We are looking for a small team of people willing and able to run a few park games for a group of people with disabilities, and their families and supporters attending a free picnic in Eaton Park on Sunday 12th June. This requires about 3-4 activities, delivered between 12noon and 2pm in a relaxed and fun way.
Ideal opportunity for some employee volunteering, or team building. Please contact James Kearns via james.kearns@buildcharity.co.uk with offers or for more information.
KLM UK Engineering is delighted to announce the signing of a long term partnership with Nilai University (Malaysia) for the provision of EASA Part 147 exams supported by KLM UK Engineering’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Software.
Under the agreement, KLM UK Engineering will support Nilai University’s successful Diploma in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering and Advanced Diploma in Aircraft Engineering Technology programmes by providing experienced examiners and VLE to allow the students to gain their EASA Part 66 B licence.
With over 150 students graduating each year, the programme is equipping the aviation industry with skilled, qualified and competent engineers for the next generation.
Prof.Dato’ Dr.Sothi Rachagan, Vice-Chancellor of Nilai University said: “Combining the exceptional learning environment of Nilai University with a world renowned MRO is a decision that will give our students an increased learning experience. This long term partnership will allow both Nilai University and KLM UK Engineering to train the next generation of aircraft engineers. The industry is expected to have a surge in demand for qualified and experienced personnel in the coming years.We are confident that the graduates of Nilai University’s aircraft maintenance programmes will have the knowledge, skills and attributes to be the backbone of the industry for many years to come.”
Whilst Wayne Easlea, Operations Director of KLM UK Engineering added: “The partnership with Nilai is a huge step forward in our aim to connect KLM UK Engineering’s VLE products to many young engineers in the UK and abroad. The industry needs many good engineers for the future to accommodate the growing worldwide fleet and to replace inevitable retirements. KLM UK Engineering wants to leverage its knowledge and experience and connect many more universities to its growing educational centre. This centre will be collocated as of early 2017 in the International Aviation Academy in Norwich”.
About Nilai
NilaiUniversity was established as NilaiCollege in 1997 and was upgraded to a university college in 2007 and a full-fledged university in 2012. The Malaysian Qualifications Agency rated NilaiUniversity as Excellent (Setara 5) in 2011 and has reaffirmed this in the latest rating exercise undertaken in 2013. The University offers a Diploma in Aircraft Maintenance and an Advanced Diploma in Aircraft Engineering Technology which incorporate the European Aviation Safety Agency* (EASA) syllabus, preparing students for the EASA Part 66 Category B1.1 and B2 licence examinations. The student can then sit for the EASA licence examinations at the same time that they pursue their diploma / advanced diploma course at NilaiUniversity, which is the first step in gaining a full EASA licence.
UK based operator SaxonAir Charter announces at EBACE Geneva the addition of another helicopter to their fleet through the signing of a brand new Leonardo-Finmeccanica AW109SP Grand New. The helicopter will be operated through SaxonAir’srotary divisionSaxonAir Helicopters. As well as the operation of a mixed fleet of aircraft from Mustangs to the Gulfstream G550, the company runs its own Helicopter department serving clients around Europe.
The helicopter will serve both the London and the wider UK marketand offered to all present and new clients for a faster, more convenient way to travel. The AW109SP Grand New is a top of the range light twin engine IFR helicopter designed using the latest technology, benefiting from high performance, latest safety enhancements and a large cabin with a low environmental footprint.
‘As a group we’re all very much looking forward to the addition of the brand new helicopter. We are very well known for being a quality fixed wing charter operator and aircraft management company so the purchasewill boost our presence and scope in the helicopter market.’ SaysMax Randall, Head of Sales and Operations, SaxonAir Helicopters.SaxonAir Helicopters will offer full packages along with our fixed wing charter department, interlining with aircraft arrivals and departures flying directly to their destination saving clients valuable time.
The fast growing company expects the aircraft to be used predominantly for both corporate and leisure missions, it can fly at night so a perfect alternative to travelling by car to events such as the races or music concerts. The luxurious cabin can comfortably fly up to 6 passengers and can transport clients at distances of over 350nm. John Parnell, Sales Director from Sloane Helicopters says ‘As the UK and Ireland Leonardo-Finmeccanica Distributor, we are delighted to have sold the AW109SP to SaxonAir with a comprehensive support package that also includes full maintenance coverage for years to come. We are sure that SaxonAir and its clients will appreciate the outstanding capabilities that has made this helicopter the benchmark for VIP and charter operations’.
