
On day four I had another really good day which I very much enjoyed. I was down in the calibration department and was shown by Chris how to calibrate a MAL III and also a new piece of equipment, the MAL III (2-Channel), even Chris hadn’t worked on it before. Later in the day I calibrated the MAL III (2-Channel) so the reading for volts and amps where correct and it could be ready to send out when needed.
On my last day working at The Validation Centre (TVC) I was shown how to design a piece of equipment or any object by John. I then had a go myself and I really enjoyed it. I looked around in the office to see if there was anything else to design. I saw a pair of scissors and thought why not. I made all the different parts of the scissors so I could put them all together in the end, but as one of the sides had a slight curve in it and the other piece were straight, it meant we couldn’t put all the pieces together to finish it all off. I still had a great time learning how to do it.
Later on in the day I had a good time doing photography with Michelle. The photos that were took will be going onto the TVC website and on social media. I learnt how to properly edit photos so they look neat and tidy.
I’ve really enjoyed my week at TVC and it has helped me realised what the work day involves and what goes on. It has helped me towards a career in engineering.
Pure has been presented with a global award in recognition of its outstanding track record of using its company intranet system to enhance its internal communications.
The regional recruitment firm was crowned the ‘Radically Better Organisation of the Year’ at the annual Jostle Awards. The awards are open to organisations across 159 countries which use Jostle’s People Engagement intranet as a platform to share communications with employees across the business.
The Radically Better Organisation of the Year category is seen as the overall ‘best in show’ award and is presented to organisations which have demonstrated a consistent track record of achieving employee engagement through effective internal communications. Pure received the award for organisations of 200 employees and under and the City of Vaughan in Canada received the award for organisations with more than 200 members of staff.
As Pure is located in four counties across the region, with offices in Cambridge, Chelmsford, Ipswich and Norwich, the Jostle intranet forms an integral function in enhancing employee communication. The judges commented that Pure had demonstrated how the effective use of an internal intranet can be core to an effective employee engagement strategy, especially during periods of organisational growth.
Gill Buchanan, Director at Pure, said: “Jostle has been central to underpinning and supporting our continued focus on making Pure a great place to work, with a motivated and high-achieving team. It’s important for us to have a clear way of communicating internally and we have found Jostle to be a great way of doing this. Every member of staff contributed to this award as they all use the intranet to share news and announcements, host instant group discussions and to access all of our company information.”
Pure has previously won the Jostle Award for ‘Vibrant Culture’ and has also been shortlisted in the category for ‘Highest/Most Consistent Engagement’.
Bev Attfield, Director of Tactical Marketing at Jostle, added: “Reading through the nominations this year was incredibly inspiring. We received essays, photos, and videos from so many different companies in vastly different industries. I was amazed at how these organisations were all able to leverage their Jostle intranet to improve connectivity, culture, and communication in diverse but equally valuable ways.”
For more information about the awards and to watch Pure’s acceptance speech visit the Jostlewebsite.