Member News

FLYBE ENHANCES SCHEDULE ON NORWICH – EDINBURGH ROUTE

-Norwich City FC player Steven Whittaker and local piper see off afternoon service as Flybe franchise partner Loganair takes over the route-

Norwich City FC defender, Steven Whittaker and a local piper visited Norwich International Airport yesterday to send off the first service of Flybe’s afternoon business schedule between the city and Edinburgh.

Steven Whittaker, who hails from Edinburgh, joined Dave Harper, a Norwich born bag-piper, to mark the first day of an improved, business schedule, which was introduced by Loganair after taking the service over from partner Flybe.

Loganair has increased the frequency of its services between Norwich and Scotland’s capital, basing a second Dornier 328 aircraft at Norwich International Airport and taking on six locally based staff.

The carrier has started a double daily weekday service, adding a third rotation after the Easter holidays to provide a convenient business schedule. As an extra boost to passengers, a Sunday service will also be added, with Sunday frequency increasing to two flights during the peak summer season.

The airline will operate:

Norwich 06:50 08:10 Edinburgh Edinburgh 08:40 10:00 Norwich Norwich 13:50 15:10 Edinburgh Edinburgh 15:40 17:00 Norwich Norwich 17:30 18:50 Edinburgh Edinburgh 19:20 20:40 Norwich

Phil Preston, chief operating officer at Loganair, added: “Our Norwich to Edinburgh service has been specifically tailored to suit the needs of business passengers travelling between the two cities.

“Additionally, once travellers from the East of England reach Edinburgh they have ease of access to the entire Central Belt of Scotland plus Flybe’s network to Wick, Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles.

“The extra Dornier aircraft has allowed us much greater flexibility when planning our services, which should be a benefit to the entire region of Norfolk. We’re also extremely happy to be able to take on six local staff to help with operations in the area.”

This is the third service which Loganair operates from Norwich Airport, complementing operations to Manchester as well as a seasonal link with Guernsey.

With tickets currently on sale, fares from Norwich to Edinburgh start at £69.99 one way including a free 20kg bag.

Yesterday, Loganair’s inaugural service between London Stansted and Dundee also took to the skies, replacing the CityJet service from London City. Loganair will operate a twice daily weekday service, and once on a Sunday.

Speaking about the link between Norwich and Edinburgh Andrew Bell, CEO of Norwich International commented “Restoring the frequency of services between Norwich and Edinburgh has been a key target for the airport over the past 18 months and I am pleased we have now achieved this.

“Loganair’s additional commitment to Norwich Airport is very welcome, and we hope that business passengers and those wishing to travel to visit friends and relatives or take short breaks at either destination will take advantage of the improved offer.”

For more information about the service or to make a reservation please visit www.flybe.comor telephone 0871 700 2000.

ENDS

For any Loganair enquiries please contact Tim Malseed at the BIG Partnership on 0141 333 9585 or email [email protected]

Notes to Editors:

ABOUT LOGANAIR Loganair is the only major UK airline owned and headquartered in Scotland. The airline was founded in 1962 and employs approximately 440 staff to undertake over 500 air services each week using a fleet of 26 aircraft. It carries over half a million passengers and connects Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles to key destinations in Scotland, as well as providing other regional air links from its operational bases at Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Inverness, Kirkwall, and Norwich. Loganair is a franchise partner of Flybe, a codeshare partner of British Airways, and has arrangements with other airlines to provide interline connections. The company is privately owned and consistently profitable.

UFS Ltd, the Thetford based European Road Freight Operator was a Finalist in the BIFA (British International Freight Association) Freight Service Awards 2013

This secured a hat trick of nominations in as many years, a fantastic achievement for an independent, family owned business

2011 – European Logistics Category

2012 – European Logistics Category

2013 – Project Forwarding

Company owner, Mr Ray Ludlam is pictured (2nd from right) collecting the Finalists Certificate at the Awards Luncheon in London

KLM re-introduces fourth daily frequency to Schiphol

Yesterday saw the reintroduction of a fourth daily KLM service from Norwich International Airport to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol following a very successful introduction for summer 2013.