The order was cemented at the Leonardo-Finmeccanica stand during EBACE Geneva and representatives from SaxonAir, Sloane Helicopters and Leonardo-Finmeccanica were all present at the signing.
We are delighted to be sponsoring the Employer of the Year category at the Eastern Daily Press (EDP) Business Awards 2016.
Having sponsored the EDP’s Best Employer award for the last three years, we were proud to be asked to sponsor the newly-named Employer of the Year award for 2016. We have always chosen to support the employer-focussed categories because this is the area we have the greatest affinity with. At Pure, we work to support local organisations in sourcing, developing and retaining top talent to help achieve organisational growth. We want to celebrate the companies which are achieving success by putting employees at the heart of the business.
The Employer of the Year award will recognise organisations that are demonstrating a clear vision of what attracts new employees and keeps existing teams motivated and engaged.
Lynn Walters, co-founder and Director of Pure, said: ” A business that grows their people inevitably will grow and develop their business, and the winning entry will have this mind-set at its heart. It will be a business with an evolving culture of improvement, open to feedback, and introducing new ideas and initiatives to grow the business and its people.”
As part of the judging panel, we will be looking for the employers who are engaging on an individual level with their teams to increase the effectiveness of their organisation.
The short-listed organisations will need to provide evidence of their employee engagement strategy including some of the following elements : personal development opportunities for staff; strong communication; innovative ways of recognising, rewarding and thanking staff; empowering its team to make a difference for a charity or their local community; flexible working and staff wellbeing; diversity and openness to feedback; and truly living their values.
Overall, the EDP Business Awards are a celebration of the dynamism and success of the Norfolk economy and we are proud to be a part of this event. To enter and put a spotlight on your organisation as one of those contributing to the county’s success, visit the awardswebsite. Entries need to be submitted by midnight on Sunday 31stJuly and the winners will be announced on Thursday 3 November at the Norfolk Showground.
Last Tuesday, 17th May 2016 we were delighted to welcome Lee and his team from Raw Talent Academy to our Norwich office, to host their audition and assessment day in order to expand our team here at Cooper Lomaz.
The process started with potential candidates applying through the custom Cooper Lomaz Microsite on Raw Talent’s website. There were 300 applicants and of those, after studying their CV’s and conducting a range of telephone and face to face screening interviews, 13 were invited to the audition day.
Lee McQueen from Raw Talent Academy says “It has been a joy to partner with Cooper Lomaz over the past 5 weeks. Our unique process requires clients to have faith and trust in us, in return we are able to deliver what we promise”
In the morning, candidates were challenged to 4 tasks both in teams and as individuals which spanned various subjects and activities such as sales, customer service and of course recruitment. These tasks allowed candidates to demonstrate their abilities to not only sell, but also demonstrate that they could build rapport and talk with confidence.
At the half way point, four candidates were sent home as Cooper Lomaz directors and Raw Talent didn’t think they would have been right for the company, whilst the nine remaining candidates prepared for the afternoon.
Cooper Lomaz Operations Director Mark Fletcher praised the process of how the audition day was formulated saying “At Cooper Lomaz we have always loved breaking new ground and finding innovative ways to improve the recruitment process. Raw Talent’s offering enabled us to make six hires in a single day while minimising the time away from their desk for our managers.”
After an intensive afternoon of panel interviews by Cooper Lomaz, being supported by Lee McQueen from Raw Talent Academy, six candidates were offered roles and all six accepted on the spot.
Both Cooper Lomaz and Raw Talent academy are incredibly happy with how the day went, and indeed the whole 5 week process and are looking forward to working together in the future.
Cooper LomazCommercial Director Simon Brown said of the day “‘We are extremely pleased with the success of our first Raw Talent event for Cooper Lomaz. The organisation and coordination of the event has been excellent. The quality of candidates who applied has been an outstanding quality and we are ecstatic to have made 6 great hires.”
Many thanks to Lee and his team for coming to host an audition day here at Cooper Lomaz – We are looking forward to welcoming our new members of staff when they start in the near future and are looking forward to welcoming Raw Talent Academy back to Cooper Lomaz for another successful day.
Students studying for accountancy qualifications at the Colchester Institute were given a free career advice session from Pure.
