IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR…

July in People services can mean but one thing, membership bonus, although not received by all (you have to have been a member for a year to receive the bonus), and although it doesn’t quite match up to the bankers bonuses, it is always a welcome addition to a paypacket.

It does mean however an exceptionally busy day for the centre with the normal high volume of calls on payday increasing hugely, we have handled it well however and hope that people across the group enjoy their well-deserved share of the profits.

Busy pay days aside, this week I wanted to mention the branding initiative we have implemented across the floor here at People Services since we relocated back in December. Each period the retail divisions of our businesses send us their POS posters that we then display in the centre. We keep this as up-to-date as possible and, not only does it serve to brighten up the office, it also highlights why we do what we do. During our stakeholder visits (mentioned in previous blog) we have had only positive comments about the fact that we are showing an awareness about, and taking an interest in, the businesses (who incidentally are also our customers). In addition to this the staff in the centre feel more closely connected to our customers as a result.

In other news we are now beginning to really shape the Somerfield migration project. The project team and myself have started taking trips to Bristol to meet with the Somerfield team and to work out, using the lessons learnt from United, the best possible processes and relationships to ensure a smooth transition. This project will be moving very quickly once it has kicked off and we need to ensure there is maximum visibility on all areas and a robust plan to ensure timely delivery of all objectives.  Watch this space for the regular project updates on this huge and exciting challenge for the centre.

As mentioned in the previous blog we are also ramping up our engagement with the other businesses and this week two of our team members from recruitment visited Burslem to attend the travel tour operation launch. Having a presence at this kind of event indicates to the businesses that not only are we aware of what they do and what is going on in their department, we show an active interest, and we hope that this attitude will be reflected back on us in time until we all have a mutual appreciation and understanding of each others roles.

As you can see it is important for us here in People services to ensure we understand our customers in order for us to form strong working relationships with them. This is reflected in the branding, stakeholder programme and outbound visits amongst other things. We hope that as the centre expands, we will be able to maintain and expand this initiative.

Join us next week for more Somerfield news, and some news on the infamous Matt Chadwick….