Dialogue In this edition: Winter 2015/16 • Vertas Making the Difference Awards • Our Charity of the Year • Exchequer completion of our very first staff survey, the Foreword finalisation of nominations for our first staff • Your Voice - The Results awards, the launch of Dialogue Monthly and • Round The Table Sessions Welcome to the winter two successful ‘Round the Table sessions 2015/16 edition of with our colleagues in the Southern and • HSQE Update Dialogue. What a Northern regions. • A New Form Of Communication year it’s been! The We look forward to further improving on the last 12 months • Day in the life of... Groundsmen ways in which we keep you up to date with have been both in the South challenging and all company news and developments and exciting in equal I would encourage you to let us know how • Our Partners - Accent Fresh this is currently working for you and how measure and I am • IEM Business Update extremely pleased with 100 words you would prefer to be communicated with. the progress we have made as a company in • Compliments of the Quarter I hope you enjoy reading this edition and we such a short space of time. welcome any feedback you may have. • The New Look Energy Services This past year we have put some heavy • Vive Roll Out Continues focus on improving our communication • Events Corner with you as colleagues in the field. Since the Ian Surtees last edition of Dialogue we have seen the Group Managing Director • New Business Won

Vertas Making the Difference Awards

We can now reveal the shortlisted nominees for our very first Vertas: Making the Difference Staff Awards.

Thank you to all those who got involved in the process; we had over 140 nominations across the nine categories. A massive congratulations to all those who were nominated.

Read inside for a full list of the shortlisted nominees…

DIALOGUE WINTER 2015/16 Your Staff Award Nominees

The organisation of our very first Staff Awards There are countless members of staff across is now in full flow. The awards will focus on our the organisation who consistently show staff and will allow the opportunity for us to dedication to their role in a variety of ways; truly recognise our workforce and celebrate whether through great customer service, service excellence. innovation or working hard as a team.

David Clarke Employee of the Year Head of Kitchen at Mildenhall College Our staff are our primary asset in delivering Charlotte Pryke service excellence - this award is designed to Contract Manager (West) recognise the significant contribution that an individual has made to Vertas, its clients Stella Ray and customers. Head of Kitchen at St Benet’s Primary School

Gorseland Primary School Team of the Year Catering team Teams that have demonstrably gone the extra Howard Middle School mile to improve the way they work, for example; Catering team to increase client satisfaction or deliver improve service standards. Stour Valley Community School Catering team

Graphic Design Team Innovation Saxon House Nick Wellings Without innovation we will never move forward. Recognising the vital importance that Office Manager at Endeavour House innovative ideas and creativity play in Vertas, the Lee Johns innovations can be product or service based. Cleaning Manager at Endeavour House

Chrissy Studd Going the Extra Mile Head of Kitchen at Gorseland Primary School Mahani Abdool Rahim This award recognises an individual who has gone above and beyond in the course of their Hospitality Supervisor for Caraway work to provide service excellence or support Sue Sturman to colleagues. Campus Manager at Benjamin Britten High School

Doug Carson Customer 1st Award Groundsman (West) Customers are our driving force. This award Emma Smith recognises a member of our Vertas team that Head of Kitchen at Helmingham Primary School has provided exceptional customer and / or client service over a sustained period of time and who Tracy Aldous has demonstrated a ‘customer first’ culture. Head of Kitchen at Maidstone Infant School

DIALOGUE WINTER 2015/16 Corinne Barker Colleagues Champion Catering Manager at Suffolk One Mandy Payne This award recognises a Vertas employee who Relief Head of Kitchen (North) has consistently supported work colleagues and is always there to help others. Wendy Codd Head of Kitchen at Howard Middle School

Jo-Ann Porter Inspiring Leaders Compliance Manager Liz Hughes This award recognises our Inspiring leaders who Account Manager for Cleaning Services (West) develop and motivate their teams to deliver service excellence, in their chosen speciality. Trudi McCartney Contract Manager (South)

Danny Barnes Specialist of the Year Graphic Designer Lee Johns This award seeks to reward and recognise our service specialists who innovate and develop Cleaning Manager at Endeavour House their area of expertise for the benefit of Vertas, Tina Sharpe its clients and customers. Cleaning Contract Supervisor (West)

Bridget Gibson Lifetime Achievement Operations Support Administrator Maureen Chapman This accolade is to recognise a member of our Head of Kitchen at team who has consistently strived to develop their service area, their team and add value to Sir Robert Hitcham’s Primary School the organisation in its many guises. Rosie Gentile Head of Kitchen at Westbourne

You may be aware that ten of our colleagues From 1st February 2016 IEM and Easilife will are soon to be taking part in ‘Only the Brave’ the first of the group companies to go live - a muddy charity run and assault course in with Exchequer. From 1st April 2016 Vertas Elveden on Sunday 20th March. and Verse will go live.

