Group Human Resorces Director Sophie Cecil, New Directions Holdings Ltd

New Directions Holdings Ltd is pleased to welcome Sophie Cecil as Group Human Resources Director. Sophie joins the team from the MITIE group of companies – a UK FTSE 250 business that has been running for over 23 years.

Sophie’s role within New Directions will involve reviewing and responding to current policies and procedures and employee engagement. Sophie comments “My mission is to ensure that the company is one that all employees want to work for. We believe in succession planning, and offering a comprehensive CPD programme to all of our staff. As the company grows from strength to strength we have to adapt and evolve to ensure our most important resource is equipped”.

New Directions Holdings Ltd has recently received accreditation for their management development programme through the Institute of Leadership and Management. Sophie and colleague Victoria Deane, Group Learning and Development Manager have mapped the programme with the University of Glamorgan.

It is anticipated that the programme will be offered to staff from April 2012.

As the group works towards Investors in People (IIP) status, ensuring a sounder business for the future, Sophie will be trying to ensure that New Directions employees feel valued.

Carl comments "Businesses regardless how big or small are required to provide staff with the necessary training and equipment needed to provide their service. It is also a requirement to ensure customers remain safe throughout their experience with the business. It costs as little as £35 to put a member of staff through a first aid course, but it can cost in excess of £5m to pay a customer for an injury caused within the workplace".

Carl joins the team after a career of seven years with the RAF as a paramedic, and three years as a director of a private ambulance company. Steve Shepherd, Training Manager for the company adds "New Directions has been embedded within the business community for over 20 years; we felt it pertinent to reflect the needs of our ever evolving clientele. Carl brings specific knowledge so that we can now deliver specialist clinical courses".

According to the HSE* an estimated 603,000 workers had an accident in 2010/11 – 200,000 of these led to over 3 days absence from work and 150,000  to absence over seven days.

*http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causinj/index.htm

ND Training is pleased to confirm our experienced trainer Victoria Deane is now qualified to deliver the Level 2 Award in Paediatric Emergency First Aid and the Level 2 Award in Principles of Paediatric Emergency First Aid. The national standards for first aid in childcare settings state that ‘at least one person who has a current paediatric first-aid certificate must be on the premises at all times when children are present’. Additionally, at least one person with a current paediatric first-aid certificate must accompany every outing. Paediatric First Aid is primarily aimed at those working in child-care settings, but it will be useful for anyone with responsibility for caring for infants and children. We will be up-dating all our clients in the near future to let them know we are now able to deliver this valuable CIEH qualification and lifesaving skill, if you would like more information or would like to book click here

Steve Shepherd said “This is a fantastic achievement for ND Training and I would like to thank everyone for all their hard work and on-going commitment in making this award possible. We are now able to deliver diplomas and are keen to begin signing up learners as soon as possible. This centre approval has been possible due to the support and contribution we received from our implementation team who will aim to offer a consistent and quality service.

ND Training & Diplomas is going places”.

This event will take place on: Tuesday 21st June between 10:00am-14:00pm and will be held at:

The Motorpoint Arena
(Formerly Cardiff International Arena, CIA)
Mary Ann Street
Cardiff
CF10 2EQ

This is an open session for Residential/Nursing Home/SEN Managers to attend and fully appreciate the services both Vitalyz and ND Training can offer.

**If you would be interested in attending then please call us on: 02920 390150 (option 5) and ask for our Training Team

By bringing together autism organizations all around the world, we will give a voice to the millions of individuals worldwide who are undiagnosed, misunderstood and looking for help. Please join us in our effort to inspire compassion, inclusion and hope.

As a number of our service users and employees are affected by Autism it is vital we support such a worthy cause and look forward to increasing the awareness locally and throughout our company network.

Please all remember those less fortunate than yourselves and help & support where you can, it all helps no matter how small.

To mark the landmark event Lesley Griffiths AM, Deputy Minister for Science, Innovation and Skills, presented special lapel pins to staff of The Royal Hotel Cardiff, the first hotel in the Welsh Capital to undergo ‘WorldHost’ training. The programme is regulated by People's 1st, the Government's sector council for hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism. A locally-based consortium of New Directions Training in partnership with Christie Wells Associates were awarded the contract to deliver the training, and will be expanding the programme to other public-facing organisations including hotels, shops and taxi companies.

Speaking at the hotel, located close to the Millennium Stadium which will also host 11 of the men’s Olympic football matches, Lesley Griffiths AM said: “The London 2012 Olympics are clearly providing further impetus for Wales to further improve its visitor offer. It is excellent to see the public and private sector coming together in partnership to boost customer service skills levels in the hospitality and leisure industry, which is a vital component of our tourism economy. I commend the Royal Hotel staff on becoming the first to qualify in the WorldHost programme.”

People's 1st adopted WorldHost following its successful implementation at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, where it was used to train 39,000 volunteers and tourism staff. It aims to license 400 trainers around the UK to train 200,000 hospitality and tourism personnel ahead of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Phil Raynsford, Strategic Programmes Director of People’s 1st said: “We have recognised that the UK needs to raise its game in customer service standards to take advantage of the estimated £2bn to be generated from visitors to the Olympics and WorldHost is a key part of that drive. The UK is ranked 14th in the international customer service rankings and we need to convince businesses to take on fresh new customer training ideas. Our research has shown that sixty-eight percent of businesses in the UK which implemented customer service training said generating repeat business was a key benefit while 18 percent said they saw increased sales.”

Jon Swingler, Manager of The Royal Hotel said: “Cardiff is well practiced in hosting international sporting events, and our hotel being so close to the Millennium Stadium, is no exception. But there is always room for improvement to boost the capital’s tourist reputation; we welcome the opportunity to adopt and champion the very latest in Olympic-oriented customer service standards.”

WorldHost training covers four customer service training components. These encompass the principles of customer service, an ‘ambassadors’ workshop, service for customers with disabilities and service across cultures.

Victoria Deane of New Directions Training and Kevin Christie of Christie Wells Associates are delivering the WorldHost programme in Cardiff.

On behalf of their partnership, Kevin Christie and Victoria Deane said: “It is important for hospitality businesses to take on board innovations in customer service training which were well proven as recently as the Vancouver Winter Olympics last year. Staff at the Royal clearly found WorldHost a refreshing and motivating adjunct to in-house training and to help their businesses and the economy we would to see many more organisations follow their lead.”  Book now.