Over the last few months, we have been working on a project to make The Westgrove Group a ‘Disability Confident Employer’ as recognised by the Department of Work and Pensions.
We are pleased to confirm that we have
achieved the first stage accreditation which means we are a ‘Disability Confident
Employer’. This is a government
supported scheme that supports organisations like ours to make the most of
the talents that people with disability can bring to our workplace. The scheme helps us recruit and retain great
people; draw from the widest possible pool of talent; secure high-quality
employees who are skilled, loyal and hardworking; and improve employee morale
and commitment by demonstrating that we treat all of our people fairly.
Being named a Disability Confident Committed
employer is the first of the three levels to support us on our Disability
Confident journey. You can read more
about the Disability Confident scheme here.
Managing Director, Claire Mckinley-Smith,
comments, ‘Westgrove are already an inclusive employer and work hard to ensure
we are accessible to all when recruiting and employing, but we are very proud
to have been accredited in this way.’
We are delighted to have been officially
accredited as a Disability Confident employer.
Hello and Welcome to this special edition of The Westgrove Newsletter
Dear Colleague,
Thanks to each and every one of you for your continued commitment this week and for the extended hours many of you are working to help out at sites where colleagues are needing to self-isolate to help overcome the current crisis. We are proud of you all.
There are some huge changes at many of our sites as leisure activities such as gyms, restaurants and most shops have been forced to close their doors. We are maintaining resource as much as we can at sites working on reduced hours and pulling together to keep sites functioning. Many sites have essential retail services such as food and pharmacies and it is critical that we manage these sites effectively and communicate the right messages to visitors.
On Friday 20 March the Chancellor added to an already unprecedented package of financial support for businesses, to assist with the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Please be aware that the information and guidance is changing on a regular basis. As we receive further details and direction, we will continue to provide updates.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
Some of you may be affected as sites are looking to reduce hours or temporarily furlough colleagues whilst the current lockdown is in place. If you are affected please see the below guidance;
What does it mean?
The Government has stated that they will reimburse employers 80% of an employee’s salary whilst colleagues are ‘furloughed’ (this generally means a temporary leave of absence from work) during the Coronavirus crisis.
Colleagues that are to be furloughed will need to be designated as such and notified. Colleagues will need to provide their consent to their Line Manager by signing the letter provided by Westgrove HR team.
Colleagues must not undertake any work for Westgrove (or any other employer) while furloughed to qualify for the scheme. The grants do not cover the wages of colleagues working reduced hours due to the virus.
Potential furloughed colleagues are those that would otherwise be made redundant.
The rebate is capped at £2,500 salary per month and the relevant employee will have needed to have been entitled to the salary on the 28th February 2020.
The £2,500 may include employer’s NI and pension contributions, but this is not yet clear. Therefore £2,500 may not end up being the precise maximum gross pay which the employee receives, if for example, pension contributions are then taken into account. You may receive 80% of your current earnings.
The measure will be in place for at least three months.
The scheme will be accessible to Westgrove through an online portal (HMRC are still working on this but it should be available soon). Once we are able to access the portal, we will need to provide details (this is likely to be name, NI number, salary etc) of the affected furloughed colleagues and submit this information to HMRC.
All payments will be backdated to the 1st March 2020 (or the date the furlough leave commences) although the Government have suggested that it will be late April before the system is fully operational with cash reimbursements being processed.
Colleagues must be employed before 28 Feb 2020.
Key Worker Authority
The BSIA (British Security Industry Association) are now classing Security Personnel as Key Workers. Roles essential to supporting law and order, with the potential to reduce demand on policing, also meet the critical worker definition. This would include, amongst other areas, the guarding of empty or closed commercial, retail or office premises; the monitoring of similar through CCTV or other remote means; and the provision of alarm response centres including mobile units. (Information provided by SIA 26th March 2020).
Westgrove are also classing cleaning colleagues as Key Workers under Public Safety. Your Site Manager has been issued with a letter of authority by HR, should you be asked by the Police why you are travelling to and from work.