Details regarding sponsorship for this event Exchequer will be replacing Oracle and X365 among other activities in the year will be will be replacing P2P, on 31st March 2016 detailed in the upcoming editions of Dialogue access to Oracle will be removed. and Dialogue Monthly. X365 is an application that can be used on tablets and desktops and will be rolled out to all areas of the business for raising and authorising purchase orders, approving Our charity of the year Exchequer invoices and viewing financial reports. Vertas trainers have been nominated by the Over the next few months Vertas will be We look forward to launching our support for Regional Heads of Services and they will be launching a brand new finance system, the East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) on the organising training sessions with their groups Exchequer. This system will replace our awards night and hope to raise plenty of funds over the next few months. over the coming year for this amazing charity. current Oracle system and will bring many improvements to financial processes at Vertas.

DIALOGUE WINTER 2015/16 Your Voice – The Results

We had a great response rate of 35% for our first ‘Your Voice’ staff survey and received some valuable comments and insight into what matters to you.

This survey will run annually and we are currently analysing the full set of results to best inform our way forward.

In summary our two best scoring questions were: The way forward

Those areas that we can improve on are development and managers to act on • Stronger focus on appraisals and launch personal development and communication requests for support and training of a simpler appraisal form between staff and managers. We can already • Managers to feedback training • Monthly e-Newsletters to managers on announce some developments that will requirements to HSQE and training Business, HSQE, HR updates and more to support these: needs analysis will be conducted to set be cascaded to teams by managers up necessary sessions • Dialogue will continue quarterly giving ‘Vertas is dedicated to my personal • HR is recruiting for a Learning and valuable insight into corporate news, development’: 12% of those filling out the Development Manager to support events and company developments survey chose ‘Never’ training across the business • Text Local – increase in information to • HSQE has recruited for a Compliance you via text message With this in mind please find below some Training Manager. • Round the Table Sessions continue for actions which will support you in your personal each region development going forward: ‘Communication between managers and • Annual Staff Survey • New appraisal form to be rolled out for employees is good at Vertas’: 11% of those • Improved Intranet and Website presence 2016/2017 and focused on Business filling out the survey chose ‘Never’ • Regular updates through Twitter and Critical Performance Measures and Linkedin With this in mind we’ve detailed some actions personal development • New smart phones supplied to senior which will support better communication • Employees to own their personal operators between you and managers going forward:

Round the table sessions

Last edition we told you about our Below are just a few of the actions that have We have had some great feedback on these Round the Table sessions. come out of these sessions that we are sessions, Stella Ray, Head of Kitchen at St We are glad to say that we working on: Benet’s Catholic Primary, said: have since held two sessions, • Key contacts sheet for Support Office the Southern region in Thank you very much for inviting October and Northern and Operational staff region in December. We • Parent Surveys will be conducted me to the Round the Table session. are holding a session throughout next year for our school It was very interesting to see Head for the Western region catering service Office in reality, and to put faces • We are reviewing the ‘ease of use’ on our and Verse colleagues in to names. As a Head of Kitchen in March 2016. loyalty card with the provider • We will be providing Vertas company a small primary school, I now feel These sessions have financial information in monthly more part of the company as a again given some valuable e-newsletters whole, and not so much of a tiny insight into areas that we • We are reviewing the options of leasing fish in a big sea! Thank you also for can improve on along with equipment, in particular for Grounds. positive messages around what the very tasty lunch. works well already.

