Together magazine &
March 2021
HANDICARE
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Hello from your Senior Management Team...
Continued growth in 2020 In the UK we sold
47,234 products
Accessibility organic revenue growth
12.3% outperforming the previous year’s results
Paul Stockdill, Richard Whitehouse, Paul Sykes, Ian Docherty, Emma Bowker, and Andy Williams.
It’s always good to start the year positively and we’ve certainly done that! Our customers continue to say how much they rate our products and services, and they’ve helped us once again to achieve the highest Feefo Trusted Service Awards in 2021. This is down to every single one of you who takes the time and care to ensure our customers have the best possible experience from the first point of contact to the installation of their adaptation to the on-going aftercare. Thank you from us all. We couldn’t be more proud of what the Handicare team achieves every day! Now that Boris has announced his roadmap out of lockdown we all have something positive to look forward to, whether that’s seeing friends and family, planning a holiday or getting back to the workplace and catching up with colleagues. Better times are on the way, starting with Easter in early April! We hope you all have an enjoyable, relaxing, chocolate-filled and socially-distanced (of course!) long weekend! #StaySafe #StayWell
“We have managed to show resilience, despite the impact of Covid-19.” Henrik Teiwik, CEO
Handicare 1100: the stairlift that’s a game-changer! Thiis Retailers Choice of the Year 2020 Alastair Gibbs of TPG DisableAids chose the Handicare 1100 as their choice of 2020 in December’s issue of Thiis Magazine.
“There are few straight stairs that cannot be overcome with the Handicare 1100.”
Senior Stairlifts’market leader “The 1100 is a unique stairlift, not only is it, in our opinion, the most aesthetically pleasing stairlift on the market, but one that has taken a new technology and really made it work! The 1100 is going to be, if not already, one of the market leaders in the future of straight stairlifts.” Joe Stevenson, Senior Engineer
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Our #OneFamily Album Every issue we’ll be sharing photos and reviews received from happy dealers and customers around the world – if you’d like to see more follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin!
A Handicare 1100 slide track installed by Edinburgh Stairlifts and posted on Facebook with the comment: “We love installing these lifts and seeing the difference they make to our customers.”
From our Italian partner Freemo, a perfectly fitting Freecurve stairlift that co-ordinates with the staircase beautifully!
This Handicare 2000 has been installed in Malta by our partner Comfort Stairs. Another great example of colour co-ordination!
Thanks to Carelift Services in East Anglia for sharing this Freecurve with a Turn ‘n’ Go seat on a really narrow staircase!
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Customers at the heart of our business
“Platinum” and “Gold” awards for our trusted service
Our customers have rated their experience worthy of the highest service standards, according to this year’s Feefo Trusted Service Awards which recognise businesses for delivering exceptional experiences, as rated by real customers.
We won the Gold Trusted Service award for our stairlift and easy bathing solutions delivered in association with Age UK Enterprises. Companion received the Platinum Trusted Service award for the second consecutive year. Head of Customer Service Sarah Sutcliffe said:
“We’re hugely proud our customers continue to rate their experience with us so highly. Coming after a period when our teams faced such challenging conditions as a result of the pandemic, the awards really are testament to their willingness to go the extra mile and their commitment to do their very best for our customers.”
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A local authority OT shares a message from a customer who’s over the moon with their new stairlift…
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Dedicated to helping engineers on site quickly Our Technical Service Desk helps partners’ engineers find the answers to questions about all our stairlifts so they can feel confident whatever they are dealing with. Time-served lift engineer Gordon Kerr has been with Handicare for more than a decade. Now he’s joined the team responsible for the Technical Service Desk service. He’s keen to help others complete their tasks, whether they’re carrying out routine maintenance or fixing a breakdown. Back in 2010, Gordon made the switch from passenger lifts to stairlifts and joined Handicare with the expectation of putting his knowledge and experience to good use while learning about stairlifts “on the job” in the Paisley area. Since then, he’s worked on local authority contracts, and covered the whole of Scotland and North England as part of the mobile response team. More recently, as a Senior Engineer he has been providing installation training and technical support to partners across the UK.
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“I know how important it is to find the solution to a problem when you’re on site. It can be quite stressful when you can’t fix something and you’re in the customer’s home. I’ve been there, I know what it’s like,” says Gordon. With increasing demand for stairlifts and the additional health and safety introduced due to Covid-19, Gordon knows there are more pressures than ever on engineers to get the job done quickly. “I want to give our partners the confidence to know they’ll find the answers every time.” A keen gamer, Gordon likes nothing better than the feeling he gets from overcoming a challenge or searching the vast amounts of information online to find the answer to a tricky technical question! A perfect match for the demands of the Technical Service Desk!