Our HR team are on hand for any help or advice you may need during this time. They can be contacted by email HR@westgrove.co.uk or by calling 01925 414190.
Please look after yourselves and your family and stay safe.
Free and Confidential Well-being Support
retailTRUST offers a wide range of support including helpful advice, financial assistance, face-to-face and telephone counselling, non-repayable grants, career development, and legal guidance. Click hereto find out more. There is also some great advice about your well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reward & Recognition Awards
We know that there is some amazing work happening out there across our sites during the pandemic. Please remember to nominate your colleagues through our Reward and Recognition programme. You can find out more and nominate here.
Unsung Heroes!
Revo, the body representing the Retail Industry also want to hear about the heroic work currently happening in our shopping centre and parks and we’re sure there are some unsung heroes amongst our team! Please can you share some news stories and pictures of your teams and how you are all helping each other and the community during the Covid-19 Pandemic. Please email your stories and pictures to marketing@westgrove.co.uk and let’s share some Westgrove news.
Welcome to the March edition of the Westgrove Newsletter. The newsletter will be coming to you monthly and will keep you up to date with what’s happening around the business.
Colleague Coronavirus Update
We would like to reassure colleagues that as a business we are taking Coronavirus (Covid-19) very seriously. We have set up a dedicated webpage where we will keep you informed of any updates, here.
For those colleagues who are concerned, further guidance is available through our colleague welfare portal or you can speak directly to your site manager.
Click here to access the Colleague Welfare Portal.
Annual Awards Ceremony 2020
We were delighted to welcome colleagues from all over the country to celebrate the remarkable work they do each and every day, often going above and beyond in their work to this year’s Annual Reward and Recognition Awards Ceremony.
We heard from guest speakers Alex Staniforth,
our Westgrove Brand Ambassador who told us of his next awe inspiring challenge,
British Security Industry Associations (BSIA) Andrew Cooper who gave us insight
into the security industry and Retail Trusts Tom Bostock who shared information
on the amazing work Retail Trust do and the support they can offer to our
business.
During 2019, the business received an
unprecedented number of Reward and Recognition nominations from colleagues and
partners and we are delighted to announce the winners from each category:
Site Manager of the Year – Stewart Todd, Birchwood Park
Site of the Year – Market Place
Team of the Year – Security Team, St Johns
Colleague of the Year –David Philips, Market Place
Service to the Customer – Tata Technologies
CSR of the Year – Royal Priors, Neil Peters & Aston Ford
CSR of the Year – Gloucester Quays, Martin Davidson
Community Champion – Spindles Town Square
Service Excellence of the Year
Renay Snelson, Runcorn
Ajaz Shah, MSO
Waqas Maroof, Tata
Cleaning Team at Lion Yard
Barry Burnham, Templars Square
Outstanding Act of the Year
Ahmed Abdul Karim, St Johns Shopping Centre
Martyn Hoare, Paul Pritchard, Derek Washington,
Alex Wilkins and Colin Marshall, Concourse
Christopher Edwards, Maylords
Rohan Kumar, Queens Square
Security Team, Templars Square
Matthew Barrett & James Thompson, Stamford
Quarter
Mark Smithson, Doncaster & Sheffield Airport
Newcomer of the Year – Macauley Stones, The Lowry
Mystery Shop Winners
Runcorn
Bay View
Templars Square
The Core
Chairman’s Special Award – Hannah Denning, Head Office HR Team
Congratulations to all our nominees and winners from 2019.
We are delighted to be part of
the up and coming ACE Awards from Revo the shopping centre industry body. The
ACE Awards recognise great customer service excellence. The following centres
are finalists;
Handforth Dean (Retail & Leisure Place)
Market Place (Regional)
St Johns Centre (Community)
We are also proud to have a nomination for an Ace Star – Alan McCabe at St Johns – for excellent customer service skills.
