The Naked Element team have been busy recently! On Wednesday we went to a networking evening with a difference and the following day we attended the swanky Norfolk Chamber Anniversary event.
The networking evening included food (as you might expect) and meeting new people, but it also included a spectacular view of Norwich, not seen by many.
TheThrive networkingevent was held in the Narthex of theCatholic Cathedral of St John the Baptist. Our evening began with a glass of Grapefruit ale fromSt Peter’s Brewery(the taste of the fruit was evident but not overpowering) then a walk to the top of the tower. Although it was a grey, and slightly rainy, day the view was still amazing. We also got to see the inside of the cathedral from the rafters which was spectacular in itself.
After taking 200 or so steps up (and then down again) we were treated to food and more beer tasting courtesy of theThirst Consultants. I got to try local ales including Moongazer, Humpty Dumpty, St Andrews Brewhouse, Panther and Lacons. Sommelier Cheryl Cade took us through how to taste a beer like a pro and what to look out for when trying new drinks. After a few more tasters and talking it was time to stumble home, hopefully avoiding a fuzzy head the next day at work!
The Norfolk Chamber Anniversary event was held insideNorwich Castle, a venue many of us hadn’t been to since we were children. Wine flowed and delicious food was served as councillors spoke about the success of theNorfolk Chamberand of the region in general. The main hall of the castle was full of local business man and women and the atmosphere was buzzing! It was a privilege to have had two interesting evenings in two of the city’s finest historical buildings in just one week.
Naked Element are looking for a new apprentice to help with our company administration.
The successful candidate will be involved in the following areas;
Company administration – learning how to run a company, including keeping up with legislation, wages, income tax returns, VAT returns, invoicing, other administration (including social media and marketing)
Project Management – learning how to review projects daily and liaise with clients and the internal development team
The role will include client interaction and networking and will require the candidate to be reasonably flexible with respect to the times of day they can work. Within the 3 to 6 months, the candidate will also be trained in sales and shown how to identify and contact clients. There will be an element of ‘warm’ calling as part of the role.
If you are a company paying a Levy into the Government Apprenticeships fund you are probably aware that you need to spend it all before the end of the financial year otherwise you lose it!
Don’t let that happen. If you need help to setup any of your staff on an apprenticeship before the time runs out, just give us a call and we can help you.
Team members don’t need to be new starters to do an apprenticeship, use the scheme to upskill existing staff and enhance their knowledge and practical abilities for your business.
If you are a non-Levy paying business you can do the same!It costs either £0 or 5% of the cost depending on your exact circumstances, and we can help you find that out.The 5% will still only equate to a few £100 spread across 15 months so it is really affordable training and development for your team.
If you’ve secured your place in Run Norwich 2025, why not make your miles count by running for Citizens Advice Diss, Thetford & District.
Date: Sunday 7th September 2025
Location: Norwich City Centre
Celebrating 10 years of Run Norwich!
By running for CADAT, you’ll be:
Helping us provide free, vital support to people facing financial hardship.
Supporting workers struggling with employment & legal challenges.
Making a difference for families dealing with housing & debt issues.
Its simple to get involved! Simply CADAT team on your General entry for Run Norwich 10k profile. Share your journey & inspire others. Make every step count for those in need.
Whether it’s the first time, or the 100themployee survey that you have put in place, sometimes the hardest team to convince is the senior management team. TheBest Employer Eastern Region Surveyhas been designed to put you in control – you can decide to use the standard questionnaire or choose to customise the survey to suit your business. However, you may find yourself facing barriers. Here are three tips to help handle those objections:
1. Surveys are useless. Nothing was ever done with the previous results so why bother?
If you have done a feedback survey in the past, then really push the results of the last one. Find the nuggets that came from the previous time that you asked the team and show how they can help add colour to a strategy at the same time as empowering employee feedback. These demonstrable areas, coupled with projected improvement figures might be enough.
2.Our teams won’t do it. They won’t believe that it will be anonymous.
Naturally some employees may be dubious. Assure them of the anonymity of the survey as much as possible and share how you are going to group the results -it is only sometimes necessary to understand how different demographic groups perceive the organisation never individually. When communicating the results however ensure that any written comments do not identify the employee – monitor and edit.
3. Most of the line managers don’t believe in it so why should their teams?
One of the biggest threats to the success of a survey is that the direct manager does not support it. This can be that they were not even aware of the survey or have been told it is too long and complicated. Walk through the survey with them. Take the time to share with your department leads the importance of the survey and what it will mean to the organisation. Make them engagement champions, re enforcing the message that by actively encouraging employee participation helps to create a better more effective place to work.