Special Thanks For Going the Extra Mile ...and then some! To everyone who jumped in to help out in despatch this year, particularly when we had the Covid-19 outbreak.
eFamily
#StrongerTogether #On
They still shipped over 4000 items during the incident with a handful of original department members and a lot of volunteers from across the business plus all the extra support that people outside the immediate crisis put in to support, such as field service engineers covering extra hours and associates stepping up to cover for colleagues moving into despatch.
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Meet our new CEO & President Henrik Teiwik… What attracted you to the job at Handicare? First, that we are offering products and solutions that improve people’s lives – it is a great motivator to know that what we do matters. Second, I know that we have had a mixed performance in the past but I strongly believe we have ample opportunities to develop and grow our business further. Jointly, we need to prioritise and focus on the initiatives that matter. What is your first impression of Handicare? Our organisation is passionate about what we do and we are strongly committed to our brand. I also believe we have a market-leading position in many of the niches we play in which is a good foundation to work from. Moreover, we are a Group that consists of many different businesses and operations and we have to work more on aligning our operating models, underlying processes, and further come together as an organisation to ensure consistency and efficiency in our business.
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What is your first impression of the people at Handicare (those you have met so far)? First of all, I want to give a big thank you to all of you for making me feel welcomed to this organisation. I have in the past weeks been privileged to meet many of you in different group and individual team meeting discussions, foremost to learn the business and the way we work. Collectively, we have a wealth of knowledge and experience that we need to continue to nurture and leverage. All successful business starts with the people. I also feel a bit frustrated about the current travel bans restricting me from visiting our sites and operations, but I am optimistic about the future and also believe adapting to more virtual meetings is part of the new normal.
7 How do you view the market – short term?
What do you enjoy most about your job?
As commented on in our latest quarterly report, as a consequence of COVID-19 we are experiencing firmer restrictions in our key markets, particularly in Europe. Therefore, forecasting is particularly difficult in the short term, and we are expecting the coming quarter to be more volatile. However, we also know the markets can recover fast once these restrictions are relaxed.
Engaging with colleagues on matters that make a difference to our customers and to our organisation. Coaching people to decisions and follow them through is also something I get energised by.
How do you view the market – long term? Longer term, I am confident that our products and solutions are supported by positive underlying trends, foremost the ageing population and the increased focus on Healthy Ageing. However, this does not mean there is a free ride – on the contrary, we need to ensure we step up and become increasingly relevant to the customer demands. What important decisions have you made so far in your role as CEO of Handicare? Being a bit over a month in our company, I am still in a learning phase. Nevertheless, I have immediately kicked off a strategy process with the management team. It is important that we as an organisation revisit our starting point and align on the direction forward. We have already many good ideas on what we want to do but we need to ensure we prioritise them accordingly and continuously follow up on execution to ensure we develop as a company.
IN A WORD…
What is the hardest part of your job? As a newcomer, finding the right balance to stay curious and question the status quo versus being humble to the rationale for why things are as they are. My job is to challenge the organisation to continuously improve but also have respect for differences in opinions. How important is sustainability to you? Sustainability in the stricter definition is close to my heart – I strongly believe in climate change and that our resources on this planet are limited, which implies we significantly need to change the way we live if we are going to secure a sustainable world for the next generations. Each and all of us have a responsibility to support working for a better future, also organisations like Handicare, and we need to do it in a manageable way and within the context in which we operate.
Family: Yes, wife and two daughters 6 and 4 years old Favourite food: Italian Favourite drink: A cold beer Favourite holiday destination: Melbourne (lived there for 6 month) Favourite band/artist: The Arsenal (premier league football) Favourite film or TV programme: Seinfeld (I can see the reruns all day long) Favourite gadget: My new Wilson Prostaff tennis racquet
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Wellbeing SURVEY Thanks so much to everyone who took the opportunity to share their feedback in the January Wellbeing survey, ‘How Are You Doing?’. Around 20% of our UK workforce took part and we’ve been reviewing the comments to ensure we’re focusing on the most important things to you. Have a look at the results and the actions below, to see what we’re doing to continue to prioritise colleague wellbeing in these difficult times.
