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TEMPORARY TIMES

2010 has been a unique

and fascinating year in the

history of A La Carte Recruit-

ment. Its been far more

challenging than 2009 in

terms of client expectations

which ubiquitously in-

crease year on year. How-

ever as this is ultimately for

the benefit of the consumer,

who in turn influences de-mand, we are pleased to

evolve, adapt, offer better

value and improve our flexi-

bility. By doing so we have

prospered from growth of

over 20% whilst much of the

recruitment industry floun-

ders.

Earlier this year the owner-

ship of A La Carte trans-

ferred to that of Nottingham

based recruitment and train-ing company - Staffline

Group PLC. In the last 6

months we have benefitted

significantly from our parent

companys expertise and

advice. It is certainly reas-

suring to know that we can

now call upon other people

for support, rather than

being totally independent

and sometimes a little iso-

lated. This has been par-

ticularly evident in the area

of the Agency Workers Regu-

lations, where Staffline has

undertaken significant

WINTER 2010

This festive period has been

absolutely amazing in terms of

what the whole team has

achieved, breaking several

new records in the process.

The recruitment suite crew -comprising Nicky, Kasia, Lisa

and Angie - interviewed, se-

lected and inducted 948

people in the 5 weeks leading

up to Christmas. This is a

phenomenal amount of new

starters to find in such a short

period of time, with up to 600

workers being prepared weeks

in advance in readiness for

the 7 day exponential rise in

orders. The team worked 6

days a week and even hired

the church next door in orderto accommodate the numbers

applying. Nicky refrained from

delivering the inductions from

the pulpit, but I dare say we

took the opportunity to say a

few prayers.

The account managers and

coordinators have been bril-

liant, digging deep, working

long shifts, 7 days a week

since the beginning of Decem-

ber. No matter what our cus-

tomers asked of them, theyalways delivered in terms of

both volume and quality.

Sallie, Adriana and Venu in

payroll worked without a break

and processed a new record of

2303 payslips in the week

before Christmas. And finally

lets not forget Salim, Dipak

and his squad of bus drivers

who braved the snow and ice

to deliver people safely to

work on t ime.

Well done to everyone you

have helped to make our 21stChristmas an absolute suc-

cess and another achieve-

ment we can all be proud of.

Thankyou.

Colin Buckley retired in Septem-

ber after 7 years service andnow lives the life of riley, playing

golf every day

Steve Hincks leaves us at the

end of December after 7 years

service to start a new career asa BT engineer.

After 10 years with A La Carte,

Ashley Moulton is now dedicating

himself to his true passion of

working in theatre as set de-

signer, stage crew and special

effects.

We wish Steve, Colin and Ashley

all the very best for the future

and we thank them sincerely for

their hard work, commitment,

loyalty and dedication whilst at A

La Carte Recruitment.

research and is at the forefrontof advising our customers on

how best to deal with the new

laws. Staffline Group is about

10 times larger than A La Carte,

with most of their experience

also being in the food industry,

so we have much to gain in the

future from being in partnership

with one another.

Finally I take this opportunity to

thank everyone who has ever

been associated with A La Carte,past and present, because with-

out your contribution over the

last 20 years, we would not be

where we are todaythe abso-

lute best employment agency in

Leicester.

AGENCY WORKER OFTHE YEAR 2010

Congratulations toPaulene Green

Paulene Green has worked

on a full-time basis for A La

Carte for over 17 years and so

its pretty true to say that sheis by now a core member of

our c hef tea m. She is loved

by all our c lients ac ross

Leicestershire as shes worked

in almost every location dur-

ing her time with us, However

we know that catering man-

agers at Police HQ and Eliza-

be th House will be pa rticularly

pleased that Paulene has

received this a wa rd. She is

also well respected by all of

the catering team and re-

cruitment consultants, asPaulene will always say yes to

any assignment offered,

Co ngratu latio ns Paulene !

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Page 2 TEMPORARY TIMES

We pa id a stag gering 2303 w orkers in just o ne w eek this Christm astime w ow ! That s a

g reat ac hievement ind eed which sma shes all previous rec ords. Rep orts from 2 of the

large st volume users of our Christm as c rew both indep end ent ly said the be st Christ-

mas eve r ! Here s a fun sta tistic for your ima gina tion .... if all these workers got into aline a nd d anc ed a c onga the 2 miles from our Granby Street HQ to Midshire Food s, the

person at t he front wo uld a rrive at the Sausag e Fac to ry be fore the last p erson e ven left

our office! That is one big co nga probably a wo rld rec ord brea ker?

