Onto a winner

Cornwall’s St Ives Delivery Office has received one of our first ever CEO and COO awards.

The new quarterly awards scheme, which is sponsored by Group CEO Rico Back and chief operating and finance officer Stuart Simpson, is based on the units that score most highly across four key areas of performance measurement: safety, First Class quality, cost and productivity.

At the end of the year, we will be presenting awards to the overall ‘units of the year,’ recognising the best performing units nationally. Winners will receive money to spend at their unit.

The St Ives team won ‘Small Delivery Office of the Quarter’ for the South West region for the first quarter of 2019/2020. Postman Sean Cernow said: ‘There’s a really good team here. At the end of the day, people are motivated by their manager and our delivery office manager (DOM) is on the ball with everything.’

The DOM in question is Shaun Care (pictured above, right), who collected the award from service delivery leader, Mel Peirson. ‘Teamwork is what helps with the sorting,’ he said.  ‘Everything is done at pace.’

The team enjoys a wealth of experience, with many colleagues boasting more than two decades of service. Such knowledge and understanding of the area is vital, especially when many of the houses are named rather than numbered, and the coastal setting provides some challenges of its own.

Postwoman Jayne Doble said: ‘The furthest house we deliver to is a 15-minute walk from the van. It’s part of the steep coastal path, so it’s very muddy and wet when it rains.

‘You have to prioritise the difficult ones and get them out of the way when you can. The weather plays a part.’

Postman Richard Dodds added: ‘Everyone works together as a team. If you need to jump on another round and help out, then you just do it. The manager is really good, he’s been here for years and worked this route, so he knows what’s needed and everyone helps out.’

See your February issue of Courier for more.