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Nominee: Nigel Jackson, Despatch Cell Leader Nominated by: Clare Staniland, Trade Partner Supervisor Nigel has been instrumental in UK Trade managing to reach and surpass their targets. He has had to overcome manpower shortages on his team and he always goes above and beyond to ensure that Handicare are providing the very best possible service for our dealers. Well done and thank you to Nigel for going the extra mile! (Andrew Holland, Warehouse Manager presented Nigel with his gift).
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Don’t forget that you can get in touch directly with HR; through your line manager or by emailing covid@handicare.com with any questions, suggestions or ideas you have for us. We love to hear from you!
> You’d like to see lateral flow tests > We are working with the local council available for colleagues working on site to access the lateral flow test system for employees > You want our key workers out in the > 21 colleagues have already been vaccinated field to have access to vaccinations and we continue to work with councils to > You’d welcome closer enforcement of increase this (see photos below) the Covid-secure rules in place on site > We will ensure that managers stay close to this and supervise, please also raise any concerns directly
> You said you would like access to > BHSF members can access counselling counselling to support you with on 0800 107 6145. Contact HR if you haven’t joined yet! the current challenges > We are looking into wellbeing initiatives > You told us you would like to see that everyone can access. If there is more opportunities to connect anything you’d like to see, just let HR know! and access social support during the pandemic
STAY TOGETHER
STAY SAFE
What we’re doing
STAY WELL
What you said
> You’d like regular updates about what > We have been sending out regular updates and will use more surveys to is happening around the business to get your views, we’re also working on stay informed updating Sharepoint as a comms hub > You told us that you would enjoy > We’re keen to know what social activities more opportunities to interact both you’d like to see, so please let HR know. with colleagues at work and socially We are working on some ideas we can share with you soon.
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Nominee: Sam Cooper, Senior Field Service Engineer (South) Nominated by: Dean Connon, Regional Field Service Manager When Sam called ahead to give his customer his eta, he learned that her husband had sadly passed away the previous evening. She was understandably upset and in floods of tears. Sam took it upon himself to re-route and buy flowers and a sympathy card from everyone at Handicare. Sam clearly went above and beyond the call of duty and Dean wanted to commend him on his compassion for our customer. Well done and thank you Sam for going the extra mile!
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Every issue we’ll be taking a virtual trip to meet one of Handicare’s teams in another part of the world…
Meet the team: APAC
The team supporting partners in Asia Pacific has been expanding to cope with a steady increase in business. Here we introduce you to two of the newest members: Ling Xiaohua, based in the Netherlands, and Shengli Feng, based in our branch office in Xiamen, China.
Shengli Feng
Ling Xiaohua (please call me Lynn)
Job title: Technical Support
Job title: Customer Service Representative
Where do you come from? I come from Xiamen City, China.
Where do you come from? I come from Dongguan, a city in the Guangdong province in Southern China. I lived there for 28 years before moving to the Netherlands last year to live with my partner.
How many languages do you speak? I speak two languages, Mandarin and English. Where have you worked before joining Handicare? I have a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and 18 years’ experience on mechanical manufacturing and commissioning in heavy industrial fields such as gas turbine, steel mill, paper mill, wind turbine, etc. What attracted you to Handicare? Sunrise (growing) industry and the European background. What are your goals in your new job? To provide perfect service to APAC partners and end users. What do you do when you are not working? Running!
How many languages do you speak? My mother language is Cantonese Chinese, but I am also fluent in Mandarin Chinese and English. Where have you worked before joining Handicare? I studied English at university, but after I finished my education, I worked as a teacher of early childhood education in Wanda Group in China. Then I worked in a British shoe company in China, and in the international leather business acting as a middleman between customers and suppliers. What attracted you to Handicare? What I like about Handicare is that they make a product which I might be able to use myself one day. The stairlifts that we produce can make a big difference for someone’s life and can help people to keep living in their house that they become so attached to, which makes everyday life easier. What are your goals in your new job? My goal is to become a reliable source of information for all the questions partners might have. What do you do when you’re not working? I like to travel with my partner. At least once a year I try to go back to China to see my family for Chinese New Year. I am also a huge pet lover, both cats and dogs. I hope to have my own pet very soon.
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Quality Matters Customer-driven quality is important to us all here at Handicare. Manufacturing and supplying consistently reliable and safe stairlifts is at the heart of what we do. Listening to feedback from our teams and our partners, as well as the people who use our stairlifts, ensures we retain our focus on improving product quality across our range. Maria Jansson, Vice President Quality & Regulatory Affairs shares an update on what is being done across all our sites to keep quality matters at the top of everyone’s to-do list!
