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Swanstaff donate over 400 items to homeless
Swanstaff Recruitment have donated over 400 warm, waterproof items to charities across the UK. These charities are: Love and Humanity Peterborough Sanctus Chelmsford AMAT Medway The Sanctuary Gravesend House of Mercy Gravesend Maidstone Homeless Outreach Medway Street Angels Help the Homeless Colchester at Christmas After the success of previous Christmas campaigns such as Swan Socks, Christmas Crates and Bundles of Joy, we are proud to have carried on the tradition of making a difference with donating coats and other warm items to the less fortunate this year. The items were donated by Swanstaff employees, our temporary workforce and members of our local communities who all came together to ensure that the homeless are warmer this winter. Homelessness is an increasing issue in the UK. According to Shelter (a housing charity) there are approximately 25,000 homeless living on the streets and at least 295,000 living in temporary accommodation. Approximately 1 in every 200 people in the UK are therefore classified as homeless and this number is still rising. So here at Swanstaff, we feel it’s our duty to make a difference throughout the year but especially around the Winter months. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everybody who donated and helped us reach and exceed our target this year. Until next year…
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Swanstaff Recruitment Children in Need Bake Sale
Swanstaff Recruitment held our annual bake sale in aid of Children in Need and is proud to announce that we raised £136.15. On the 16th November 2018, we invited some of our clients into Head Office to attend our Christmas themed bake sale. This included Rocky Roads, Brownies, Mince Pies, Cookies and Cakes all made by our Swan’s, who also joined in and indulged in the delicious treats. Head Office staff also participated in the BBC Children in Need Duck Race live on the BBC. Each member of staff got to choose a rubber duck that would represent them in the race, at a cost of £2 each. All together we raised an additional £40. Children in need is a such a worthy cause that each year Swanstaff continue to enjoy raising money for.
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Donate a Coat This Christmas
Swanstaff Recruitment are looking for people to join us in donating unwanted coats to those in need this Christmas! Following the success of our previous Christmas campaigns, Swan Socks, Christmas Crates and Bundles of Joy we are excited to continue this tradition and see the impact we can make this Christmas. While most of us think a coat is a go-to item that is always on hand to keep us warm, some people don’t have this basic necessity available to them. If you have an old coat or warm jacket that is no use to you anymore then we encourage you to please donate it and help us help the less fortunate. All through November and up until December 14th, we are holding multiple drop off points where you can come and contribute all your old coats/jackets. We will be taking them to various homeless shelters or to individual people in need across the country. Ellie Lewis, Head of Marketing at Swanstaff said: “At Swanstaff we love to go the extra mile especially at this time of year to encourage charity internally, but also get the local community involved. We have already received an amazing response from our staff and local residents wishing to contribute. We are hoping this will continue and be our biggest campaign to date!" If you, your school, workplace or club would like to get involved then please get in touch with our marketing team by calling 01322 478902 or simply stop by any of our drop off points and someone will be able to assist you.
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Swanstaff Celebrate 2nd MegaGrowth Success
Swanstaff Recruitment is excited to announce that they have placed 39th in the Kent Messenger MegaGrowth 50 publication this year. The achievement was marked on Wednesday 7th November at an event in Maidstone attended by all those who placed on the list. Stephen Rogers, CEO of Swanstaff Recruitment said: “At Swanstaff we are very proud to have been invited to attend this event for the second year running which celebrates growth within businesses across Kent. To be acknowledged for the continued growth of our organisation is always an honour. Achievements like this would not be possible without our staff who always go the extra mile. As a business, we hope to maintain and exceed our own expectations of growth in the coming years. ” The MegaGrowth 50 show cases Kent’s fastest-growing privately-owned businesses ranked by growth in turnover and also exports and staff numbers.
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Swanstaff Week of Wellbeing
Swanstaff Recruitment held their third annual Week of Wellbeing (WoW) from 8th-12th October. The week was structured with a different theme each day covering all aspects of well-being including physical activity, mental health, healthy diets, and mindfulness. The week kick-started with a Hula Challenge and a team pedometer challenge which would run throughout the week. Tuesday was Healthy Eating day where a Recipe book was shared and members of staff were encouraged to share their own favourite healthy lunches – this inspired a large group of staff to club together and cook an amazing team meal! Wednesday was Laughter day – members of staff were able to award a Comic Genius badge to their colleagues via our People HR system and a Pun Competition circulated via email. Thursday was Mental Health Awareness Day and coincided with our Quarterly All Staff Meeting, we invited a speaker from Bexley Mind to come in and speak to employees and also ran a Quiz, Raffle and Backwards Bingo which raised £219 for Mind. We also had our quarterly awards presentations which included WoW awards for the winners of the Comic Genius and Hula Challenges alongside our usual sales and performance awards. Friday was Relaxation day! We circulated calming audio tracks to all teams and set up a relaxation space for staff to enjoy 10 minutes of guided mindfulness during the day. The room was used by many staff and there was great feedback on how it helped them to re-focus and be more productive for the rest of the day. the winners of our Pedometer challenge were also announced with our Accounts team smashing an amazing 62,004 steps over 5 days! They were rewarded with a Wellbeing hamper of goodies. Overall the Swanstaff teams stepped over 400,000 steps (counting 1 person's steps per team, per day). The Wellbeing week received some fantastic feedback from employees across the business including: “Laura was the best speaker we’ve had at a quarterly, she was really engaging and helped make a taboo subject easy to talk about” “The pedometer challenge really made me pay attention to how much exercise I do daily, I’m definitely going to continue tracking my steps” “I loved cooking a healthy meal with my colleagues and it felt great to feed 15 people that probably would have eaten fast food otherwise” “It felt good to win the Comic Genius award, knowing I make my colleagues laugh and happy is great” We have had some great suggestions from staff for the next WoW week and we can’t wait to get planning for 2019!
