Getting Off to a Good Start

Firstly, I’d like to say a couple of “thank-you’s”. Thanks to Phil Sarthou for taking up the reins last week and sharing with us your inspiring story. Your passion and enthusiasm shone through, and it’s great to have you on board helping to drive our Childcare business. If you missed Phil’s blog, you could read it here.

I would also like to thank all involved in dealing with the ongoing Kronos issue, working through manual timecards, and resolving queries to minimise any disruption to colleagues. I know how much work this has taken so many people, through a situation completely out of our control, and just want to recognise and thank all involved. Kronos isn’t back up and running yet, but we’re hopeful that it will be shortly.

 

Covid measures 

The announcement yesterday that in England Plan B Covid measures will end from next Thursday was welcome news and a good start to 2022. We will respond to the changes appropriately, moving back to pre-plan B measures that were in place before 13th December.

Colleagues within trading sites would have been advised of the reintroduction later this month of the policies we had in place at that time from your own trading group communications; whilst colleague in support offices would have been advised by email yesterday afternoon.

If you have any concerns over these changes, please contact your line manager in the first instance. I am hopeful that due to the continued success of the booster and overall vaccination programme, this is a positive step enabling the country to move forward during 2022.

 

GroceryAid Gold Award

I was delighted to hear earlier this week that the Society was awarded Gold in the GroceryAid awards, which is fantastic news. This achievement builds on our previous Silver award in 2020 and recognises our strong partnership with GroceryAid, which help provide invaluable services for colleagues. You may have seen the article on Monday giving an example of the support they provide, click here.

Our partnership with GroceryAid is driven by Rebekah Smallwood, and so I would like to thank Beki for the brilliant work you do in this area. For more information about the support available from GroceryAid, click here.

 

A good start for Travel and Childcare

Not only have we had success with awards, but both Childcare and Travel have made the most of the new year. 

Following the relaxation of travel restrictions, our Travel business had an immediate boost in bookings with the highest sales since pre-pandemic with sales up more than 105% against the same period the previous week. Half of these bookings are for summer ’22 departures, and almost a third for imminent winter breaks.  It’s great to see a return in consumer confidence, and I am especially pleased for our dedicated and hardworking Travel colleagues who deserve the success they are enjoying right now.

I’d also like to say a big well done to Louise Roughton and team Derby for their BBC Radio Notts interview and to Teresa Bailey-Green and team Beccles for their ITV news coverage, as well as Mark Mictchell who appeared on ITN news, all shouting about our brilliant travel business, well done.

Not stopping there, this week, Travel also published the first edition of their travel magazine for members, which is fantastic. It’s full of inspiration, expert tips and deals. You can check it out here and remember you still have time to take advantage of the enhanced travel discount of up to £500 off, which is available until the end of February. For more information, click here.

 (Left) Team Hounslow celebrating their open day on Saturday, (Right) Team Sutton all ready to open their doors

(Front – Monica Jandu (Room Manager), Left to right – Kim Pearson (Nursery Manager), Susan Dingle (Preschool Room Manager), Maria Darby (Third in Charge) and Lydia Hurley (Early Years Assistant))

Our Childcare team got off to a good start too, with a successful estate-wide open day last Saturday.  On the big day, colleagues showed up in true Childcare fashion, with lots of enthusiasm and excitement to showcase their nurseries and welcomed over 400 families into our nurseries, with 116 families going on to book a place on the day, and many more sending in their applications throughout the week.  Well done everyone.

 

Celebrating Long Service – Steph Harding

Today, I was honoured to attend the celebrations of a long-serving colleague, Steph Harding.  Steph has been with us for an incredible 45 years, all of which has been in our Bath Road food store.  It was a pleasure to attend in person and say well done and congratulate Steph for all her hard work and dedication, and to hear some of Steph’s stories from over the years.  

 

Pulse Survey 

Finally, with the latest pulse survey open until the end of the week, I encourage you all to take part and let us know your views. All you need to do is log in via Colleagues Connect, and the survey link will be shown in your notifications.

As I have mentioned before, to give us a more rounded view, we need as many colleagues as possible to take part, so please share this with your fellow teams. All entries are anonymous, and if you take part, you have a chance to win one of five £20 Your Co-op Vouchers. To find out more, click here.

 

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