Handicare 2000: Improvements lead to increased quality There’s been a reduction in paint, finishing and rail joint complaints after the new visual standards were introduced across the production shop floor, working with suppliers and improving communication. In addition, training to these new standards has been completed with the production teams and the manufacturing supervision team which has resulted in a greater understanding of
the quality expected of all products. Additional standards for each operation will be a goal to achieve during 2021. Quality is working with production to oversee and deliver a new 2000 crimp joint machine to support our ‘right first time’ culture and increase the quality of the ride through the entire rail.
Handicare 1100: Getting in control of product quality An increasing number of partners worldwide are choosing our Handicare 1100 as their preferred straight stairlift.
a modified powerpack which was trialled in February in the UK, with excellent results.
We are grateful to everyone inside and outside the business who has been providing feedback which has helped us address issues quickly to be in control of product quality.
Lee Craig, Technical Support and Training Team Leader, who has been with Handicare for 20 years, was leading on the field trial in February. He was one of the first to install two of the modified powerpacks.
Areas which have given rise to a large amount of feedback include the powerpack and intermittent charging issues. We have listened, and implemented containment actions to address concerns. Quality has worked closely with R&D since the launch, and most recently has developed
“Our partners can have complete confidence that any issues they may have experienced with intermittent charging are now resolved. It’s now 110% reliable and this is the perfect fix for moving forwards.”
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Big wins for everyone thanks to our new integrated out of hours phone service Just before Christmas we changed the way we manage calls to our out of hours phone service. We moved to a single provider, Your Business Voice (YBV) so we could give our internal customers (field service engineers and customer service) better support and help them do their job more efficiently. The move has seen a MASSIVE improvement and big wins for:
Our customers They get immediate support for stairlift breakdowns, with the possibility of quicker fixes thanks to the over the phone fixing process They know immediately when an engineer will visit them and if they will be charged, or if the work will be covered by their warranty. They can book a scheduled service if they call out of hours.
Our field service engineers They receive calls and email notifications of visits scheduled for them by the YBV team, with full details of the customer and their issue. They have the same information about the customers they are visiting during out of hours appointments/emergencies as they do on their regularly scheduled visits. They’re making fewer wasted out of hours journeys. They visit customers who have a greater understanding of what can be achieved during their visit. We are managing their expectations better.
Our customer service team They now have up-to-date systems all the time! No need to log calls taken by the out of hours team every morning and after the weekend!
Commenting, Clare Brophy said: “This is a huge step forward in terms of providing a consistently excellent customer experience, whatever the time of day our customer calls. It’s also made life easier for our field service engineers who are on call and visiting customers in urgent need of help.”
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Homeschooling “end of term” celebrations While many of us are celebrating the re-opening of schools this month, there have been some primary pupils who were sad to see the end of their Wednesday morning online sessions with Handicare’s lockdown teacher Gemma (Mrs Hainsworth). Over the six weeks that Gemma has been teaching Handicare’s youngsters, 31 children have taken part in Maths, English and Art sessions arranged with the aim of giving WFH associates an hour off from their homeschooling duties. “I have absolutely loved working with all of the children in our sessions, thank you for asking me to tutor them during these unsettled times, I hope it helped the parents get an extra hour,” said Gemma.
Quotes from kids: “Mrs Hainsworth was the best teacher ever, she is so good at explaining things and her lessons are really fun!” Lucas, aged 9 “I want to carry on with Mrs Hainsworth’s lessons forever.” Ayla, aged 6
Quote from Parents “Our school haven’t been able to provide any live lessons, so the sessions with Gemma have been great for the kids to interact with a teacher. She was so personable and clicked with the kids straight away, which meant we could leave them in her capable hands for an hour knowing we could get things done without interruption. Thanks so much for this support, I don’t know of any other companies doing this sort of thing.”
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Nominee: Kwando Boateng (Joe), Recycling Associate Nominated by: Rob Cullis, Regional Field Service Manager ‘Joe’ as he is known to associates on site in Kingswinford does a fantastic job of keeping the factory clean inside and out. Recently, he helped out massively when Rob emptied the Exeter storage unit and several depots of rubbish, returning to Kingswinford with van loads of cardboard. This increased Joe’s workload significantly, but he recycled it all with a smile on his face, as always. Well done and thank you Joe for going the extra mile!
