Friday 21 July 2017 get the news online and on the go at thedistrictpost.co.uk
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@Home does it again with another prestigious award
Paul Davies @Home Estate and Letting Agency has won the British Property Awards for Horsham 2017. It’s a prestigious award which is only awarded to estate agents who have demonstrated outstanding customer service and who have been shown to always go that extra mile. The vigorous vetting and judging process for the awards
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included mystery shopping and 25 different criteria against which local estate agents were judged. Having won, @Home have now also been shortlisted for a number of national awards. It’s not the first time @Home have been in the spotlight. They’ve already won estate agent of the year 2016 for both Southwater and the RH13 area and Director Paul Davies has himself won Person of the Year in Estate Agency for RH13, awarded by All Agents, the UK’s leading independent estate agent review site. Last year they were also nominated for the Business Matters’ awards for business start-up of the year, innovation and best customer experience. So, what’s their secret? “I suppose my secret is, that right from the start, I wanted @ Home to be a different kind of estate agency. My mission and driving force is to take the pain and stress out of buying or selling a house whilst still getting the best possible deal. That means thinking about things a little differently. We financially vet potential
buyers, we produce fantastic marketing materials, we’re really considerate when it comes to viewings and we are always there, when a client needs us.” Explains Paul Davies, Sales and Marketing Director. “I’ve also made sure that my team feel as passionately about customer service as I do and we do our best to support our local community. I’m thrilled with this award as it shows all our hard work is paying off and customers really do, love what we do” Having launched in 2015, @ Home have produced some impressive results. Over the last year, Rightmove and Zoopla have both announced that @Home had achieved the highest click through rate of all estate agents in the RH12 and RH13 areas and of the properties that @Home have sold, they have achieved over 100% of the advertised sale price. This latest award shows they have no intention of giving up their position as a leading force in estate agency in this area. You can find out more by visiting their website http://www. athomeestates.uk
BBi Horsham awarded Chartered Insurance Broker Status by CII
The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) has awarded the coveted status of Chartered Insurance Broker to Horsham Insurance Brokers Ltd, who trade as BBi Horsham. Sussex-based BBi Horsham is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Berns Brett Group (BBi) and is the third BBi business to achieve chartered accreditation. BBi Berns Brett was awarded the same status in April, while sister company BBi Financial Planning Ltd also received Chartered Financial Planners status earlier this year. CII Chartered status is an exclusive title only awarded to brokers that meet rigorous criteria relating to professionalism and capability. All Chartered Insurance Brokers commit to the institute’s Code of Ethics, reinforcing the highest standards of professional
practice in their business dealings. This latest endorsement by the CII comes as the BBi Group continues with its 50th anniversary celebrations. BBi are also Lloyd’s Brokers and members of the UNA Alliance. David Skinner, BBi Group Director, commented: “Securing Chartered Status for three of our businesses has come at a very special time in our Group’s history. Once again this is testament to the emphasis we place on all our employees to gain professional qualifications and to provide the highest standard of advice and service to our customers.” For more information, please contact David.Skinner@bernsbrett.com or visit www.horshaminsurance.co.uk
Absenteeism high in South East workforce Absenteeism costs the UK economy £18 billion per year Women absent for 2.8 million more days than men in past three months Data taken from more than 180,000 employees Employees in the South East accounted for a whopping 590 days of absenteeism per 1,000 employees in the past three months alone. But it’s not all bad news when compared to the rest of the UK; only London has a better absenteeism rate out of all regions. This is just one of the statistics revealed following the launch of a report, the “Absence Management Barometer”, by workplace absence management specialists, FirstCare. The data is gathered from the UK’s first, most complete and accurate source of information drawn up from monitoring more than 13 million days of absence across more than 180,000 employees. It revealed that in March, April and May of this year, 0.59 days were lost per employee (DLPE) in the South East. The North East were the worst offenders with 0.92 DLPE. The North West and then the West Midlands closely followed Wales in second place. London had the lowest rates of absenteeism with almost half the amount of days lost as people in the North East at 0.5 DLPE. The biggest cause for absenteeism in the South East was mental health issues, with 117 days lost per 1,000 days across the region for May alone. The second being musculoskeletal issues. These
two conditions dominate the top two places across the whole of the country. This report follows the launch of the ‘Change at Work’ report in March where it was revealed some £18 billion is lost to the UK economy every year due to absenteeism, and it exposes some very interesting trends. David Hope, CEO for FirstCare, said: “The high rates of absenteeism in the South East will of course be the topic of many conversations and assumptions will be made, but what is crucial to remember is that this is a serious report, updated quarterly and vetted by professionals. “There may be key underlying differences in demographic, climate and industry sector that impacts upon these results. “The data must be used by employers to recognise where improvements can be made and how to effectively manage staff wellbeing, particularly when being introduced back into the workplace, and how pathways for work-life balance can be built as a two-way conversation.” On a wider scale, the report discovered women are more likely to be absent from work than men - with women contributing an additional 2.8 million days of absenteeism than men in the past three months alone. In addition, the man flu myth has been exposed because the time taken off for colds, coughs and flu-like symptoms between the sexes is identical and equates to 0.36 DLPE. But it’s not all bad news for women. Over the past five years, DLPE for men have been on the increase while the reverse is true
for women. A study of May’s statistics highlight a 19 per cent increase in absenteeism in men since 2012 while absenteeism in women has decreased by 17 per cent. The FirstCare service is designed to provide health and wellbeing advice from day one to help speed up recovery and return to work. It brings together three elements that are key to improving productivity through reduced absence: nurse-led wellbeing care, simple admin for everyone in an organisation and real-time data and reporting. Updated quarterly, the Absence Management Barometer utilises information from the nurse-led absence system, with the data then used as a benchmarking tool for UK businesses to help them reduce absenteeism and their corporate health costs. It tracks absence through a variety of parameters, including sector, industry, job role, medical condition, gender, age group, region, service length and employment status. The average organisation loses approximately £1,000 per employee each year due to absence. Updated daily, all stats can be viewed live on the FirstCare website while the report can be downloaded each quarter on the day it is published. Not only does it give an account of the previous quarter’s trends on absenteeism, it also predicts absenteeism rates for the following quarter to help employers plan and manage staff wellbeing. This is based upon data from previous years where trends tend to align with seasonal adjustments and major, annual events.
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