The increased frequency will provide better connections to destinations such as Dubai, Lima and Toronto. In addition, point to point business travellers can also benefit from the convenient flight schedule out of Norwich, which enables them to conduct a full day’s business in the Netherlands removing the need and cost of an overnight stay.

KLM, via their award winning hub airport in Amsterdam, offers local travellers over 100 worldwide destinations on its intercontinental network and over 650 destinations across KLM’s Skyteam partner networks. All accessible with just a one hour check-in at Norwich and baggage checked through to final destination.

The addition of the fourth daily service again this summer further cements Norwich’s position as one of KLM’s most successful departure points on its extensive UK network.

Andrew Bell CEO of Norwich International Airport commented, “KLM’s additional commitment to Norwich Airport is very welcome and we hope that business passengers and those wishing to travel to visit friends and relatives will take advantage of the improved worldwide connectivity”.

For more information on KLM visit www.klm.com or call 0871 231 0000.

ENDS

A free culture and engagement survey launches this month, providing organisations in Cambridgeshire with an invaluable opportunity to gauge their success as a ‘Best Employer’ by asking employees to answer key questions.

Developed by recruitment consultancy firm Pure Resourcing Solutions (Pure), and eras Ltd, provider of psychometric and talent solutions, the ‘Best Employer, Eastern Region’ (BEER) survey is open to organisations until July.

Taking place every other year, the free survey concludes with tailored employer reports and the Best Employer awards in October. Normally worth around £2,000, the confidential staff survey captures honest opinions about how staff feel about working for their organisations. It provides employers with a precious opportunity to develop corporate culture, and workplace practises and environment, to benefit both employees and business.

Lynn Walters, Director of Pure, explains: “Asking your staff to take part in a survey is absolutely essential in enabling your business to develop successfully. The results help you identify the adjustments you need to make, in order to increase employee engagement, which is proven to boost productivity, increase customer satisfaction, reduce absenteeism and improve profitability. “Not only that, but the survey produces benchmark data, which enables you to compare your standing against similar employers in Cambridgeshire, and across the East of England. This is critical in terms of knowing what to do to retain staff, especially now the job market is picking up.” Alex Pearce, Managing Director of eras, adds: “The free survey is an unmissable opportunity. With Pure, we provide guidance, advice and material to help employers communicate and deliver the survey. We are also committed to raising the profile of the diverse range of businesses across the region and we present awards based on survey results to small and large employers across the East of England.”

Awards include an overall Best Employer Eastern Region award, and specific awards for areas such as innovation and customer focus.

The Arthur Rank Hospice Charity was a previous survey participant and award-winner. CEO Dr Lynn Morgan recalls: “It was tremendously encouraging to win a Best Employer award. We have developed our plans for the future with all the team behind us. We continue to work together to provide even better care.”

The 15-minute online survey is suitable for organisations of all sizes in the private and not-for-profit sectors. Survey data and results are 100% confidential.

To find out more, visit www.prs.uk.com or contact Anna Hill, Pure’s Marketing Manager, on: 01223 209888 or [email protected].

An accident can leave you out of pocket; you may suffer a loss of wages, medical expenses, travel expenses due to the negligence of another party. Getting advice to assist you with recouping any expense incurred, in addition to an award of compensation for the injury itself will be one less thing to worry about.

Proving Liability of the Defendant

There are three elements which need to be shown when bring a Personal Injury Claim:

1. That the Defendant owed you a duty of care. 2. That the Defendant was in breach of that duty. 3. That the breach of the duty caused a foreseeable risk of injury.

If the above factors can be proved and the Defendants are unable to produce documentation to show they took reasonable care then the likelihood is that we will be able to hold them liable for your injuries.

Your advisor needs to consider the circumstances of your accident to consider if a breach of duty is owed and the possible Defences available to the Defendant and the evidence that will be required to produce if they are to defend a claim.

