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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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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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