Friday 14th December 2012 Issue 6

STAFF NEWSLETTER

Owen Road Services have signed up to RHA Legal Services with 195 vehicles and were ex-LawPlan members.

RHA Legal Services has exceeded its income budget for October and November by £20K. This is excellent news.

Legal Services

Commercial Update Smartanalysis had its highest income for one single month in November which was £41K. We also

broke the 1 million records analysed to date for our digital records in November.

Top 100 company Clipper Logistics join the RHA, bringing the total to 81 out of Top 100 companies that are members of the RHA.

Training Prospectus for 2013 has now been published.

Gross Written Premium (GWP) for RHA Insure over £500K, with 326 vehicles now insured across 64 members.

We have introduced a jobs board listing for members on the RHA website via the services tab. Please take time to have a look.

Merry Christmas

major refurbishment at Peterborough, which will mean better utilisation of space, decent catering facilities for training courses as well as more capacity in the training rooms. We will also progress the work that will produce a much improved IT system for RHA – something that we all know is long overdue.

Our position is now good enough to allow us to review salaries, and every member of staff will be advised what that means to them individually next week, but in the meantime, I am pleased to advise you that the RHA’s offices will be closed on 24th December, so we will finish for the Christmas and New Year break at 4pm on Friday, 21st. Once again, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all staff.

In the three years since I took on the role of Chief Executive there have been many challenges and many changes, but the RHA is now in very good shape despite the worst recession in living memory and 2012 is ending on a high, with a good result for the year now certain.

The difficulties that our members face have made our role all the more important, and this is a message that we will be promoting loud and clear in future. We want an industry that is profitable, compliant and sustainable: RHA membership can help every member large or small to achieve that, and that is why we are putting extra resources into recruitment. 2013 will see a

roles which will help give them a better understanding of other departments. This is something which we were already looking to explore and will be a future development programme.

5. More team meetings plus an increase in discussions relating to changes or prior to a new product launch. Team meetings/information exchange are part of the communication plan and will be rolled out at the start of 2013.

6. Picnic benches/summer seating area for outside. Already at Weybridge and Edinburgh, so we are happy to provide for other sites.

7. Social activities e.g. team sports, treasure hunt, car boot sales, Alton Towers trip subsidised by RHA. If we receive the demand from staff we are willing to explore this suggestion and make a moderate contribution.

8. Find a job for drivers, similar to find a load etc. on the website. We have just introduced this idea on the RHA website (see pg 1).

9. RHA lottery syndicate where money could be deducted from

The first 15 suggestions which have been received through the staff suggestion scheme currently on trial at Peterborough were discussed at the last Board of Management meeting on 11th December. Responses are as follows:

1. Introduce a scheme to offer additional annual leave days for employees that take less than 5 days sick to be added to the following leave year. RHA currently offers an excellent holiday entitlement which is more than the statutory requirements. We do not want to make any link between sickness and annual leave.

2. ‘Holiday trading’ to give employees the option to buy or sell holidays. This is something we do not wish to explore for similar reasons to point 1.

3. Flexi time tailored to each department to cover busy periods/eliminate less productive working in quieter times. We will look to explore this idea, although it may be difficult to apply consistently across all staff.

4. Staff having a chance to rotate

Staff Suggestions

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salary. Happy for individuals to set up a lottery syndicate but the money would not be deducted from salary.

10. Corporate gym membership for staff. If we have demand we are willing to explore, please email Amy Forster if you are interested.

11. Bring a pet to work day. This is something we are not prepared to agree to due to allergies etc.

12. Early morning aerobics to motivate and energise employees for the day. We are happy for individuals to set something like this up before work in their own time if they wish.

13. Subsidised events e.g. ice skating, bowling etc. See answer 7.

14. Look into using ESPO for stationery, office equipment and IT items to provide cost savings. We will investigate to see if we are entitled to participate with this scheme.