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Swan's Get Sporty!
On July 5th Swanstaff ventured out into the sunshine to compete in our second company-wide summer sport’s day! The event took place at the Mercure Maidstone Great Danes Hotel. The day included egg and spoon, sack, skipping and relay races as well as a few games of rounders. As to be expected from a company assembled of sales people, the competitive spirits were high and tensions were raised when the scores came close. The overall winners of the day were the team Wack, Sack and Track which showed our finance department to be the sportiest Swans of them all. Stephen Rogers, CEO said “Holding a sports day at one of our quarterly events is certainly a change up to the usual day as a Swanstaff employee but a really special day all in all. The joy of seeing different departments all competing against one another works as a great team building activity and really improves employee well being.” Overall the day was a huge success and we look forward to next years being bigger and better than the last 2 combined. If you’d be interested in becoming a Swan and joining one of our teams at next years sports day, please get in touch with our talent department at talent@swanstaff.co.uk
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Swans take on the Dragon Boat Challenge!
A team of 17 Swanstaff Employees took to the water on July 1st in support of Stacey’s Smiles – a Kent based charity supporting children with Neuroblastoma Cancer. 40 teams took part in the annual Dragon Boat event at Mote Park run by the KM Charity Team, and Swanstaff finished 25th completing their fastest race in 51 seconds! Swans raised over £700 for the charity which provides special treats and wishes to Neuroblastoma children and support to their families. The charity was founded in 2016 by Samantha and Warren Mowle and their son Jake after their daughter Stacey passed away aged 9. Find out more about this amazing charity here http://www.staceyssmiles.org Thank you for your support!
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Swanstaff Releases Gender Pay Report
Swanstaff Recruitment has published its Gender Pay Gap Report as required by law in line with the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017. The figures stated in the report outline everyone on Swanstaff’s company payroll inclusive of our temporary workforce and internal staff. Based on the hourly rate of employees at Swanstaff women’s mean hourly rate is 29.9% lower than men’s. When comparing mean hourly rates, women earn 70p for every £1 that men earn. The median pay difference between all men and women employed by Swanstaff states that at an hourly rate women’s pay is 5% higher than men’s. When comparing median hourly rates, women earn £1.05 for every £1 that men earn. In our last financial year, Swanstaff did not pay any bonuses. In our report we have included the breakdown of the proportion of women in each pay quartile from highest paid to lowest paid throughout the entire organisation. Next steps for Swanstaff Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Rogers said “At Swanstaff, workplace equality in all forms is a primary focus of ours. I am personally committed as CEO to establish the best wellbeing for my staff and ensure that we continue to work towards closing the gap. Creating opportunities is at the heart of our core values and what Swanstaff stands for. I find myself in a position to be able to offer those willing to work for it a successful career and so I understand the importance of recognising and rewarding our staff for doing just this.” Swanstaff offer equal opportunites to all within our organisation. We have our own dedicated training department whos sole purpose is to train our temporary workforce to enable them to gain work; we also have a large number of staff enrolled on external courses. Our staff are the future of Swanstaff so to invest in them is vital to our retention. We are also proud of the fact we have a high percentage of females in senior management roles. Our goal is to be extraoardinary and without these key players we would not be able to do so. To read Swanstaff’s full Gender Pay Report please click here.
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Swan Family launch two centres in Cardiff
Swanstaff Recruitment held their official opening ceremony for two of their newest family contact centres in Cardiff on Friday 12th January 2018. Swanstaff, who took over the contract to run the family Contact Services on behalf of Cardiff Council on the 1st May 2016, already run 5 other Swan Family Contact services in Bedford, Lambeth, Houghton Regis, Coventry and Greenwich. The event was attended by social workers and members of the local council including Irfan Alam, Assistant Director of Children’s Services, Councillor Ashley Lister and Councillor Graham Hinchey. Picture Left to Right - Councillor Ashley Lister, Irfan Alam (Assistant Director of Children’s Services), Zoe Murray (Director of Support Services at Swanstaff), Jodie Poll (Contact Centre Co-Ordinator), Sian Ham (Centre Manager), Councillor Graham Hinchey, CEO Stephen Rogers. Councillor Graham Hinchey said, “As the Cabinet Member for Children and Families, it is a privilege for me to be here today and formally open the council’s provision where the children in our care enjoy contact with their birth families. The Council believes that the interests of the majority of our looked after children are best served by sustaining links with birth families including wider family members and connected others. As cabinet member, I remain wholeheartedly committed to ensuring that our looked after children are the council’s top priority and as such a provision such as this should be nothing less than outstanding and I extend a warm welcome to Swanstaff contact centre staff who will be providing an outstanding service to the council’s looked after children.” Lucy Glass, Director of Contact Services said “Swanstaff are delighted to be able to officially launch our two contact centres in Cardiff in partnership with Cardiff Council. Our mission is to ensure that the child is at the heart of all of our supervised contact services. We ensure that our Centres of Excellence are family friendly, incorporating themed rooms and providing a comfortable, relaxed and safe environment. We facilitate around 50 contact sessions a day from the centres and we were delighted with the positive feedback and praise we received from all who attended the opening.” The Swan Family services in Cardiff are available to both local authority and private referrals; services include Supervised and Supported Contact, Asylum Support, Community Contact, Handover and Transport. For more information about Swanstaff and their Swan Family services, or to make a referral please visit www.swanfamily.org.uk
