Bidvest Noonan

A market leading provider of facilities services and solutions

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Bidvest Noonan signs Menopause Workplace Pledge

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Bidvest Noonan has signed the Menopause Workplace Pledge, developed by the charity Wellbeing of Women, and launched a new menopause support tool kit to ensure people across the group are supported and feel comfortable discussing their needs as they experience menopause.

Menopause can be a challenging time. Women usually experience menopause between the ages of 45 and 55, with the average age being 51, and symptoms can last several years. However, menopause can also occur at a younger age. The symptoms can include hot flushes, anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, headaches, muscle and joint pains, and low mood. These symptoms can be debilitating. 

Menopause can also affect people from transgender, non-binary and intersex communities, and its symptoms and impact can vary among different groups. Men, especially those in their late 40s and early 50s, can also experience ‘male menopause’ which involves the development of physical and emotional symptoms.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD) states that three out of five working women between the ages of 45- 55 who are experiencing menopause symptoms say it has a negative impact on them at work. Bidvest Noonan’s new menopause support tool kit aims to make the business an inclusive place workplace. The toolkit sets out how colleagues experiencing menopause can be supported, including how reasonable adjustments can be made to working practices and working environments for affected employees to ensure their comfort and well-being.

The Menopause Workplace Pledge requires signatories to:

  • Recognise that the menopause can be an issue in the workplace and those experiencing it need support
  • Talk openly, positively, and respectfully about the menopause
  • Actively support and inform employees affected by the menopause

Mary Kealy, Managing Director, Workplace Solutions at Bidvest Noonan said “While the topic of menopause is not typically something that comes up in conversation at work, this can be where people find their symptoms most difficult to manage. We feel it is important to make it easier to talk about menopause and provide support for people experiencing challenging symptoms, therefore we have also implemented the role of Menopause Champion so our people can speak freely and feel comfortable they are supported.”

Emma Rahim, HR Director said “We feel it is important to dispel the taboo surrounding this topic. We are working to ensure our people are well informed about the menopause and enabling them to access support and resources. We want to ensure that our people see menopause as a natural phase and feel confident discussing their needs with us and how we can support them in the workplace.”

John King, Environmental, Social and Governance Director added “At Bidvest Noonan, we are committed to ensuring we are an employer of choice and making the workplace a welcoming space for all our colleagues. We want our colleagues to feel empowered and supported in any challenges they face”.

Bidvest Noonan announces its appointment of Jenny Jones as Director of Operations

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Bidvest Noonan has announced its appointment of Jenny Jones as Director of Operations in its Facilities Solutions business unit. With more than 20 years of industry experience under her belt, Jenny is highly accomplished and brings extensive operations leadership experience across multiple sectors to her new role.

Bidvest Noonan’s Facilities Solutions business unit provides cleaning and support services nationwide across the UK. The business unit has an impressive portfolio of customers that includes market leading businesses in the Pharmaceutical, Food, Automotive, Leisure, Retail and Corporate sectors.

Jenny’s appointment comes at a time when Bidvest Noonan has experienced significant growth. Jenny’s vast experience and knowledge will be invaluable in helping the company to continue growing and deliver exceptional value and service to customers.

Jenny Jones said: “I am delighted to have joined Bidvest Noonan at such an exciting time for the company. I joined Bidvest Noonan because it is an innovative and customer-centric business that puts people first. I am looking forward to working with my colleagues to continue delivering great service and value to our customers and to driving improvements for them.”

Jennifer Littlewood, Managing Director of Bidvest Noonan’s Facilities Solutions business unit, said: ” I am confident that Jenny will be highly successful at Bidvest Noonan. With her wealth of experience and industry knowledge, she will be a valuable asset to our team. Jenny has an impressive ability to deliver results that clients want to see.”

Jeff Flanagan named CEO of Bidvest Noonan in Great Britain

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We are delighted to announce our appointment of Jeff Flanagan as Chief Executive Officer for our business in Great Britain. Jeff is a highly accomplished business leader with more than 25 years of senior executive experience in the facilities services industry.

Jeff succeeds Charlotte Marshall, who has decided to step down as CEO to pursue other interests. During her time at Bidvest Noonan, Charlotte oversaw the successful integration of Cordant Services and the Axis group, restructured the business, and built a highly experienced leadership team.

Jeff joins us at a key point in our history. Our business has doubled in size in recent years to become a market leader for services such as cleaning and security across the UK and Ireland. Over the past 18 months, we invested considerably to enhance the support we deliver to customers; we launched three strategic business units, made a number of senior executive investment hires and rolled out a new customer experience programme.

