Annual review 2016 - 2017 | Page 19

continuous improvement across the business , and a good culture of open and honest communication from leaders . Our manufacturing and distribution site in Szatmar , Hungary , has also been accredited with the international standard , with development , and transparency and trust being two areas highlighted as particular strengths .
We want to be famous as a great place to work , and our externally-accredited , bespoke scheme , Platinum Employer , is helping us to realise that ambition in the UK . The scheme has been developed to ensure firstclass people practices in our stores and to support the recruitment and retention of staff . Gaining Platinum Employer status involves being assessed against five standards in different areas of the employee experience , such as performance , management and reward . Interest in the scheme has been overwhelming .
locum diary app in the UK , making it easier for locums to work at Specsavers , has been great news for stores . In the first week following its launch , 850 people downloaded the app , alerting them to job opportunities , enabling them to submit interest in any location ’ s dates and update their availability , as well as read Specsavers news – all at the click of a button .
Doug Perkins , Joint Group CEO and Co-founder , speaking at one of the UK ’ s largest optical industry events .
In Australia , the retail support team in New South Wales hosted a careers evening for store partners and their teams to discuss future opportunities for the business . It provided a great chance to share information on the various development programmes .
Self-employed professionals can be crucial to a store ’ s optometry service and often represent the best way to deal with holiday or sickness cover . So the launch of a
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