Welcome to Our New Colleagues
Let’s welcome Karl Clawley,
Director of Shopping Centres and Lucy Wood, Marketing & Community
Engagement Manager to the Head Office team.
Karl Clawley, Director of Shopping Centres
Karl joins us with a strong
background in Shopping Centres, winning Centre Manager of the Year with Savills
in 2017. He will liaise with our
Partners at a strategic level and will help to support the rapid growth of the
business throughout the UK.
We asked Karl a few questions to
get to know him a little better and here’s what he said:
What is your background?
Originally from Manchester I now
live on the waterfront in Liverpool. I started my career as a Stockroom
Operative at Topman, when Top Man was a boy!, and progressed onto a management
Training Programme that saw me manage various retail stores around the UK. I
went from retail into Shopping Centre Management about 15 years ago and had a
proven track record of delivering some innovative new ways to the industry….but
the people that worked with me were always key to delivering a customer
experience.
What will your new role bring to Westgrove?
I am hoping being the Director of
Shopping Centres will allow me to bring some innovative ways of working and
delivering a great customer experience through our Colleagues and Site
Leads.
What attracted you to join Westgrove?
Westgrove was my provider of
security and cleaning at Runcorn. I liked the way the business was always
striving to make its people better and treating them as colleagues not
employees. The reward & recognition programme Westgrove operated really
made them stand head and shoulders above competitors.
Who would your ideal dinner party guest be?
Imagine being able to sit and
talk to someone like Walt Disney who was ahead of his time in creating a unique
customer experience that is now a billion dollar industry. Which all started
with a mouse!
Where did you last holiday?
Cape Verde, a complete sunshine,
no Wi-Fi, beach holiday
A fact about you!
Have been to the Buckingham Palace and had a bite to eat with Prince Charles, Camilla and Princess Ann, wasn’t quite that casual!
Lucy Wood, Marketing & Community Engagement Manager
Lucy joins Westgrove with a
wealth of marketing and communications experience from a number of popular
brands and services. She will work with
the Brand & Development Team on a variety of marketing and community engagement
projects to support the businesses sites throughout the UK.
We asked Lucy the same questions:
What is your background?
I’ve worked in Marketing for over
10 years. I’ve marketed kitchens and
bathrooms, quirky health and fitness products and a postal company and now I’m
here at Westgrove ready to communicate with you!
What will your new role bring to Westgrove?
I’ll be engaging with all our
colleagues through a number of different media – from your monthly e-newsletter
to the posters you see on your noticeboards, the company magazine and social
media.
What attracted you to join Westgrove?
The culture and the friendly
atmosphere.
Who would your ideal dinner party guest be?
I’d invite Liz McColgan,
middle-distance runner and winner of the 1996 London Marathon. Growing up I always wanted to be as good at
running as she was so I’d love to hear her stories and how she got to be so
good.
Where did you last holiday?
I went camping in France last
year with my family. We loved it, so
we’re going camping again this year!
A fact about you!
I was born on April fool’s day!
Thank you for taking the time to read the latest edition of The Westgrove Newsletter.
If you have any news to share, such as charity events you are involved with or things happening at your centre, please email lucy.wood@westgrove.co.uk as we’d love to hear from you.
Please also remember to nominate your colleagues through our Reward and Recognition programme for the outstanding work they. You can find out more and nominate here.
New Marketing & Community Engagement Manager appointment for
fast-growing Westgrove Group
Fast growing facilities management company, The Westgrove Group, has recruited a new Marketing & Community Engagement Manager to support their existing Brand & Development Team with a variety of marketing and community engagement projects to support the businesses circa 50 sites across the UK.
Lucy from Warrington joins
Westgrove with a wealth of marketing and communications experience from a number
of popular brands and services.
Laurie Barton Wright, Brand and
Development Director at The Westgrove Group, which employs over 1,200 people,
said “We are delighted to welcome Lucy to the team. She comes from a strong marketing and
communications background and understands the importance of engaging with
people. Lucy will be an intrinsic member
of our business as we continue to grow and develop.