Bidvest Noonan Group CEO Declan Doyle said, “ I’m delighted to welcome Jeff to the Bidvest Noonan family. Jeff has a wealth of industry experience, an impressive track record and outstanding leadership skills. Jeff is an excellent fit for Bidvest Noonan. I’m confident he will be very successful.

I want to thank Charlotte for all the work she has done. Charlotte has made a very significant contribution to our business. We appreciate the support she has provided to transition Jeff into his new role.”

Commenting on his appointment, Jeff said, “I’m delighted to have joined Bidvest Noonan as CEO. Having worked in our industry for over two decades, I know Bidvest Noonan is an exceptional business. Bidvest Noonan’s Credo, people-first culture, and commitment to delivering outstanding customer experiences set it apart in the market.

I’m looking forward to working with my colleagues, some of whom I’ve known for many years, to support our customers and grow our business.”

Bidvest Noonan names Unseen UK as its charity partner in Great Britain

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Bidvest Noonan has named Unseen UK as its charity partner in Great Britain. Unseen UK provides safehouses and support in the community for victims of trafficking and modern slavery. The charity runs the Modern Slavery & Exploitation Helpline, a UK-wide, free, 24/7 service for potential victims, members of the public, frontline workers, and law enforcement agencies. Unseen UK works with individuals, communities, businesses, governments, and statutory agencies to bring slavery to an end.

Employing more than 27,000 people and operating nationwide, Bidvest Noonan is a market leader for services such as cleaning, security, and front-of-house solutions. Today’s announcement signals Bidvest Noonan’s commitment to supporting significant social causes in the UK.

Commenting on the announcement, Bidvest Noonan’s ESG Director John King said, “After careful consideration, we selected Unseen UK because of the clear alignment between their vision and values and our own Environmental, Social, and Governance agenda. We look forward to working with Unseen UK to deliver on its goal of achieving a world without modern slavery.”

Andrew Wallis, Unseen UK CEO added: “At any one time, there are around 100,000 people in modern slavery in the UK. Enlightened businesses such as Bidvest Noonan have enormous power to not only raise awareness of this issue, but to help tackle exploitation. I’m delighted with this partnership and look forward to us working together.”

Guy Packenham, Chair of Bidvest Noonan’s ESG council in GB said “Working together, we will raise awareness of the prevalence of slavery, forced labour, and trafficking in the UK, and implement fundraising activities to support the vital work that goes on to help victims and eradicate these crimes from society.” 

Setting the standard for security training

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Figen Murray, OBE, joined the Bidvest Noonan team at Battersea Power Station to share her expertise and learn about Bidvest Noonan’s advanced security training. Describing Bidvest Noonan’s security strategy as “What the industry standard should be for places where large crowds gather,” she praised the efforts of the team at the Battersea site.

During her conversation with the team, Murray praised the First Person on Scene – International (FPOSi) training and medical strategy after seeing it in action. Provided by medical professionals, this training equips quick reaction teams to assess and treat people suffering from serious medical emergencies. The Battersea team are amongst the few security teams who have received this pioneering training.
Murray told us: “It was an absolute privilege to be shown around Battersea Power Station by Bidvest Noonan. I feel thrilled that a lot of the staff here have undergone the ACT awareness training and that many have also done lifesaving first aid training. The entire management team is deservedly, incredibly proud of what has been achieved so far. The whole complex feels like a living, breathing safe community, where I will have no hesitation whatsoever to bring my family for a shopping trip and meal out.”

Figen Murray is the mother of Martyn Hett, one of the 22 people killed in the devastating Manchester Arena terrorist attack on May 22nd, 2017. Martyn was only 29 at the time. Following the attack, Murray has made it her life’s mission to promote peace and positive change in Martyn’s name. To this day, she has spoken to more than 15,000 secondary school pupils across England to raise awareness, be resilient to extremist influences and encourage them to shape a better world.

Photo of Figen Murray,OBE.

After graduating with a Masters in Counterterrorism in 2021, Murray has been campaigning to legislate security provisions for large group gatherings, labelled ‘Martyn’s Law’. Her dedication and work in counter terrorism saw her awarded an OBE in the 2022 New Year’s Honours List. Murray talked about the Government’s CONTEST strategy to Prevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare within the context of the proposed Martyn’s Law, and the critical need for dedicated security people and systems in areas where large groups of people gather.

