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| VSG's Chairman, Bill Muskin; top prize winner Ben Dawson; and Chief Executive of Skills for Security, David Greer |
At an event with enough pomp and ceremony to shame the Golden Globes, leading security provider VSG took over 200 of its employees to the Heritage Motor Museum near Warwick recently, for its annual ‘One Vision' Awards luncheon.
Open to all of the company's 4,500 employees, ‘One Vision' is an internal incentive programme conceived originally in 2002 by Managing Director, Keith Francis, to recognise and reward outstanding customer service. The Programme seeks to engage officers up and down the country to ensure that customer expectations are both met and exceeded through continuous improvement of staff and commitment to quality.
"Retention of security staff in the field has always been a problem for this industry, which is why this scheme is so important. At VSG we create opportunities for our staff which mean they don't just have a job with us, but a career path", said Keith Francis.
David Greer, Chief Executive of Skills for Security, the Skills and Standards Setting Body for the Security Business Sector, was on hand to present the prizes. He said: "In difficult economic times, customer service and quality of staff is what differentiates the good from the mediocre and smart companies invest in their people, particularly in these times. When a company invests in the skills of its staff it should expect to see better quality of work, happy customers, employee satisfaction and higher profits. No company exemplifies this philosophy better than VSG".
Trophies, certificates and monetary prizes were awarded in five different categories - the top prize being a £5000 holiday of a lifetime which was awarded to Ben Dawson, Abbey Account Manager operating at 5 key locations, in the Operations Manager of the Year category.
Ben is one of 80 VSG Front Line Managers, all of whom have defined objectives as part of the ‘One Vision' programme, many of which are based on maximising staff potential through mentoring, training, and appraisals.
Since winning his magnificent prize, Ben and his partner, Gill, have decided on a luxury holiday in an exotic location where they will also take the opportunity to get married.
Other winners included the team of officers at Glasgow Fort Shopping Centre in the National Site category; the B&Q Gateshead team in the National Retail Site category; David Lane won the National Relief Officers category and, finally, the Training Department won best Head Office Team category.