Limitation

As a general rule, a Claimant is required to bring a claim for compensation in respect of personal injury within three years of the date of the accident.

However, this is of course not always possible, particularly in cases which involve industrial disease. In such circumstances it is possible to bring a claim within three years of the date of knowledge i.e. when you first became aware that the Defendants breach of duty had caused you injury, loss and damage.

In sexual abuse claims, if exceptional circumstances can be proved, the limitation period may be capable of being waived by the Court but certain criteria would need to be met.

Funding Your Claim

Conditional Fee (No Win, No Fee) Agreements

Advising under the terms of a Conditional Fee Agreement means that if your claim is unsuccessful you do not pay a penny in respect of fees. However, if your claim is successful the majority of fees are claimed from the Defendant, but you would be required to pay a small percentage of that compensation awarded to you by way of success fee.

Legal Expenses Insurance

Another way to fund a personal injury claim is by utilising a policy of Legal Expenses Insurance which you would find attached to a policy of home or, in the case of RTAs, Car Insurance. Not all Legal Expense Insurers would agree to your instructing solicitors of your choice but it is worth checking your policy.

After the Event Insurance

Qualified One Way Costs Shifting means that only in very limited circumstances you may become responsible for the other side’s costs. Legal Expenses Insurance is still available to protect you in respect of this and also with regards to funding disbursements but it is recommend that you await a liability decision from the Defendants, prior to considering whether such a policy is needed.

Please call me If you would like to discuss any potential claim you may have.

Nicola Mason 01493 849200

The employee survey has proven to be a reliable way of gathering accurate information from the very people who make your organisation tick. You can see how you’re doing with staff’s professional development and wellbeing, or how engaged they are feeling.

This feedback is essential if you want to increase productivity levels and prevent your staff job-hunting!

If you’re planning a survey you should also be thinking about how you announce it and, of course, how you encourage people to get involved once it’s live. So let us give you some helpful hints on ramping up those participation levels.

1. Know your audience before creating a survey As with all communications it’s vital that you know your audience before you start putting together the materials. You can’t risk putting your staff off with an overly lengthy, dry survey if you know they’re usually busy with deadlines for example. Give them something more eye-catching and engaging to pique their interest instantly.

2. Launch with a big splash Announcing the opening of the survey can be done in an effective and stylish way! Why not film a short video with the CEO inviting staff to participate? Or how about an HTML email with striking visuals and a clear call to action? The survey launch can be bold, entertaining, clever and meaningful, but whatever you do, make sure you reach out to all of your staff!

3. Be clear about the reasons Employees need to know why you’re running the survey and how their contribution is going to make a difference. Make it crystal-clear that their opinion is essential to the future of the organisation’s success; key decisions will be made based on their feedback. Also, tell them that their answers are completely confidential to encourage them to open up and be 100% honest.

4. Prompt for responses It’s likely that whatever you do to nudge staff to take part in a survey, not everyone will do so. . But for those who can participate but just never seem to find the right moment, a few timely prompts won’t hurt. Desk drops, posters, emails and reminders from managers in team meetings can push things along quite nicely.

5. Offer incentives We all love a freebie! And the good news is that studies show that offering incentives to employees increases the level of responses. Not surprising, you may think! But what’s more interesting is that the size of incentive doesn’t seem to matter. So, whether it’s a novelty prize or something more valuable, people feel obliged to take part in exchange. In fact participants tend to put more time into their answers if they’re rewarded.

6. Promise to help a charity Every year Nationwide Building Society makes a donation to Macmillan for every member that votes in the AGM. If you want to show your support for a local charity, while incentivising and engaging staff, this is the ideal solution. You get precious staff feedback, while your charity partner gets a much-needed financial boost!

So there you have it: tip-top advice that’ll help you gather insight into current challenges and barriers, as well as positive comments on how you’re doing. Soon there’ll be a fantastic opportunity to source staff opinion through the Best Employer, Eastern Region (BEER) survey. Don’t miss the chance to win a ‘Best Employer’ award – get in touch with Pure to find out more: [email protected]!