How can Best Employers Eastern Region help your business?
The Best Employers Eastern Region Survey is ideal for the understanding, interpretation, management and development of your organisation’s Culture, Values and Employee Engagement. It provides a reliable and accurate benchmark for future decision making and action planning, and is designed to help deliver strategic and long term organisational change.
For the fifth consecutive year, Freebridge Community Housing employees took part in a highly successful Week of Wellbeing.
The week, which is designed to promote and encourage wellbeing, saw Freebridge employees from across the company take part in an array of activities with knitting, creative writing, guitar lessons and coaching and mentoring comprising just a small part of the list of events on offer.
The week, which took place from 16th- 20thMay, is designed to promote and support the six strands of wellbeing – Career, Physical, Mental, Social, Economic and Community Wellbeing – for its employee team of over 200 people.
While many of the week’s events were run by Freebridge employees a host of local organisations and businesses, including Paul Johnson Motors, Caffe Nero, King’s Lynn Corn Exchange, Snettisham Park, The Maltings Q Club, Strikes and Planet Zoom also lent their support.
Local businesses generously donated prizes for a charity fundraising raffle. Proceeds will be going to East Anglian Air Ambulance, Macmillan Cancer Information and Support Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and King’s Lynn Samaritans, who are all Freebridge chosen charities for 2016.
Michelle Gant, Director of Engagement at Freebridge, said: “At Freebridge we are committed to improving the wellbeing of our staff. This week affords employees the opportunity to learn new skills that we hope will have a positive impact in both their work and personal lives.
“It is our belief that by looking after the wellbeing of our workforce we can provide a better service for all our tenants, who remain at the heart of everything we do at Freebridge.
“The support that has been offered by local businesses has been greatly appreciated, many of the activities offered would not be possible without their efforts.”
We are delighted to be sponsoring the Employer of the Year category at the Eastern Daily Press (EDP) Business Awards 2016.
Having sponsored the EDP’s Best Employer award for the last three years, we were proud to be asked to sponsor the newly-named Employer of the Year award for 2016. We have always chosen to support the employer-focussed categories because this is the area we have the greatest affinity with. At Pure, we work to support local organisations in sourcing, developing and retaining top talent to help achieve organisational growth. We want to celebrate the companies which are achieving success by putting employees at the heart of the business.
The Employer of the Year award will recognise organisations that are demonstrating a clear vision of what attracts new employees and keeps existing teams motivated and engaged.
Lynn Walters, co-founder and Director of Pure, said: ” A business that grows their people inevitably will grow and develop their business, and the winning entry will have this mind-set at its heart. It will be a business with an evolving culture of improvement, open to feedback, and introducing new ideas and initiatives to grow the business and its people.”
As part of the judging panel, we will be looking for the employers who are engaging on an individual level with their teams to increase the effectiveness of their organisation.
The short-listed organisations will need to provide evidence of their employee engagement strategy including some of the following elements : personal development opportunities for staff; strong communication; innovative ways of recognising, rewarding and thanking staff; empowering its team to make a difference for a charity or their local community; flexible working and staff wellbeing; diversity and openness to feedback; and truly living their values.
Overall, the EDP Business Awards are a celebration of the dynamism and success of the Norfolk economy and we are proud to be a part of this event. To enter and put a spotlight on your organisation as one of those contributing to the county’s success, visit the awardswebsite. Entries need to be submitted by midnight on Sunday 31stJuly and the winners will be announced on Thursday 3 November at the Norfolk Showground.
Last Tuesday, 17th May 2016 we were delighted to welcome Lee and his team from Raw Talent Academy to our Norwich office, to host their audition and assessment day in order to expand our team here at Cooper Lomaz.
The process started with potential candidates applying through the custom Cooper Lomaz Microsite on Raw Talent’s website. There were 300 applicants and of those, after studying their CV’s and conducting a range of telephone and face to face screening interviews, 13 were invited to the audition day.
Lee McQueen from Raw Talent Academy says “It has been a joy to partner with Cooper Lomaz over the past 5 weeks. Our unique process requires clients to have faith and trust in us, in return we are able to deliver what we promise”
In the morning, candidates were challenged to 4 tasks both in teams and as individuals which spanned various subjects and activities such as sales, customer service and of course recruitment. These tasks allowed candidates to demonstrate their abilities to not only sell, but also demonstrate that they could build rapport and talk with confidence.