15. Staff vending machine. We will explore this option once the ground floor refurbishments have been completed at Peterborough and see if it is feasible in other offices.

by Paul Wiscombe on the IT Project as this will continue to progress as planned. Please remember to check the intranet for the latest project news and weekly update.

Also at the start of the new year we will be recruiting for an E-Communications Assistant who will support Hong Cameron (Webmaster) and will make an excellent addition to the IT team.

After 17 years Danny Brien (IT Manager) has decided to leave the RHA at the end of December. We wish Danny good luck for the future and thank him for his continued hard work over the years.

The recruitment process to fill the IT Manager role will commence at the start of 2013.

In the meantime this should not affect the work currently being undertaken

IT Department and Project

On the 1st November the challenge was set to see who could grow the best moustache by the end of November to support Movember. The aim of Movember is to raise vital funds and awareness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and testicular cancer. We had 6 Mo Growers who took up the challenge and you can see their fantastic efforts below. As a team they have raised an amazing £308 so far for the charity. Thank you to those who have supported the Mo Growers, Heather Wallace picture right is showing her support as a Mo Sista with a Movember t-shirt.

They have all done fantastically but there can only be one winner! Please email Amy Forster with your vote for the best moustache by the end of December. The winner will be announced in next months issue of the newsletter.

Who Has The Best Mo?

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Pictured from left to right– Rhys Williams, Gary Oakes and Martin Dean

David Scott-Smith Mark Ginnelly John Davis

Staff News Employee of the Year 2012 goes to Nikki Bing (Legal Services Administrator at the Northern Office). Nikki has been presented with the award today (Friday 14th Dec) and hope you will join me in congratulating her on the award.

Well done to Steve Ellis, Bob Auchterlonie, Terry Collins, John Davis, Arnold Monk, Simon West and Joe Colasurdo who have all completed a City and Guilds Level 4 qualification in digital tachographs.

Sadly Janice Wadsworth (Membership Supervisor) was made redundant at the end of November following the restructure within the Membership Recruitment Department.

Stacey Hills has started employment with the RHA as Administration Assistant Trainee within the Southern and Eastern regional team. Stacey will be supporting the regional team and work alongside Sue Parish and Elaine Eaton.

… more than you think

We would like to wish a Happy Birthday to Jackie Young (18th Dec), Bob Auchterlonie (23rd Dec) and Terry Collins (31st Dec).

Also a Happy 30th Birthday to Andrew Sylvester for the 25th December.

Birthdays

Children in Need On the 15th November the Peterborough office did their bit to raise money for Children in Need. Staff were asked to pay £2.00 to come to work in their pyjamas and on the day Naomi Hirst and Caroline Bark were selling crumpets with butter for 50p. There was also a scratch and win sweepstake for a £1.00 which was won by Caroline Bark who received a bottle of wine as the winning prize.

The team managed to raise an excellent £87.78 for the charity. Well done to everyone who supported this event. Pictured right are those who dared come to work in their pyjamas.

Helen DeLandro commenced employment with the RHA at the end of November in the new role of Membership Recruitment Manager. Helen has joined Sally Evans and Alison Eley in the Membership team at the Peterborough office. Helen is responsible for all recruitment of new members into the RHA.

Jason Gregory will be moving from Peterborough to Weybridge at the start of the new year. Jason will be changing roles from Multi-Media Telesales Executive to become the Editorial and Production Assistant. We wish Jason good luck in his new role within the RHA.

Kelly White and Naomi Hirst have also recently moved positions within the Peterborough office. Kelly has moved into Richard Schofield’s team as Haulage Shop and Smartanalysis Sales Advisor, whilst Naomi has taken over Kelly’s previous role as Membership Registrar on a part time basis.

Vacancy Membership Telesales Executive

Location: Peterborough Salary: 17,500 + bonus scheme Hours: Full time, 35 hours per week

Due to the restructure and expansion of the Membership Recruitment team we have a vacancy for a full time Membership Telesales Executive. Applications should be in the form of a CV along with a covering letter. These should be forwarded to Amy Forster. NB This position is being advertised both internal and externally.