CUSTOMER SERVICE

HELPLINE

If you have any queries, complaints,

compliments, questions, praise

etc ..... you can pass these on to our

customer services team, where a

director will personally deal with anyi s s u e r a i s e d

tel: 0116 2854999 & ask for Robert

WORKERS REGISTRATION SCHEME

The WRS ends au toma tic ally on 30 Ap ril 2011. There is

no sco pe fo r it to be extende d a nd no p rovision within

EU law for a similar sc hem e. We are now c onside ring

how to end the scheme here at A La Carte in a way

tha t is of mo st help to o ur wo rkers. It current ly costs

each person 90 for a useless piece of paper an

utter waste of money which hits EU arrivals in the

po cket, for no goo d reason. In an ide al world we

could choose to c ease the scheme immediately as no

Gove rnment a genc y aud its us for WRS pa rticipation.Only a few customers persist in checking our files for

WRS pa pe rworkpresuma bly be c ause their ow n cus-

tomers havent yet realised its a waste of time and

resources. Any co mme nts wo uld be app reciated .

Employee of the Month Roll of HonourJuly 2010 Nina Frikopa

Novem be r 2010 Dilp AmratOc tob er 2010 Denzil Lopes

AGENCY WORKERS REGULATIONS

A new EU law being introduced in October 2011

means that agency workers will be able to receive

the same benefits in terms of basic pay and con-

ditions as an equivalent permanent employee

after 12 weeks on the same assignment. The

Government will be publishing guidelines in the

early part of 2011 to try to explain how the new

rules should be interpreted. For further informa-tion please contact robertv@alacar te-

recruitment.co.uk

Decem ber 2010 Stefan Rowley

August 2010 Rajesh Tandel Sep tembe r 2010 Emily Nash

EXTRA BANK HOLIDAYS

At present there are 8 permanent bank holidays

in England. The Government has announced

there will be 2 additional bank holidays in the

next 2 years (one in 2011 and another in 2012).

Prince William and Kate Middletons wedding on

29th April 2011 will be the extra bank holiday in

2011 in honour of the Royal Wedding. Similarly

5th June 2012 is the Queens Diamond Jubileeand an extra bank holiday has been confirmed

for that date.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE

CATERING TEAM

Beeline International the

contractor who books all

agency workers for Leicester

City Council - has declared that

A La Carte Recruitment is their

best supplier of temporary chefs and cateringassistants. Well done to Jenny and Rachel who

fought off competition from at least 10 other

agencies to gain this accolade. Also a big

thankyou to the ALC catering workers themselves,

such as Paulene, Bryan, Pritti, Amar, Kevin, Lisa,

Sounir, Phil, Darryl, Curtis, Lynne .... to name but a

few. Congratulations, well done and thank you!!!

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Page 3

t u rk ey con ch i l l ia jamie o l i ver r ec ipeserves4 - 6

Preheat the oven to 180C/ 350F/gas 4. Heat a few lugs of olive oil in a large casserole-typepan on a medium heat. Add the onions, carrot, leek, peppers and chillies, and cook, stirringoccasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add the coriander stalks, cumin and paprika, and cook for another 10 minutes or so, stirring fre-quently until soft and delicious. Sometimes I like to add some honey and white wine vinegar at this point and let it cook for a couple ofminutes. I find this adds a wonderful sheen and enhances the natural sweetness of the vegetables. While thats happening, shred theturkey meat off your carcass and roughly chop it. Add a good pinch of salt and pepper to the pan of vegetables, then add the turkeyand take the pan off the heat. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas or butter beans and stir everything together. Pop it in the hot oven toblip away for 2 hours. Check on it after an hour, and add a splash of water if it looks a bit dry. While thats cooking, make your guaca-mole by blitzing one of your avocados in a food processor with the tomatoes, onion, garlic, chilli and coriander. Use a fork to mash theother avocado in a bowl so its nice and chunky. Taste the mixture in the food processor and add salt and squeezes of lime juice until

the taste is just right for you. Whiz up one more time then tip into the bowl with your chunky avocado and mix together.

Take the chilli out of the oven and scrape all the gnarly bits from the edge of the pan back into the chilli for added flavour. Squeeze insome lime juice, and stir through most of the coriander leaves. Have a taste to check the seasoning then serve with steamed basmatirice or tortillas, and a good dollop of sour cream and guacamole on top. Scatter over your remaining coriander leaves and some finelysliced fresh chilli if you fancy then get everyone to tuck in.

olive oil 2 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped 1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped 1 leek, trimmedand roughly chopped 1 red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and roughlychopped 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 1 fresh green chill i, deseeded and finely chopped a bunch of fresh coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves picked 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 heaped tea-spoon smoked paprika optional: 1 heaped teaspoon runny honey optional: 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar 600g leftover turkey, shredded sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes 1 x 400g tin butter beans or chickpeas, drained juice of 2 limes and soured cream, to serve

for the guacamole 2 ripe avocados, peeled and de-stoned 2 tomatoes, halved of a red onion, peeled a garlic clove, peeled 1 fresh green chilli, deseeded a bunch of fresh coriander ju ice of 1 l ime