Norwich TV production company Tin Can Island is looking for an ICT professional and a junior/trainee ICT professional to role play in some semi-improvised scenes in a training video. The video is for Dutch students aged 20-25 who are learning ICT-related English. We want to use professionals rather than actors so the scenarios and vocabulary feel really authentic.

The ICT professional can be any age but the trainee should be aged 20-25. What’s key is that both people are happy and confident in front of a camera and that they speak clear, standard English.

We’ll be filming in Norwich for a half day on a date tbc between 8th and 17th April. There’s a modest payment for contributors. If you’d like to find out more about what’s involved, please contact [email protected] or 01603-776905. We hope to hear from you!

bmi regional is the UK’s most punctual scheduled airline for the ninth consecutive year, independent figures* just released show, placing it ahead of carriers such as British Airways, Ryanair, Flybe and British Airways.

Independent website flightontime.info analyses UK flight punctuality data – which is then used by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) – to assess airlines’ punctuality. The latest figures, for 2013, show that bmi regional achieved an On-Time Performance of over 92 per cent in the previous twelve months, over six per cent greater than BA CityFlyer. This figure also places bmi regional above BA CityFlyer, KLM, CityJet , SAS, Aer Lingus, Flybe and EasyJet. A flight is deemed to be on time if it departs or arrives within 15 minutes of its published schedule.

Cathal O’Connell, CEO of bmi regional, said: “As we continue to develop and expand our network, punctuality is an enduring priority for us. Being named for the ninth consecutive year as the most punctual scheduled airline in the UK is testament to the commitment and hard work of our teams on the ground and in the air who never lose sight of our customers’ needs.”

bmi regional owns and operates an all-jet fleet of 18 Embraer aircraft that serve routes between nine European countries. In 2013 the airline – which became fully independent in June 2012 – expanded its profitable routes, doubled its charter business and launched domestic routes in Scandinavia to serve the oil and gas industry.

All bmi regional flights offer 20kg checked baggage, a full at-seat bar and snack service and 30-minute check-in. In 2013 the airline won the prestigious accolade of Silver Airline of the Year at the European Regions Airline (ERA) Association in Salzburg, Austria.

bmi regional operate daily services to Aberdeen from Norwich International, Please visit www.bmiregional.com for full details.

Bigfork have just finished the Derby Supporter + website for Cover-u, a company that helps sports clubs and charities generate income from their supporter base. Derby County FC have signed up for the service and their Supporter + website offers great deals in financial services for their supporters. The site is promoted through email marketing and mobile campaigns to selected databases.

The website is, of course, responsive (eg mobile friendly) so that it automatically fits desktop, tablet and mobile screens which is essential to this audience. You can see the new website at Derby Supporter Plus

Bigfork – we make websites standout

01603 513080

Norwich-based design agency, The Click Design Consultants, are delighted to discover their advertising campaign for the National Trust, titled Nature’s Playground, has been shortlisted for the ‘Writing for Design’ category in the 2014 Design Week Awards.

The winners will be announced on 15 May at The Troxy, a stunning Art Deco former cinema in East London.

Creative Director, Bobby Burrage, says: “It’s a cliché, however, to us, being shortlisted is like winning already – the calibre of the competition is truly outstanding. We’re honoured and, quite frankly, surprised, that we’ll be allowed in the same room as these design gods! We’re looking forward to what will be a great night.”

www.theclickdesign.com

Twitter: @theclickdesign

It seems that all the signs currently point towards a post-recession Britain. As we ease ourselves out of the economic slump some of us are now beginning to look at growing business.

Employers can make the most of the upturn by looking at their employee engagement strategy. Proven to boost the bottom line through increased productivity, lower staff turnover and improved customer satisfaction, employee engagement is becoming ever more important.

A recent report by the Harvard Business Review (HBR) surveyed companies around the world and confirms that employee engagement is vital in competitive job markets – and it’s beginning to heat up out there with job vacancies increasing! Also, a staggering 71% of companies surveyed rank engagement as very important in achieving organisational success.