A key objective for the company
is to continue to focus on colleague engagement particularly as we grow and
welcome new colleagues into the Westgrove Community. We have a busy calendar of
activity for the year ahead including continuing to support mental health
awareness and championing our colleagues within national recognised industry
awards. We were keen to include community engagement within Lucy’s remit as our
partners value our commitment to their own CSR agendas”
The Westgrove Group, which recently celebrated its 21st anniversary, was founded by Group Chairmen Simon Whittle and Steve Fives. Based in Warrington, Cheshire, Westgrove specialises in providing security, cleaning and customer services in high footfall destinations such as Shopping Centres, Corporate, Mixed Use and Retail environments across the UK. With a number of new significant contract awards in 2019, the company is on target for £40M turnover by the end of 2021.
The
Westgrove Group were delighted to welcome colleagues from all over the country
to celebrate the remarkable work they do each and every day, often going above
and beyond in their work. The Westgrove
Annual Reward and Recognition Awards ceremony, held at the Village Hotel in
Warrington is always an emotional and inspiring day.
We
heard from guest speakers Alex Staniforth, our Westgrove Brand Ambassador who
told us of his next awe inspiring challenge, British Security Industry
Associations (BSIA) Andrew Cooper who gave us insight into the security
industry and Retail Trusts Tom Bostock who shared information on the amazing
work Retail Trust do and the support they can offer to our business.
During 2019, the business
received an unprecedented number of Reward and Recognition nominations from
colleagues and partners and we are delighted to announce the winners from each
category:
Site Manager of the Year
Stewart Todd, Birchwood Park
Site of the Year – Market Place
Market Place
Team of the Year
Security Team, St Johns
Colleague of the Year
David Philips, Market Place
Service to the Customer
Tata Technologies
CSR of the Year
Gloucester Quays, Martin Davidson Royal Priors, Neil Peters & Aston Ford
Its #NationalApprenticeshipWeek
and what better way to celebrate than interviewing our very own Westgrove Apprentice;
Jordan.
National Apprenticeship Week aims
to celebrate apprenticeships and the positive impact they have on individuals,
businesses and the wider economy.
Apprenticeships are a growing option for people to earn while they learn
and a vital entry route to gaining the skills and behaviours required to
progress in the professional sector.
Jordan is studying Business
Administration Level 3, an 18 month course designed to give her the skills she
needs to progress her career. She joined
Westgrove 6 months ago as Operations Admin and is now an intrinsic part of the
Westgrove team.
Let’s meet Jordan…
Tell us a bit about
your apprenticeship:
I’m studying Business
Administration Level 3. It’s an 18 month
course designed to give me on-the-job experience to develop real world
skills. I work full time but also study
as part of my working week.
Why did you want to
do an apprenticeship?
Doing an apprenticeship has
allowed me to study and work at the same time which has helped me so much in
gaining the confidence and skills that I can use in the real world. I knew I wanted to continue learning after
school but I also wanted to get a job so this was a perfect decision for me.
What do you do at
Westgrove?
I joined Westgrove in July (6
months ago) as Operations Admin. My job
is varied and no day is the same. I get
to work with all the different departments at Head Office like HR and
Finance. I do all the admin jobs like
keeping systems up to date, answering the phones and the door and all the
general admin work.
What do you like
about your job?
I love the office environment,
everybody is so nice and friendly.
Tell us something we
might not know about you?
I’ve been Morris Dancing for 15 years and my favourite holiday destination is Mexico!
Our Reward and Recognition Awards are our way of thanking our Colleagues for the amazing work that they do everyday.
Here are our latest Outstanding Act winners. Congratulations to them all.
Natalee Watmough & Louise Whitehead – The Lowry Outlet
Natalee and Louise helped to comfort a young girl who had fallen and broken her arm. While waiting for the ambulance to arrive, they kept the injured girl as calm and comfortable as they could as well as reassuring her mother, who later emailed the management team to express her gratitude for everything the team had done. Well done to you both!