At the half way point, four candidates were sent home as Cooper Lomaz directors and Raw Talent didn’t think they would have been right for the company, whilst the nine remaining candidates prepared for the afternoon.
Cooper Lomaz Operations Director Mark Fletcher praised the process of how the audition day was formulated saying “At Cooper Lomaz we have always loved breaking new ground and finding innovative ways to improve the recruitment process. Raw Talent’s offering enabled us to make six hires in a single day while minimising the time away from their desk for our managers.”
After an intensive afternoon of panel interviews by Cooper Lomaz, being supported by Lee McQueen from Raw Talent Academy, six candidates were offered roles and all six accepted on the spot.
Both Cooper Lomaz and Raw Talent academy are incredibly happy with how the day went, and indeed the whole 5 week process and are looking forward to working together in the future.
Cooper LomazCommercial Director Simon Brown said of the day “‘We are extremely pleased with the success of our first Raw Talent event for Cooper Lomaz. The organisation and coordination of the event has been excellent. The quality of candidates who applied has been an outstanding quality and we are ecstatic to have made 6 great hires.”
Many thanks to Lee and his team for coming to host an audition day here at Cooper Lomaz – We are looking forward to welcoming our new members of staff when they start in the near future and are looking forward to welcoming Raw Talent Academy back to Cooper Lomaz for another successful day.
UK based operator SaxonAir Charter announces at EBACE Geneva the addition of another helicopter to their fleet through the signing of a brand new Leonardo-Finmeccanica AW109SP Grand New. The helicopter will be operated through SaxonAir’srotary divisionSaxonAir Helicopters. As well as the operation of a mixed fleet of aircraft from Mustangs to the Gulfstream G550, the company runs its own Helicopter department serving clients around Europe.
The helicopter will serve both the London and the wider UK marketand offered to all present and new clients for a faster, more convenient way to travel. The AW109SP Grand New is a top of the range light twin engine IFR helicopter designed using the latest technology, benefiting from high performance, latest safety enhancements and a large cabin with a low environmental footprint.
‘As a group we’re all very much looking forward to the addition of the brand new helicopter. We are very well known for being a quality fixed wing charter operator and aircraft management company so the purchasewill boost our presence and scope in the helicopter market.’ SaysMax Randall, Head of Sales and Operations, SaxonAir Helicopters.SaxonAir Helicopters will offer full packages along with our fixed wing charter department, interlining with aircraft arrivals and departures flying directly to their destination saving clients valuable time.
The fast growing company expects the aircraft to be used predominantly for both corporate and leisure missions, it can fly at night so a perfect alternative to travelling by car to events such as the races or music concerts. The luxurious cabin can comfortably fly up to 6 passengers and can transport clients at distances of over 350nm. John Parnell, Sales Director from Sloane Helicopters says ‘As the UK and Ireland Leonardo-Finmeccanica Distributor, we are delighted to have sold the AW109SP to SaxonAir with a comprehensive support package that also includes full maintenance coverage for years to come. We are sure that SaxonAir and its clients will appreciate the outstanding capabilities that has made this helicopter the benchmark for VIP and charter operations’.
The order was cemented at the Leonardo-Finmeccanica stand during EBACE Geneva and representatives from SaxonAir, Sloane Helicopters and Leonardo-Finmeccanica were all present at the signing.
KLM UK Engineering is delighted to announce the signing of a long term partnership with Nilai University (Malaysia) for the provision of EASA Part 147 exams supported by KLM UK Engineering’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Software.
Under the agreement, KLM UK Engineering will support Nilai University’s successful Diploma in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering and Advanced Diploma in Aircraft Engineering Technology programmes by providing experienced examiners and VLE to allow the students to gain their EASA Part 66 B licence.
With over 150 students graduating each year, the programme is equipping the aviation industry with skilled, qualified and competent engineers for the next generation.
Prof.Dato’ Dr.Sothi Rachagan, Vice-Chancellor of Nilai University said: “Combining the exceptional learning environment of Nilai University with a world renowned MRO is a decision that will give our students an increased learning experience. This long term partnership will allow both Nilai University and KLM UK Engineering to train the next generation of aircraft engineers. The industry is expected to have a surge in demand for qualified and experienced personnel in the coming years.We are confident that the graduates of Nilai University’s aircraft maintenance programmes will have the knowledge, skills and attributes to be the backbone of the industry for many years to come.”