So whether you’re an SME or big employer recruiting staff in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk or Suffolk, you really need to address what you are doing to keep employees close.

Why not take a look at your communications. They can strengthen the relationship between employer and employee, by sharing news, recognising achievements and asking for opinions. Taking inspiration from the HBR report, here’s how you can tap into communications:

1. Involve senior management

Senior-level management need to listen to what their teams are telling them, and respond effectively. Be it survey feedback or face-to-face discussions, getting to the root of issues is essential. Decision-makers can then set business objectives that their employees can realistically implement, and feel they’re achieving their goals. After all an employee’s drive can come to a sudden halt if they feel their given tasks are unachievable.

2. All-staff meetings

Public recognition is fantastic for morale! When a team or an employee is thanked in front of the whole organisation they’re going to feel that their hard work is valued. This can be an easy route to engaging with staff on a regular basis. Updates on your organisation’s successes and charity work is another way to showing staff that their efforts are worthwhile. Thanking anyone who is leaving for their contribution will also encourage staff to take positive stories with them to their next job.

3. Staff development

Giving employees opportunities to train and expand on their skill base is fundamental in keeping their loyalty. As the employer you get to invest in your people which helps to build your business. Whether it’s first aid, leadership skills or professional qualifications, giving staff the time to focus on their development leads to increased levels of satisfaction. Everyone wins!

4. Staff intranet or magazine

From news stories, staff surveys and case studies to employee interviews, how-to guides and fact sheets, your intranet or magazine is a fantastic resource for engagement. Running stories on employees’ achievements (both in and out of work) can be really uplifting. It not only helps build a family atmosphere, but it’s another form of public recognition that most of us love! Encouraging the sharing of knowledge and providing guidelines in areas such as IT can help employees do their jobs better and help them save a lot of time spent looking for answers.

5. Corporate social media

Some employers use social media to engage staff. The professional networking platform, LinkedIn, can be a fantastic tool to keep apprentices informed of company news and entry-level job vacancies, for example. Also connecting social media to your intranet means your news can go viral among colleagues, their friends and family.

6. Detailed job descriptions

Employee engagement starts with recruitment! Making sure you recruit the right person and managing their expectations will support your engagement strategy, and increase the chances of the staff member being able to do their job well. A thorough description of the job’s objectives and limitations is vital in attracting the best applicant for your organisation.

Taking just a couple of these examples could be a great way to test out new approaches to employee engagement. There’s a plethora of information online, or you could get a specialist in to get thing rolling. In fact this year’s ‘Best Employer, Eastern Region’ survey gives you the chance to find out what your staff think. Why not get involved?

As I meet and talk with other Norfolk businesses I am greatly encouraged by their strength and resilience, with a significant number reporting increased confidence despite continuing economic pressures and cash flow pressures.

It is a credit to the innovative, flexible and determined nature of business people within our county that, across the diverse range of sectors that make up the commercial community, many are upbeat about sales levels, export opportunities, investment plans and employment creation.

Norfolk has never been a ‘boom and bust’ area and its stability is seen as a positive by the hubs of excellence that have chosen to locate here.

In the county there are now innovative hi-tech firms and highly successful service industries, cutting-edge research and state-of-the-art training and further education facilities, niche manufacturing and tourism operations that are competing on the national, and indeed international, scene. These organisations, along with the solid base of new and established smaller businesses, help keep Norfolk successful as a profitable commercial county.

We still lack some of the essential infrastructure in communications that will be necessary to guarantee sustainable, long-term competitiveness, but with the significant improvements to important parts of the transport network and the county’s push for better broadband coverage, we are addressing the issues. And, importantly for the wider perception of Norfolk as a brand, we are seen to be addressing them in a robust and resolute manner.

At Norse we have enjoyed considerable expansion over the last twelve months, both locally and across of the UK, and have seen first-hand the green shoots of recovery. Hopefully as these encouraging signs start to strengthen Norfolk businesses will be at the forefront of this renewed confidence.

Peter Hawes Managing Director Norse Commercial Services