Managing Director, Liz Cummins, commented, “It was a privilege to welcome Figen Murray to Battersea Power Station and hear her speak of Martyn, and how she led the campaign to change legislation to ensure all of us are safer when out at public venues.
The environment we were in as we discussed our own focused approach brought to the fore families, friends and colleagues that we have a duty to protect, and which we continue to do so.
Figen resonated with me more than I could imagine when she spoke of her commitment to creating a kinder society, one that understands how tolerance and understanding has a rightful place over hate and fear. Her focus goes beyond our security industry and reaches out to early years and building resilience and knowledge of threats, both physical and learnt.
I have reflected on Figen’s last message, ‘a small act of kindness offers so much to humanity and society’ – something we all have a duty to act on.’’
Simon Rogers, CEO at Turret Training Ltd said, “The FPOSi trauma course delivered to Bidvest Noonan’s security teams covers everything from minor medical emergencies to multiple casualties with serious injuries. Each Security officer who attends has volunteered and their passion, care and hard work really demonstrates the quality of personnel on the estate.”

Jonny Kempster, Key Account Director at Bidvest Noonan added: ‘’What a pleasure to finally meet with and hear Figen’s personal story and everything she has achieved. It was clear that we are aligned when it comes to safety, security, and trauma response. We look forward to meeting her again soon.’’

Article originally published by the FMJ.

Leading the Way in Social Responsibility

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Photo of Sarah Jane Cork, Managing Director

Managing Director, Sarah Jane Cork spoke to TPSO and shared her perspectives on social responsibility and discussed how Bidvest Noonan’s work with Employment 4 All is enabling disadvantaged and underrepresented groups to access training and employment opportunities.

TPSO: Bidvest Noonan have a well-developed social responsibility program; can you tell us a bit about that and some of your achievements?

Sarah:

We are committed to social responsibility; for us, that means acting ethically, minimising our impact on the environment while maximising the good we do for society. We have achieved a lot in this area.

In 2021, we launched Sunrise, our ESG community. Sunrise focuses on four works streams, Community, Workplace, Environment and Marketplace, to help us operate more sustainably. Sunrise is made up of a variety of Bidvest Noonan colleagues across each of our business units, who are passionate about corporate social responsibility.

Our Sunrise team have helped us to introduce a wide range of initiatives to reduce our impact on the environment and become a Net Zero business. For example, we are transitioning to a fully electric fleet and we have invested in a number of new technologies that are reducing our use of energy, water, and plastics.

As a people business, we have always valued diversity and inclusion. Last year, we launched our ED&I Council to help us develop a more diverse workforce and a more inclusive workplace. Our council has been very successful. In February, we received Diversity Mark’s Bronze Accreditation for our achievements in advancing diversity and inclusion in the workplace. 

We are proud to support charities and social projects which make a real difference for people, especially those that help disadvantaged and underrepresented communities. Like so many companies across the UK and Ireland, we played a role in responding to the pandemic, donating PPE including hundreds of thousands of face masks. Most recently, we have shown our support for people affected by the conflict in Ukraine, donating funds to charities working in the area and supporting client and community initiatives.

TPSO: How important do you think it is that companies walk their talk?

Sarah:

We believe that there are important social and environmental challenges that need to be addressed and it is incumbent on all of us to do what we can to address them. We work together and with our suppliers to continuously improve our environmental performance and to find new ways to support people in need. We see more and more companies making commitments and following up with actions in these areas and we celebrate that. We are all in this together.

TPSO: How did you get involved with Employment 4 All?

Sarah:

We want to give disadvantaged people in our local communities the skills and opportunities they need to secure meaningful employment, financial independence and play an important role in society. That is a good thing in its own right. We understood that Employment 4 All, working with the Department for Work and Pensions, could help disadvantaged and underrepresented groups while also providing a stream of highly motivated and well-trained people for the security industry. We were happy to work with Employment 4 All and to provide training and employment opportunities for people who need it.

Security training provided by Bidvest Noonan and Employment4All

TPSO: How does this initiative help people?

Sarah:

This initiative provides potentially life-changing opportunities for participants. Employment 4 All identifies suitable candidates through a process that involves conversations and background screening. Candidates who meet the needs-based assessment, demonstrate the right qualities and show a strong interest in building a career in the security industry are invited to attend our training programme.

Candidates are given all the support they need to be successful. If required, they are provided with help to obtain the necessary paperwork and documents of identification. During our training programme, candidates are provided with a free breakfast and, if needed, help to cover their transportation costs and to obtain childcare services.

My colleagues and I provide the training and information participants need to start their careers in our industry. Successful candidates are helped with their application for an SIA licence and given the opportunity to join Bidvest Noonan as Security officers. I am proud to say we have already had our first graduates of the programme, a number of whom have been offered employment with our business.

This article was originally published by TPSO Magazine