DIALOGUE WINTER 2015/16 If you do not have a corporate email address HSQE Update - Safe Driving but would like to receive these e-newsletters to a personal email, please contact Whether driving at work or home we have 7. Stay within the speed limit. [email protected]. brought together 10 simple steps you can 8. Take regular breaks when on long journeys, These updates will be sent out on the last take to help make your driving experience stay refreshed and alert. safer for you, your passengers, other road Wednesday of every month, managers are 9. Do not use mobile phones or other devices users and pedestrians. encouraged to share these valuable updates whilst driving. with their staff. 1. Ensure your vehicle is regularly 10. Be prepared, at some point we all maintained / serviced. experience car breakdowns; take clothing 2. Plan your journey; let others know suitable for the weather, a bottle of water your plans. and snack, and make sure you have recovery / emergency contact details easily 3. Check weather conditions, and take to hand. appropriate action (i.e. in the hot weather; plan to take breaks, take plenty of water with If you have any questions related to safe driving you. In the snow, avoid country lanes; roads for business or any other health or safety that may not be gritted and other road users concerns, please contact our HSQE Team at are sparse). [email protected] 4. Ensure you are physically fit to drive, be mindful of any medication you may be taking (temporary or permanent) and that A New Form of you are free of any undue influence of alcohol and/or substance misuse. Communication 5. Carry out pre-use vehicle checks before each journey, i.e. check tyre pressure, oil We are glad to announce that we have now levels, exhaust, breaks, lights and mirrors. launched Dialogue Monthly – our first ever e-newsletter which will be sent to all staff via 6. Do not carry too much weight; if email detailing corporate updates on news, unsure of weight restrictions check the HSQE, HR and other business developments. manufacturer’s guidelines.

Day in the Life... Groundsmen in the South

The southern area grounds team based MA: This sort maintenance work takes That’s very encouraging… but is it all in the depot at Northgate High School is place for about nine months of the year; rosy? What parts of the job can provide made up of Mark Tillson, Peter Runacres it involves us keeping all weather surfaces difficulty? and Mark Adams and with 45 years for schools up to scratch, whether that be collective grounds experience they look a javelin runway or a hockey pitch. In the MT: Well the British weather can be after over 40 sites in the southern part of summer we also operate large ride-on far from ‘rosy’, this can provide many Suffolk. machinery to maintain fields and smaller difficulties, the rain, wind, cold, but we’re equipment for maintaining the parameters. used to it. Thanks for taking the time out to chat, so where do you guys tend to work? Sounds like a busy year… what do you What do you like to get up to in your particularly enjoy about your role as a spare time? MT: As a team, we look after about 42 Groundsman? sites in this part of the county, including MT: Gardening! Ipswich and Kesgrave. We look after large MT: We like working outside, that’s what I like reading and taking out my road establishments such as Northgate High it comes down to. The work we do is MA: bike exploring the countryside. School – where we are based, Copleston so varied and gets us out into the great High and Ipswich Academy outdoors, no two days are the same. PR: I’ve just started keeping chickens which is keeping me busy! What’s a typical day for you when coming PR: I particularly like working in this part to work? of Suffolk, my team are great and very Thank you all. It’s been a pleasure positive towards their work, whenever chatting to you. PR: Every day is different, the work we do colleagues come and work with us they very much depends on the season; for are surprised at how quickly the day goes example today we have loaded up the – I can only assume it is because they’re machines with marker paint and have been enjoying themselves! repainting the football pitches at Northgate High. MA: I feel taking pride in your work makes a huge difference, there is nothing better MT: Other times of the year we will get than having a client, pupil, teacher or the grass mowers and strimmers out and colleague approach you to thank you and spend a lot of our time taking care of the tell you what you have done looks great. greenery on our sites, grass cutting and hedge pruning amongst many other things to keep sites looking their best. From left to right: Marks Adams, Mark Tilson, Peter Runacres