Security
Team – Birchwood Park
Congratulations to the Security Team for their outstanding professionalism, calmness and confidence in handling a difficult situation. Communication was key in this situation and the full team on site played their part.
Ansaar Hussain
– Security Officer – Spindles Town Square
Ansaar was praised for his swift and professional response after helping a woman in distress while he was on patrol.
Mark Driscoll – Dual Services Manager – Templars Square
Mark was also congratulated for his amazing work in a difficult situation.
We are delighted to announce a number of new contract awards which continues to strengthen our position as a leading facilities management partner.
As well as shopping centres, we have been awarded contracts in new sectors including manufacturing and the public sector, offering new service provisions and bringing in some brilliant new Colleagues to help support us. New shopping centre awards include Telford, Corby and Leeds. We are also delighted to have been awarded the cleaning contract for Greenwich Peninsular in London further strengthening our southern portfolio.
These include providing dual security and cleaning services as well as a growth in demand for other services as shopping centres increasingly move away from traditional retail schemes and towards mixed use food and beverage, residential or leisure use.
You can find out more about our work in the new issue of The Westgrove Magazine. Email enquiries@westgrove.co.uk for a copy.
The latest issue of our magazine is hot off the press and packed with lots of Westgrove news.
It has been another fantastic year for the company and the magazine celebrates our strong growth and welcomes new schemes and Colleagues to our portfolio across the UK.
We’ve got interviews with our Partners and Colleagues, news about our new technology, systems and services and the awards we have won.
We showcase our training and development work and our commitment to raising mental health awareness.
And we reveal the incredible work that our people do every day.
Click here to view Issue 10 of the Westgrove Magazine now!
You can view The Westgrove Magazine back catalogue here:
The Westgrove Group, one of the UK’s leading independent
facilities management companies, has been nominated for a prestigious diversity
awareness award.
The Warrington based company is a finalist in the
Kimberly-Clark Professional Golden Service Awards 2020.
Held biennially, the awards were created 30 years ago to
reward the excellence of facilities management and cleaning teams and are a
hallmark of quality.
The winners will be announced at The Golden Service Awards
ceremony which will take place on March 4th at the London Hilton on
Park Lane.
Claire McKinley Smith, Managing Director of The Westgrove
Group, said: “We are delighted to have been shortlisted as a finalist in these
prestigious awards for Diversity Awareness, recognising our commitment and investment in
raising mental health awareness in the workplace.
“We have seen so many benefits this year in raising awareness of mental
health with our colleagues across the UK. This will continue into 2020 with
more investment in training and support in mental health and other areas of
diversity awareness.”
Earlier this year, Westgrove embarked on a journey to
improve mental health awareness across the business.
A number of initiatives were rolled out across the year
which aimed to create a work place environment where all colleagues felt
comfortable in discussing their own and other people’s mental health.
The whole company, including over 1,000 colleagues across
the UK, got involved and it delivered measurable results including the
appointment of mental health first aiders, awareness weeks and a new well-being
portal with the charity retailTRUST offering 24/7 free and confidential help to
colleagues.
Working with bodies such as the Samaritans, MHFA and Revo,
the representative body for retail and shopping centres, Westgrove is also
looking at good practice and specialist training around mental health and
suicide awareness for all their colleagues working in shopping centres.
The Westgrove Group is on course to become a £40million
turnover business in the next five years.
The company provides its security, cleaning and PRM (Persons
with Reduced Mobility) services to shopping centres, corporates, business parks,
retail environments and airports across the UK.
The Westgrove Group, which recently celebrated its 21st
anniversary, was founded by Group Chairmen Simon Whittle and Steve Fives. The
Senior Management Team have proven direct Shopping Centre pedigree including
operational experience at some of the country’s largest regional Shopping
Centres such as the Trafford Centre and Meadowhall.
They have held senior positions for owners such as Westfield and managing agents including CBRE and Lambert Smith Hampton demonstrating strong commercial and operational experience.