Craig Cordle, accountancy recruiter at Pure’s Ipswich office, delivered the session to 35 Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) students. The event, held on 19 May, was organised to help ensure the students understood how they could make maximum use of their qualifications and to give them an overview of the region’s current financial job market.
The students were also given advice on how they could stand out against other candidates when competing for job roles. Topics discussed included CV structure and content, interview preparation, interview skills and what to expect from potential personality profiling or psychometric tests.
Craig Cordle said: “Accountancy and financial services are two of Pure’s key specialisms and we are keen to help develop and support the region’s up-and-coming talent in these areas. As the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Drawing on more than a decade of experience in placing accountancy candidates, both in house and in public practice, we were able to provide some top tips on how to make a winning first impression when competing for jobs in this sector.”
For the fifth consecutive year, Freebridge Community Housing employees took part in a highly successful Week of Wellbeing.
The week, which is designed to promote and encourage wellbeing, saw Freebridge employees from across the company take part in an array of activities with knitting, creative writing, guitar lessons and coaching and mentoring comprising just a small part of the list of events on offer.
The week, which took place from 16th- 20thMay, is designed to promote and support the six strands of wellbeing – Career, Physical, Mental, Social, Economic and Community Wellbeing – for its employee team of over 200 people.
While many of the week’s events were run by Freebridge employees a host of local organisations and businesses, including Paul Johnson Motors, Caffe Nero, King’s Lynn Corn Exchange, Snettisham Park, The Maltings Q Club, Strikes and Planet Zoom also lent their support.
Local businesses generously donated prizes for a charity fundraising raffle. Proceeds will be going to East Anglian Air Ambulance, Macmillan Cancer Information and Support Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and King’s Lynn Samaritans, who are all Freebridge chosen charities for 2016.
Michelle Gant, Director of Engagement at Freebridge, said: “At Freebridge we are committed to improving the wellbeing of our staff. This week affords employees the opportunity to learn new skills that we hope will have a positive impact in both their work and personal lives.
“It is our belief that by looking after the wellbeing of our workforce we can provide a better service for all our tenants, who remain at the heart of everything we do at Freebridge.
“The support that has been offered by local businesses has been greatly appreciated, many of the activities offered would not be possible without their efforts.”
Whether it’s the first time, or the 100themployee survey that you have put in place, sometimes the hardest team to convince is the senior management team. TheBest Employer Eastern Region Surveyhas been designed to put you in control – you can decide to use the standard questionnaire or choose to customise the survey to suit your business. However, you may find yourself facing barriers. Here are three tips to help handle those objections:
1. Surveys are useless. Nothing was ever done with the previous results so why bother?
If you have done a feedback survey in the past, then really push the results of the last one. Find the nuggets that came from the previous time that you asked the team and show how they can help add colour to a strategy at the same time as empowering employee feedback. These demonstrable areas, coupled with projected improvement figures might be enough.
2.Our teams won’t do it. They won’t believe that it will be anonymous.
Naturally some employees may be dubious. Assure them of the anonymity of the survey as much as possible and share how you are going to group the results -it is only sometimes necessary to understand how different demographic groups perceive the organisation never individually. When communicating the results however ensure that any written comments do not identify the employee – monitor and edit.
3. Most of the line managers don’t believe in it so why should their teams?
One of the biggest threats to the success of a survey is that the direct manager does not support it. This can be that they were not even aware of the survey or have been told it is too long and complicated. Walk through the survey with them. Take the time to share with your department leads the importance of the survey and what it will mean to the organisation. Make them engagement champions, re enforcing the message that by actively encouraging employee participation helps to create a better more effective place to work.
How can Best Employers Eastern Region help your business?
The Best Employers Eastern Region Survey is ideal for the understanding, interpretation, management and development of your organisation’s Culture, Values and Employee Engagement. It provides a reliable and accurate benchmark for future decision making and action planning, and is designed to help deliver strategic and long term organisational change.
Norse Commercial Services has achieved the Gold Award in the 2016 Occupational Health and Safety Awards.
The company won the Gold Award in the ‘Achievement Awards’ category, at the prestigious annual scheme run by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).
The awards, marking achievement at merit, bronze, silver and gold levels, are non-competitive and are based on the organisation’s individual occupational health and safety performance, assessed against the judging criteria.
Entrants must provide evidence of a good health and safety management system by answering key performance questions and supporting the answers with a concise portfolio of relevant documentation.