DIALOGUE WINTER 2015/16 Our Partners

Our sustainability value is always heavily Promoting and increasing effect on the local job installed to reduce our energy costs and considered when choosing our suppliers; we market; we have 82 employees. We have a low increase efficiency want to begin giving you an insight into who staff turnover and internal promotion is always • Waste food from preparation room given our supply partners are, what they do and how encouraged to grow people within the company. for cattle feed we work with them in consistently providing an • Vehicle routing software is used to track excellent service to our clients. Long term supplier / grower relationships have our vehicles to improve our carbon been well established meaning we can offer footprint by reducing excess mileage Introducing Accent Fresh… consistent supply of products with confidence • because our suppliers know us so well. • We backhaul products from suppliers where possible to save carbon footprint. Full traceability is offered on our products • We have a service program in place for because we use local suppliers rather than Fact: A total of 83,700 individual sprouts our fleet of vehicles to minimise the effect sourcing from the market. were delivered to Vertas in December for the of omissions into the environment. Christmas meals in our catering sites. How we do our bit to champion Vertas’ • The fabric of the building was constructed sustainability value… with rock wool, which is a high efficiency insulation product. Locally sourced produce is key to the ethos • All our deliveries are made in cardboard • Automatic doors have been installed on all of our company. We are very fortunate to boxes and recycled the cold stores to reduce temperature loss. be located in , the heart of a great • LED lighting recently installed in our agricultural growing area, and source products warehouse has reduced our energy from on our doorstep, and the surrounding consumption. The tubes used in this type counties of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire too. of lighting have a 10 year life (as opposed to a 2 year life of a standard tube). Promoting and keeping money within the local This is turn also reduces our waste too economy is key to our philosophy. • Solar panels have recently been

IEM Business Update Compliment of

It has been very much business as usual for IEM since its acquisition by the Vertas Group. The IEM team the Quarter are working hard to deliver the very highest level of service to our customers as well as familiarising themselves with new colleagues and processes. Our kitchen team over at Gorseland Primary School in Ipswich have cause for celebration, A massive well done to our Engineer, Jason Cole, who has successfully completed his commercial with a fantastic testimonial from the school… catering gas course in December and will be awaiting final assessment by Gas Safe following submission of his portfolio of work. “I just wanted to say how thrilled we are with the way lunches are working now. The introduction of Kay Hope and Sarah Curtis, who previously sat within the Asset Management Team have now moved Pick & Mix has been a huge hit with our children over to IEM from Beacon House and are settling in well with the team. and their parents, the daily dinner numbers are evidence of this. Children can be seen thoroughly The new Catersafe insurance schemes for schools and the public sector have now been rolled out. More enjoying their lunchtime experience and are more information can be found on the front page of the Intranet alongside details of the commission available alert during lessons in the afternoon, following a with relation to the Catersafe schemes. healthy lunch.

IEM will support some major projects due to be undertaken this year including Academy, “Implementation of a new hot dinner menu Blackbourne, Moreton Hall and . has also been popular and we have been impressed with the way Eats has worked with us to introduce a new menu, which allows us to Want to know more about what promote a healthier way of eating in school. The IEM can offer? implementation of the use of a lovely new salad Call Frank or Sharon: bar is giving children independence to self-serve 01473 233676 but also to try exciting new foods.

Email: “Could you please pass on my grateful thanks [email protected] to Trudi McCartney for all of her hard work and Frank Dearle Sharon Payne enthusiasm in helping us achieve our vision of a ‘healthy’ school and an increase in daily dinner numbers. In addition, our thanks must also go to the entire kitchen team who work tirelessly to make sure that every lunchtime is a success.

“They are so friendly, approachable and happy to help in any way they can, it’s a pleasure to work with them all.” William Allinson Jason Cole Steve Hirst Alan Wilson

