Company matters

Offering support for independent kitchen and bathroom firms because your business is our business

Management

How flexible working benefits employers

There’s no doubt in my mind that ‘remote working’ will become more mainstream this year, as employers in all sectors make tough decisions about their future. In fact, if we look at the UK’s changing population and rise of big data, leading to businesses across the country becoming accessible anytime-anywhere, then remote working is already here - and rarely switches off! This is one of the main reasons why 20th century business models following up to seven eight-hour days are no longer sustainable or desirable.

Flexible patterns

I’m a fully-paid up member of the vampire hours club and remote working, as I connect with clients and candidates outside traditional working hours. But if my words don’t sway you. The latest surveys show that remote working has been linked to increased happiness. In addition, working parents are speaking out. The Bright Horizons Modern Families Index 2022 Spotlight stated over two-thirds want flexibility on their time and place of work. Over half of

Training

Why design training is so important

How many times have you come across a poorquality kitchen or bathroom installation on a site measurement visit? At CD UK, we spend years researching the market for the best and most innovative products to help retailers deliver outstanding kitchen and bathroom solutions. And we know that – when carefully looked after – our products can stand the test of time, if they are designed, fabricated and installed to a high standard.

Helping designers

Kitchen and bathroom designers must go on a journey to understand how to source the best products and materials, helping them unlock their full potential – and this is only possible with training. Training designers and fabricators is key, so they have all the tools needed to design them (56%) believe that career progression is possible while working flexibly.

I think as more millenials hit the big 4-0 and form the lion’s share of the working population, it makes sense this trend will grow. As more people are living in multi-generational households and starting families later in life, supporting working parents and demonstrating how the KBB industry can provide excellent earning potential is key. I do my bit in shouting it from the rooftops every day, as well as through my outreach work in the community. l invite you to play your part in ensuring we are a go-to effectively with our solutions, and bring them to life. This ensures a smooth and pleasant design process and, ultimately, delivers outstanding projects that will stand the test of time and reduce the amount of waste the kitchen and bathroom industry produces every year.

Tailored courses

For designers, specifying surface materials for a kitchen or a bathroom can be daunting. The market offers infinite options, so it means they often limit their choice to what they know. Tailored training courses are an effective way to help designers learn and understand materials, their unique benefits, and how to pick and apply the right ones to unlock their full design potential. By training designers, we effectively work with them to push the boundaries of materiality, to bring to life virtually all of their creative ideas, delivering unique designs that stand out for beauty, quality and innovation.

profession and not the world’s best-kept secret. The beauty of remote working is it’s ability to be tailored to suit the needs of your business and future team moving forwards. So what does this mean to you; the independent retailer which opens to the public 6 days a week facing supply chain issues and soaring energy costs? Well, it means establishing a business model that allows you to recruit for full-time roles, hybrid-remote working and the 4-day workweek, so that your business can keep pace with the working population.

Working for all

As with so many things in life, new ideas don’t have to ‘be all or nothing’. Look at your balance sheet and ask yourself if offering remote working 1 or 2 days a week would help your to cut costs on site, help your team with their work-life balance, boost morale and make you a more attractive employer? In my opinion, work needs to work for everyone in your organisation. Let’s bin the idea that remote working is a privilege which must be earned or that it is only for senior managers while everyone else works their tails off.

When we consider the advances in everyday technology in the past five years and our

Suppliers should offer courses at all levels, from the basics of working with and getting to know the products to advanced and tailored workshops to fill skill gaps and help take the work of your trusted customers to the next level. At CD UK, we then take it a step further by advising designers on which products can complement their designs both aesthetically and functionally. These could be sinks and taps or surfaces – what matters is that the final design is bulletproof.