Simon Toseland, Head of Health and Safety at Norse said: “At Norse health and safety is firmly embedded in our employment and work place ethos, and in our practices and procedures. It is one of the reasons why the company boasts a 97% retention rate amongst our 8,000-plus staff across the UK.”
“To be awarded RoSPA GOLD with Norse has got to be one of my proudest achievements to date. It was a real team effort and testament to the progress made on our health and safety journey.”
The scheme is open to businesses and organisations of all types and sizes from across the UK and overseas. Judges consider entrants’ overarching occupational health and safety management systems, including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement.
Julia Small, RoSPA’s head of awards and events, said: “To win an award at such a highly-regarded event as the RoSPA Awards is a great achievement for our winners. It recognises their commitment to maintaining an excellent health and safety record and raises the bar for other organisations to aspire to. We offer them our congratulations.”
Norse will be presented with the award during a ceremony at the ExCeL, London, on June 21, 2016. Winners receive a framed certificate and are entitled to use the award logo on their organisation’s letterhead and website and to fly the RoSPA Awards flag.
The Naked Element team have been busy recently! On Wednesday we went to a networking evening with a difference and the following day we attended the swanky Norfolk Chamber Anniversary event.
The networking evening included food (as you might expect) and meeting new people, but it also included a spectacular view of Norwich, not seen by many.
TheThrive networkingevent was held in the Narthex of theCatholic Cathedral of St John the Baptist. Our evening began with a glass of Grapefruit ale fromSt Peter’s Brewery(the taste of the fruit was evident but not overpowering) then a walk to the top of the tower. Although it was a grey, and slightly rainy, day the view was still amazing. We also got to see the inside of the cathedral from the rafters which was spectacular in itself.
After taking 200 or so steps up (and then down again) we were treated to food and more beer tasting courtesy of theThirst Consultants. I got to try local ales including Moongazer, Humpty Dumpty, St Andrews Brewhouse, Panther and Lacons. Sommelier Cheryl Cade took us through how to taste a beer like a pro and what to look out for when trying new drinks. After a few more tasters and talking it was time to stumble home, hopefully avoiding a fuzzy head the next day at work!
The Norfolk Chamber Anniversary event was held insideNorwich Castle, a venue many of us hadn’t been to since we were children. Wine flowed and delicious food was served as councillors spoke about the success of theNorfolk Chamberand of the region in general. The main hall of the castle was full of local business man and women and the atmosphere was buzzing! It was a privilege to have had two interesting evenings in two of the city’s finest historical buildings in just one week.
Naked Element are looking for a new apprentice to help with our company administration.
The successful candidate will be involved in the following areas;
Company administration – learning how to run a company, including keeping up with legislation, wages, income tax returns, VAT returns, invoicing, other administration (including social media and marketing)
Project Management – learning how to review projects daily and liaise with clients and the internal development team
The role will include client interaction and networking and will require the candidate to be reasonably flexible with respect to the times of day they can work. Within the 3 to 6 months, the candidate will also be trained in sales and shown how to identify and contact clients. There will be an element of ‘warm’ calling as part of the role.
Confidentiality is a crucial aspect of any employment relationship, in relation to both junior and senior employees. In today’s business market as employees are more mobile and stay with companies for shorter periods of time, it is more important than ever for businesses to protect their confidential information from being exploited by competitors.
The need to protect confidential information commences even prior to the start of the employment relationship, with increasing numbers of businesses considering non-disclosure agreements when seeking to recruit senior staff from competitor businesses, or engage individuals on a consultancy basis.
During the employment relationship it is crucial that the information relating to employees themselves is monitored and processed properly in line with the Data Protection Act 1998, with changes afoot by the introduction of a new EU Directive this summer. Confidentiality and data protection principles can also impact references in terms of the drafting of them and dealing with them orally when requested by a new employer.
Following termination of employment, for whatever reason, businesses need to ensure that their confidential information remains confidential, and the changing nature of how individuals do business, in particular in relation to the challenges posed by social media, mean that businesses need to be sure to evolve constantly in order to protect themselves. Businesses should consider Settlement Agreements and Restrictive Covenants, but also consider utilising procedures such as garden leave to ensure that they retain control over an employee whilst keeping them out of the marketplace during a period of re-establishment.
For more information on the above, join us at the HR Forum on Wednesday 22 June 2016 to hear from our speakers Ross Strowger, Jessica Piper and James Tarling of Ashtons Legal.