DIALOGUE WINTER 2015/16 Introducing the new look Energy Services

Hi Lisa, thank you for supplier management and basically anything representing Vertas as a whole and not just the taking the time to the customer needs help with relating to their Energy Team. In addition to this, each member chat with us. It’s energy requirements. of the team manages a supply contract: great to have Andrew – water; Mark – Electricity; Tim – Gas; you on board, Q. So, who’s in your team and what do they do? and Danie – Oil and Biomass. We also each could you give have 2 or 3 active projects we are working on us an idea of at any one time. For example, we are currently where you’ve working towards getting Vertas’ ISO 50001 come from and accreditation – Energy Management. This is a what you’ll be doing big piece of work which overlaps the ISO 9001 at Vertas? and ISO 14001 accreditations we already hold and it will affect everyone at Vertas in some I’m excited to be here, thank you. Well, I way or another, so please look out for this… have come from Circle Housing, where I was a Procurement Category Manager, Q. Great to see the new team raring to go.. looking after the group spend in the Facilities Now what can our colleagues do if they Management and Utilities areas. This involved think their clients are in need of energy Strategic business plans and discussions consultancy? around their implementations, so managing what needed to happen in those areas, how Back Row (Left to Right): At the moment, please let me or a member of we could make it happen and then how Andrew Bellamy; Mark Dale; Tim Clemons the team know and we will follow it up. to ensure it continued successfully. This We are however working on the energy pages included tendering, supplier management, Front Row (Left to Right): on the intranet and website. Once these are contract management, category reporting, Lisa Galbraith; Danie Sually fully up and running there will be a fountain of information for staff and customers, as well as performance management and more. The most recent change since I joined Vertas, other ways to make contact. is the team are more customer focussed. Q. Wow, sounds busy! Could you sum up what Each member of the team has a group of the energy team do in a nutshell? If you would like to ask more around our customers they are responsible for in their current projects or have any queries or In a nutshell, the energy team offer a fully entirety, from contracts to issue resolution, suggestions, we would be happy to hear from managed energy consultancy service. reporting and generally maintaining a high you. Please do drop us a line, pick up the This includes the purchasing and the day to level of customer service, fulfilling the needs of phone or even come over and have a chat. day management of these supplies (electricity, each specific customer. This will also include, We are always keen to help. gas, oil, biomass fuels and water). The day to prior to going to visit our customers, talking to day management includes bill validation (are other Vertas service areas to determine the they billing correctly and if not, dealing with customers current situation and any issues Email me at the issue with the supplier), leak detection, they may be experiencing so they can walk in [email protected]

Vive Rollout Continues... New Business Won

The rollout of our new secondary school catering brand – ‘Vive’ is Our colleagues in the Business Development team have been busy gaining pace with six current sites and four new sites being rebranded winning new business and bringing new and exciting contracts to Vertas. since the new year. Three of our recent wins have supported our growth plan in surrounding The sites which will see this change; alongside many improvements in counties, including Essex and Norfolk. the menu offer and branding, are: We have recently won: Newly won sites to be Vive’d Southend Pier A catering contract worth over £1m on the prestigious Southend Hewett Academy seafront, an extension of our excellent service offer already at the Civic Centre in the town. Our current sites being Vive’d Hewett Academy Stowmarket High East Bergholt High Academy A catering contract in Norfolk worth approximately £400k Framlingham Earl County Upper Hobart High, Loddon Junior and Infants Schools Benjamin Britten High Catering contracts in Norfolk worth over £800k St Benedict’s

DIALOGUE WINTER 2015/16 Events Corner

We have been busy since our last edition with Open House – official opening of Winner of the tomato competition various events taking place across the county; Beacon House whether charitable, promotional or seasonal; Brady Copeman from Beccles Primary these events have been carefully planned to A massive thank you to all those involved in Academy won our competition to name the promote the great work our Vertas employees making the Open House event at Beacon tomato character in our ‘eats’ family. carry out. House such a success. We warmly welcomed approximately 200 clients, suppliers, Brady came up with the name Bella, he said: Big Curry – supporting ABF The stakeholders and staff with excellent first class Bella – named after Bella Rosa, a variety of Soldiers’ Charity catering, a stunning new office space and round tomato. Bouncy Bella loves to amaze opportunity to network with our partners. A successful Big Curry event was held at and amuse everyone with her fun food facts Endeavour House (EH), home of Suffolk and jokes. County Council at the end of October. We visited Brady as a surprise in his school The charity event was organised by the EH assembly and presented him with a family trip team and they worked tirelessly to cook an to the cinema, a goody bag and a lifesize Bella array of curries and Indian snacks for sale with the Tomato cut out! proceeds going to ABF The Soldiers’ Charity.

The charity is set up to support soldiers who risk everything to help look after their country; providing financial assistance when they are in real need.

We raised an amazing £789.17 for the charity, thank you to all who Christmas School Meals – support at the were involved. busiest time of the year The Christmas School Meals take a lot of planning and hard work to ensure they go off without a hitch. The senior leadership team (SLT) understands the amount of work involved with serving more children than usual, so to help support our kitchens; the members of SLT and other senior colleagues went into schools across the county to help cook, serve and clean, all with a smile.

The lunches were big success and the SLT would like to thank all kitchen staff who happily took them on board for the shift – they had a fantastic time. Keep up the good work!

Would you like to be featured in the next issue? Contact [email protected]

We welcome your feedback

If you have ideas for our next issue in April 2016 contact Lloyd Jones with your feedback. 01473 260936 | 07802 867358 [email protected]

DIALOGUE SUMMER 2015