“It is unanimously accepted in a civilised world that to show respect to other people is only common decency, so why is it some employers feel the need to treat their employees badly. In my experience our industry is one of the worst purveyors of bad employment practices – it has to change and we have to lead by example!” – Chris Smallwood MD Anchor Removals Ltd
My name is Chris Smallwood I am the Owner of Anchor Removals Ltd a small family removals business. I came from a low earning family, in a poor area, with a very strong working class, socialist upbringing. I left school in the 1980s Thatcher era of high unemployment with only a couple of qualifications and came into the furniture moving industry as a last resort. Ever since I have been driven by wanting to change the face of the industry even as a young trainee operative. Lifting furniture up and down stairs, loading it safely onto lorries and making sure everything is protected is a job of great physical demands and skill, yet often looked down on by the public and unappreciated by their own employers. I was struck by the lack of good (or most of the time) any training for such a physical and demanding job, with no skills or formal manual handling training, leading to serious and persistent back injuries for many including myself, that inhibits me to this day. I was also struck by the poor wages and conditions for workers within the industry and with the way, it operated as such a traditional industry caught in the 1970s style conflicts of worker versus management mentality. Zero hours or temporary short term contracts are rife to this day. Having progressed through the ranks I took over Anchor Removals in 2008, using my own bad experiences as a guide on how not to run a business. I returned to my core beliefs of Social Justice and compassion to create a working environment that I hope will be the envy of the industry. My goal is to show that engaging and rewarding your staff is not only good for business but is good for the customer, the community, the environment whilst showing that we can make a profit.
In 2008 we had:
Our operatives earned:
so no work – no pay, and when you are paid, it is not good money – remember not enough to make ends meet! We did what we could to survive but the work output was poor and the standard at best good to average. Our fleet of vehicles were old and in poor condition with no sleeping accommodation for our teams, forcing them to sleep in the back of the vehicle often in freezing conditions.
So what have we got to shout about?
And that’s not all……..
We care too:
Is that it?
Nope, there’s more…
What next?
The idea is to give the whole company a feel-good factor, making employees feel valued and giving our customers the opportunity to make a difference to ordinary people’s lives.
Poverty, nicotine and alcohol abuse, drug addiction, mental and physical illness are traits which often go hand in hand and are strongly associated with our industry with little support or prospect of resolution. These issues affect every company and with continued government cuts, industry leaders need to set an example for others to follow by providing support for their employees. We see it as a sensible economic idea, by offering this support we can reduce absenteeism, improve productivity, prevent suicide and lead to a positive impact on both society and the costs associated with managing the outcomes. Prevention is better than cure – the public want to make a difference and “fair trade” has provided evidence as such.
We would very much like to
“Getting public support for us would give us the ability to show our industry that looking after your employees’ works and would help us to change our industry forever” It all starts with convincing our co-operative Britannia one small cog succeeds the whole bigger cog follows!!
We are trying so hard to do the right thing and be a good employer, but getting the message over to the public is a huge challenge. Having public support is the perfect platform to promote all the good things we are doing.
Very often children (like I did) leave school feeling they are failures having not achieved good exam grades. We want to go into schools like Walkden High (our local school) to tell children that whilst exams are important if you don’t achieve grades there are still great opportunities for employment that don’t require high qualification standards.
At Anchor Removals, we have a real sense of pride and achievement because we are a team and we share all our achievements together just as we share the burden of issues together!
Description
Furniture Removals, Storage, Shipping and Packing Specialists
Although we pay great wages, our team have historical issues to deal with from either previously working in the black economy or from being unemployed. They can’t be resolved overnight and it often means they are dealing with debt from unorthodox sources such as loan sharks. As a result, we lend money to our employees’ interest-free, with manageable repayment terms. This compassionate approach removes the risk of spiralling debt and them entering into the poverty trap. So far this year we have provided over £4000 in loan payments to our employees.
“I have worked in the removal industry for over 15 years with three different companies. I put my heart and soul into my employment prior to Anchor Removals but and was left both financially and emotionally drained when the company I worked for made me redundant. Anchor Removals provide flexible working hours to avoid rush hour traffic which is both a health benefit and a smarter way of working. Never have I felt so appreciated and enjoy my job like I do at Anchor Removals Ltd. Chris’ passion for changing our industry is inspirational and you can’t help but get caught up and swept along with it.” – Ellen Clay
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