Whilst Wayne Easlea, Operations Director of KLM UK Engineering added: “The partnership with Nilai is a huge step forward in our aim to connect KLM UK Engineering’s VLE products to many young engineers in the UK and abroad. The industry needs many good engineers for the future to accommodate the growing worldwide fleet and to replace inevitable retirements. KLM UK Engineering wants to leverage its knowledge and experience and connect many more universities to its growing educational centre. This centre will be collocated as of early 2017 in the International Aviation Academy in Norwich”.
About Nilai
NilaiUniversity was established as NilaiCollege in 1997 and was upgraded to a university college in 2007 and a full-fledged university in 2012. The Malaysian Qualifications Agency rated NilaiUniversity as Excellent (Setara 5) in 2011 and has reaffirmed this in the latest rating exercise undertaken in 2013. The University offers a Diploma in Aircraft Maintenance and an Advanced Diploma in Aircraft Engineering Technology which incorporate the European Aviation Safety Agency* (EASA) syllabus, preparing students for the EASA Part 66 Category B1.1 and B2 licence examinations. The student can then sit for the EASA licence examinations at the same time that they pursue their diploma / advanced diploma course at NilaiUniversity, which is the first step in gaining a full EASA licence.
We are looking for a small team of people willing and able to run a few park games for a group of people with disabilities, and their families and supporters attending a free picnic in Eaton Park on Sunday 12th June. This requires about 3-4 activities, delivered between 12noon and 2pm in a relaxed and fun way.
Ideal opportunity for some employee volunteering, or team building. Please contact James Kearns via [email protected] with offers or for more information.
This accreditation allows CJC Transport Consultants to offer
comprehensive courses for HGV and LGV drivers – a legal requirement for anyone
transporting hazardous materials.
CJC Transport Consultants’ recognition as an approved ADR
centre is the latest milestone in its ongoing business growth, following the
opening of its purpose-built training centre at its headquarters in South Denes
Road last year.
Carl Crysell, Managing Director of CJC Transport Consultants
says, “Securing approved centre status from the DfT to deliver ADR training
shows a level of confidence in our training provision. Participants must pass
an exam to receive their ADR licence, and our accreditation ensures we meet the
national standard for both training and certification.
“Not only does this open our business up to new growth
areas, but it provides an endorsement that we’re working to the best of our
ability to support freight and passenger transport operators.”
Locally, there has been a surge in demand for ADR training
thanks to the expansion of the offshore renewables sector off the East Coast along
with the Enterprise Zone that covers sites in Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. As
each training provider has to be approved by the Department for Transport,
there hasn’t been enough providers to meet the demand and individuals have had
to travel to either Norwich or Felixstowe to complete their training.
Adding to the demand is the fact the training is not just
compulsory for lorry drivers. If a business is involved in the transportation
of dangerous or hazardous materials, employees and senior management teams must
also complete the training and pass the ADR exam.
Carl emphasises, “There’s no room for error when dealing
with hazardous substances. Our training covers preventative safety measures,
incident response strategies, and comprehensive health and safety protocols.
It’s about protecting our environment and ensuring everyone is prepared for any
situation.”
As road transport consultants, CJC Transport Consultants work
hard to ensure all clients get the most value out of their training budgets.
With Carl’s help, local businesses can choose which class of dangerous goods
they need their training to focus on, ensuring it remains specific and relevant
to their needs. Carl can also work with HGV drivers to combine their ADR
training with the required CPC Periodic hours – another mandatory training
requirement.
He concludes, “We never forget our role is more than just
training delivery. By investing in the highest standards, we contribute to
ensuring local HGV drivers operate with the best practices and a deep awareness
of road safety. This benefits drivers, businesses, and the entire community.”
For more information about CJC Transport Consultants, or to
book onto the next ADR training course being held on Monday 30 September,
please visit
Ends
Notes to editors
What is ADR training and why is it important?
ADR stands for
“Accord européen relatif au transport international des marchandises
Dangereuses par Route” and outlines the regulations for the international
transportation of dangerous goods by road. An ADR licence (which remains valid
for five years) is essential for HGV and LGV drivers transporting hazardous
materials, demonstrating their understanding of legal responsibilities and
safety protocols.
Failure to comply
with dangerous goods regulations could result in an unlimited fine or even
imprisonment.
To arrange an
interview with Carl Crysell, or to visit the training facilities, please email [email protected]