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Stunning wetroom donation to help dad-of-two paralysed after fall at home
Handicare has donated an accessible and modern wetroom to help a Blackburn family bring a young dad home after a fall down the stairs last year left him paralysed. Our Partner in Blackburn, Modern Mobility contacted us when an employee shared the news about the accident with owner Ben Charlesworth just before the first lockdown in 2020. Security guard Clint Grieve, 40, who was also a semi-professional boxer and mixed martial artist, had life-changing injuries after the fall. His wife Elizabeth launched a fundraising page to generate £40,000 to pay for the equipment to adapt their home ready for him to return and to aid his rehabilitation after spinal surgery. Lyndsey Jackson-Smith said: “After Ben contacted us, we were very happy to help by providing the wetroom for Clint and his family who have had such a difficult time. Dealing
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with a dramatic life-changing accident and the lockdown restrictions meant it was doubly hard for Clint’s family and friends who have really rallied round to help. We wish them all the very best and hope that by contributing in this way, more of the money they raise can be spent on the specialist equipment to aid his recovery.” After the wetroom was finished earlier this year, Clint’s wife Elizabeth said: “This is going to make such a huge difference to him personally and our family. The finish of the work is done to the highest standard. I realise the cost and time to you for doing this is of great value and I honestly can’t thank you enough for all your help and generosity you have shown to our family during such a difficult time for us.
“Again, thank you so much for the difference you have genuinely made to our lives and a better quality of life for my husband to be able to access a shower.”
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D365 Project Update Former Companion Sales & Marketing Director David Harrison has re-joined Handicare! His new role – as Customer Experience Director is to oversee activities for optimising the customer journey worldwide. He’s taking a lead role in our efforts to leverage technology to improve efficiency, to get it ‘right first time’ and to make life easier for our customers, people and partners. Here he provides an update on progress on the D365 project… As many of you will be aware, we have now begun in earnest the journey of replacing our fragmented and decentralised IT systems with a globally unified Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system – Microsoft Dynamics 365.
In fact, the sales management stream workshops have already kicked-off in early March, and even with the limitations of remote working, the sessions are indeed proving productive, with involvement and interaction at a high level!
Our starting point was the ‘overall’ workshops, which took place in February with our technical partner, ATOS, in order to define Handicare’s high level ‘end-to-end’ processes.
Over the coming weeks and months, it may be the case that you or members of your team may be called upon to take part in these function stream workshops. Participation, if required, is very much appreciated and key to helping us ensure all business areas, product types and functions are accounted for when planning the future systems for Handicare.
Subsequently, over the remainder of quarter 2 and into quarter 3, further workshop sessions will be arranged to delve deeper into the following specific function streams:
• Sales Management
If you have any questions or input around D365 implementation, please reach out to Global Customer Experience Director, David Harrison, or Handicare Project Manager, Bill Öjbro.
• Field & Customer Service • Financial & Accounting • Supply Chain
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Can you help Ryan raise money for Neuroblastoma UK? Ryan Ashton, one of our Field Service Engineers in the North, is planning a live event at the end of March as a fundraiser to help his friends who very sadly lost their young daughter to cancer. Amelia was diagnosed with neuroblastoma in October last year. It affects around 100 children each year in the UK. “After many of my friends and family telling me to just shave off my hair, I knew when I heard about Danny and Rhiannon’s tragic loss that this would be the perfect way to raise loads of money for their princess,” said Ryan. Ryan has set up a gofundme page: https://uk.gofundme.com/f/ryans-head-shave-foramelia-done-by-danny-hill and is hoping to raise £1,500 for the charity.
He says: “The shave will be streamed live on Saturday 27th March. Please help donate as much as you possibly can! Many thanks.”
NEW ARRIVAL Congratulations to surveyor Antoni Jones and his family who welcomed Theo Daniel on 9 February.
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Congratulations to all our Associates celebrating a LONG SERVICE AWARD! JANUARY
Lee Craig Technical Support Team Leader Natalie Potter Production Supervisor
Ian Lyttle Field Service Engineer (Scotland)
Michael Burrows Field Service Engineer (North)
Sam Barnbrook
15 years 15 years 10 years 10 years 5 years
Warehouse Operative
Paul Claridge Field Service Engineer (South)
5 years
FEBRUARY
Paul Sykes
5 years
R & D Manager
MAY
Rob Wood Technical Support Trainer Nick Luckett R & D Principal Engineer
Serwat Malek Finance
20 years 20 years 5 years
The next issue of Together Magazine will be published in June. If you’d like to send us a story idea or photo please send an email to sarah.ferguson@handicare.com before Friday 28th May.