Annual report and accounts - Cattles Limited

14
Cattles plc Annual Report and Financial Statements 2004
Report on Corporate Social Responsibility continued
supportive environment in which to
develop their careers with us, and that
we encourage and support them to
reach their full potential with Cattles. We
also seek to provide opportunities for
our staff to develop their longer-term
careers with the group.
To facilitate this we have developed a
comprehensive suite of policies,
including those relating to equal
opportunities, flexible working, health
and safety, whistle-blowing and
grievance procedures. In addition, we
have continued to develop our ‘Working
Together’ concept, which clearly defines
our corporate values and objectives for
all our employees.
Cattles currently employs 5,000 people,
an increase of around 6% in the year.
The gender of our staff is almost equally
balanced between male and female
employees, 91% of whom work on a
full-time basis. During the year we have
seen the number of female members of
staff operating in senior management
positions increase to 36 and we look
forward to further progress in this area
as we continue to encourage more of
our employees to seek these roles.
Once again, we have undertaken a
survey of employee satisfaction. This
year almost 80% of employees
responded to the survey with the
majority indicating high levels of
satisfaction. To supplement this we have
held a series of ‘Director Roadshows’,
which enabled employees to put their
questions about the business to
directors and senior managers and to
raise any issues or views they have.
Using the ‘Aspire’ programme, we have
continued to implement our approach to
training and development and career
progression. This provides Cattles with
an ongoing comprehensive and robust
process, ensuring that quality training
and career development opportunities
are available to all our employees.
Throughout 2004 we have provided
induction training to all new employees
and in total have facilitated over 10,000
training days across the group utilising
our seven new regional training centres
and branch offices. Comprehensive
regulatory training has taken place with
over 4,000 employees now being FSA
accredited.
We also strive to improve and further
develop our operational training. For
example, 326 of our branch and area
managers from Welcome Financial
Services participated in a four day
Standard Operation Procedures (SOPS)
Accreditation training course to ensure
their understanding of our working
practices and external regulations. In
addition to this every Customer Account
Manager (CAM) has been required to
attend a dynamic technical workshop
specific to their role.
We are proactive in adhering to current
and future legislation and we continually
focus on achieving consistently excellent
levels of customer service.
Ensuring the health and safety of our
employees, contractors, customers and
the general public is of utmost importance
to Cattles and our commitment is set
out in our Health and Safety Policy. This
year we have introduced the Cattles
health and safety intranet site, which is
available to all employees and provides
guidance and training on relevant
issues, such as computer safety, fire
safety and manual handling.
With a fleet in excess of 1,700 vehicles,
fleet risk management is of paramount
importance. This management process
has been developed in collaboration
with the RAC and our fleet partner, ALD
Automotive, and together we will
address issues, such as risk
assessment, driver training, accident