Christmas Parties - Before the event

Is it me, or are office Christmas parties just not the same as they used to be? I can remember one great do when I worked for Thomson Holidays, where Stan Boardman was the stage act, there were 200 or so of us at the hotel in Manchester, a free bar and many hangovers the next morning. I recall talking to a colleague of mine and watching her gradually slide down the wall in a drunken haze!

Tonight is our Christmas 'austerity' do. Because there are rather less than 200 of us, we'll be one of many small groups eating in a Didsbury restaurant, followed by a bevvy or two in the Metropolitan. I've no doubt we'll have a great time and learn more about each other as the atmosphere and alcohol loosens peoples' lips! We're sharing a car journey there and taxis home, eating two courses not three, and the company will make a fair contribution to the night out. Altogether less frivolous but hopefully just as enjoyable a night out. Watch this space!

Roger

How to enhance your reputation - a short story

I took our B-Class Mercedes to the local dealer in Stockport, not once but three times in the past month. The vehicle developed a clunking noise under the bonnet. It's 3 1/2 years old and I had bought what proved to be a useless extended warranty from Warranty Direct. It took the mechanics at Mercedes Benz in Stockport three attempts to discover the cause of the noise. This wasn't their fault, it was down to that strange phenomenon where you take your car to the garage, report a fault, and then they can't hear or find anything! Things like this happen to me all the time - I make an appointment to go to the dentist, and by the time I get there my toothache's gone!
The car ultimately had new shock absorber mountings fitted and is now running smoothly again.
Well done to the receptionist, service manager and mechanics at MB Stockport. They welcomed me, took out my car to listen/experience the (sporadic) noise, found the cause and replaced the parts.
The main point of this story is yet to come: I was invoiced over £600 for the job, and duly contacted my warranty people. Then I was told this specific problem wasn't covered (although of course you don't find out what the problem is until half the engine's out of the bonnet and the mechanics need to put it all back together again). I raised the point with Mercedes Stockport, whose manager there contacted the powers that be at MB head office, wherever that is. They agreed that because of the low mileage (36000 after 3 1/2 years) that the fee would be reduced by a good 60%.
The reputation of the dealer in Stockport and Mercedes Benz UK in general has been enhanced. They obviously need to sell the benefits of their extended warranty product more strongly. Price isn't everything, and a layman like me doesn't understand the implications of 'mountings' not being covered in a cheaper policy.
Roger

My favourite people?

I'm sure Recruitment Agencies are the scourge of more business owners than just in our PR world. As employers running a SME we occasionally have a need to find a new employee. The most successful means of doing this (and the cheapest) is word of mouth. However, there are times when we pay on-line and print media companies to advertise positions.
We are always up against a sea of recruitment agency ads - and they sometimes aren't even on behalf of another PR agency looking to fill a vacant position! Often they'll be looking for consultants to sign up to their books, and then they'll do the searching. Even our own trade body, the CIPR, is happy to take recruitment agency money to advertise, to the detriment of their members in the business!
What does this say about the recruitment agency? They create unrest in the minds of employees, some of whom may think the grass is greener, others may be perfectly happy where they are. They add to the already stretched recruitment costs an employer faces, especially during recession. Typically that's 20% of the starting salary. We've had two instances in the past three years where we've been let down by agencies. The first one was an employee who we realised after 7 or 8 months was not right. We'd already paid £4k to the recruitment people and there was no part or full refund after this period. Secondly, we were going to offer someone a job who we'd interviewed via an agency, and she had found somewhere privately and eventually left her agency with red faces.
I'd like to know what these agency people have done to become 'professionals'? Do they all have to wear cowboy hats?
Looking at this from another angle, and this is the key point of this rant, how do employers like us compare an applicant via a recruitment agency with one who has approached us direct? Usually the latter has not just responded to our ad, they've visited our website, phoned to discuss the job, and even sent us their portfolios. Ultimately they've demonstrated initiative and intelligence, which of course are usually attributes an employer is looking for. In contrast, the applicant with the agency probably has only done their research after prompting from 'above', and has taken what I consider to be the lazy option by getting someone else to do the searching for them.
If you're a professional PR consultant and you read this, get in touch with us! Even if we've no vacancies, and you're happy in your current position, you're putting yourself in a strong position when one of us is looking at a later date. Even when we say 'no agencies please' on our recruitment ads, they still contact us!! That's like the double glazing salesman turning up at your door when you're just having your tea!
Roger

My Bike Ride

Occasionally I cycle to work. Mainly in the name of keeping fit, but also with half a thought for the environment. If I haven't got a meeting during the day and the weather's fair, I get on my bike and I'm not starting up the car and driving at stop-start pace to the office. I've no idea what this small contribution makes to preserving our world, but I do have to comment on the state of our foot/cycle paths and roads, which surely need to be in such good condition to make cyclists feel like hitting the roads (metaphorically not literally!) and walkers taking to the paths.
The only time you find a decent cycle path on the main roads in this country is when that road is already wide enough to accommodate a bicycle alongside a bus anyway. Even then, you have to veer out to avoid cars parked in the cycle lane! Usually we're left to the narrow strip between the kerb and the first hint of smooth tarmac. This encompasses litter strewn gutters, bone-shaking grids and loose gravel to test the best from Belle Vue Aces speedway team.
Our countryside cycle/footpaths are little better. At this time of the year, much bramble, nettles and low-hanging trees make many a rural walk or cycle almost impassable (or should that be impossible?).
Today I arrived at the office with ferns dangling from my bicycle gear mechanism! I'm not sure which is best - asking the council to send a small tractor down the local paths to cut back the foliage (thus leaving a carbon footprint) or me leaving the bike at home and hopping into my motor instead?
Roger

In which country is Serengeti?

I went to a Quiz Night at Stockport County FC yesterday. Around 60 teams all brought together by Booth Ainsworth Accountants in their annual charity event. Beechwood House (cancer care) was the beneficiary, and their representative did a great job explaining the ravages of cancer from a very personal level. The night raised £4800 - Fantastic.
Our team did pretty well, mainly because we brought a 20-year-old into our team of forty-somethings. He knew what Lady Gaga looked like, who Hannah Montana's Dad was, and even objected when 'mass which light can't pass through' should have been 'dark matter' and not a 'Black Hole'. Don't ask me!
I now know that the first Butlins was built in Skegness, William II came before Edward II and that Gay people can now get married in Portugal.
It was great to be amongst 300 folk all as equally enamoured by trivia as I am! Shame that the attendance almost matched the numbers at the ailing football club on a Saturday.
Roger
By the way - Serengeti is in Tanzania!