St icky turkey kebabs

500g/ 1lb 2oz British Turkey diced turkey thighs (raw)2tbsp tomato ketchup

1tbsp American or Dijon mustard

2tsp black treacle

1tbsp white wine vinegar

2tbsp sunflower oil

2 green peppers, deseeded and cut into chunks1 red onion, peeled, cut into chunks and layers separated

In a bowl, mix together the ketchup, mustard, treacle, vinegar and oil unt il smooth. Thread the turkey meat on to 8 skewers alternately

with the chunks of pepper and onion and lay the kebabs side by side in a shallow dish. Spoon or brush the marinade over the turkey,

turning the kebabs over so both sides of the meat are coated. Cover the dish with cling film and leave in a cool place for 3-4 hours or

until ready to cook. Barbecue the kebabs for 6-8 minutes or until the turkey is cooked and the vegetables scorched at the edges,

brushing any remaining marinade over the turkey as they cook. Serve hot with relishes and a selection of salads a potato salad goes

particularly well with the kebabs

I SANJAYS CONNOISSEUR CORNER

There are a couple of wines that go well with these recipes. A new world

Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia, USA or South America would be a fineaccompaniment to the chilli. For the turkey kebab a Zinfandel would be a

good pairing or for those who like a drier wine then I would recommend a

Riesling.

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AUNT

SALLIES

COLUMN

As most of us tend to overindulge during

the festive period and then of course we

feel guilty about it afterwards, here are a

few tips/ facts/myths which should make

you a smile:

If no-one sees you eat it, it has no

calories

If you have a diet soda drink with a candybar, they cancel each other out

When eating with someone else, calories

dont count if you both eat the same

amount

Foods used for medicinal purposes have

no calories. This includes any chocolate

used for energy, brandy, Sara Lee

cheesecake (eaten whole) and Haagen-

Daz Ice Cream.

Movie-related foods are much lower incalories simply because they are part of

the entertainment experience and not

part of ones personal fuel. This includes

hotdogs, toffee popcorn, snickers and

gummi bears.

Cookie pieces contain no calories

because the process of breakage causes

calorie leakage.

If you eat the food off someone elses

plate, it doesnt count.

If you eat standing up all the calories go

to your feet and get walked off.

Food eaten at Christmas has no calories,

courtesy of Santa.

STRESSED is just DESSERTS spelled

backwards.

THANKS to everyone who

donated to our CHILDREN IN

NEED appeal last month.

We raised 644 for this

noteworthy charity. As part of

our fund-raising challenge we

held a raffle, the prize being won by

Santosh, who works at Bradgate Bakery.

CH RISTM A S RA FFL E

Our Chr ist mas charit y raf f le has

raised 220 t hr ough t icket sales. The

t op pr ize was won by Pawel

D abrowskiwell done ! The money is

going t o be donated t o t he charit y

Teenage Cancer Thankyou t o

everyone who has t aken part .

SUDOKU CHALLENGEThere will be a prize for the firstcorrectly completed puzzle to be drawnfrom all entries received by 7th January2011 Fill in the grid so that everyrow, column and every 3x3 boxcontains the numbers 1-9. Theres nomaths involved solve the puzzle with

reason and logicSend your completedgrid to Robert

www.alacarte-recruitment.co.ukIf you have a few spare minutes, why not check

out the News , Recipe of the Day and

Fun and Games sections on our website

ONE TIP TO HELP YOU SURVIVE CHRISTMAS - HAVE REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS

Christmas is full of expectations and contradictions. Its a time of joy and family reun-ions. There will be parties to host and attend, gifts to exchange,holidays to enjoy. And because of all these, Christmas can alsobe quite stressful for many families.

Avoid trying to make everything perfect. Setting the goal tomake this Christmas the best ever is only going to cause youunnecessary stress and anxiety. So plan ahead and prioritisethings. Expect hiccups and obstacles along the way. The turkey will invariably be dry(tip: for moist turkey, after cooking, best leave it to rest for at least an hour, or eventwo, before carving), the sprouts will probably be rock hard raw or soggy (but does itreally matter?), however the roast potatoes and the pigs in blankets will taste abso-lutely fantastic, even if a bit charred! Theres always going to be a few disagreementsbetween relatives, the children will argue over presents and probably spill coca-cola on

the carpet, grandma will have one too many sherries and granddad will once again fallinto the Christmas tree! But thats what happens at Christmas-time, so best to justaccept itand chill out. Dont be disappointed if this Christmas period isnt the sameas you think you remember those of your pastIt may be different, however it shouldstill be fantastic.

WISHING YOU A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS

AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR

FROM THE DIRECTORS OF A LA CARTE RECRUITMENT

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