Blog
ROYAL VISIT FOR 30TH BIRTHDAY
11 March 2010
HEWETT Recruitment is being honoured with a visit by the Countess of Wessex to the company's head office in Kidderminster.
The visit to mark the firm's 30 years in business, will take place next Thursday, 18th March. Louise Hewett, founder and managing director of the compnay, which also has an office in Worcester, explained: "This royal visit is such an honour for me and for my team. We feel so proud to be celebrating three decades in business and to have the occasion commemorated with a royal visit is wonderful news."
Louise Hewett has previously won the award for Worcestershire Business Woman of the Year, been named a Fellow of the University of Worcester and is a parton of St. Richard's Hospice.
The Countess will meet Ms Hewett and her team of recruitment specialists and learn more about their training and recrutiment services for local and regional clients. She will then spend time discussing the economy and growth of Worcestershire and how local businesses, together with initiatives such as the Worcestershire Ambassadors, are helping to develop the county's position as an economic and cultural asset to the UK as a whole.
The Countess of Wessex was born Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1965 in Oxford and after working in public relations for more than a decade married the Queen's youngest son, Prince Edward in 1999.
Email Louise directly: louise@hewett-recruitment.co.uk
Louise Hewett ranked 15 in 'Top 50'
05 March 2010
Louise Hewett has been ranked 15 in the Worcestershire Life's Top 50 Movers & Shakers in Worcestershire. The March edition of Worcestershrie Life looks at The good, the great and the rich across Worcestershire - amongst the top 50 feature Robert Plant, Graeme Hick MBE, John Nettles and Rik Mayall.
Claim to fame: Founder of Hewett Recruitment and prominent Worcestershire Ambassador.
County connection: Lives and breathes Worcestershire.
Louise Hewett was born and brought up in Solihull where she was a pupil at the Harold Cartwright Grils' Grammar School. She founded Hewett Recruitment and Hewett Executive Talent in 1980, one of the regions largest and most respected recruitment agencies.
She is Chairman of the Worcestershire Ambassadors a group of around100 individuals who give their time to promote the county and she is a passionate supporter for Worcestershire. She is a Fellow of the University of Worcester and sits on the management board of the Worcester Alliance. In 2000 she was awarded Worcestershire Business Woman of the Year and she was a Patron of the Worcestershire Woman on the Year 2009 Awards.
Louise's considerable skills have also been directed at numerous charitable causes. She is patron of St. Richard's Hospice and a director and trustee for the Worcestershire Community Foundation. She is also active in several charities to help young people.
One last thing... Louise is possibly best known as a supreme networker. There is hardly a social event or business networking opportunity to which she is not invited.
Source: Worcestershire Life (March 2010) www.worcestershire.greatbritishlife.co.uk
Email Louise directly: louise@hewett-recruitment.co.uk
What it means to be lean...
15 February 2010
Brett Griffiths from Lean transition Solutions offers 30 tips on what it means to be lean...
- Lean is centred around creating more value for less work
- Lean is not a magic wand; it cannot work without effort
- Lean will provide benefits when seen as a system that integrates all organisational aspects
- Lean relies on root cause problem solving
- It is critical to dedicate the right resources at the right level to coordinate effort on developing a workable lean system
- The enemy of continuous improvement is the opposition to progress, force of habit and the fear of change
- The attitude required is to view problems in a positive way; every problem is an opportunity to improve
- Advancing step by step does not mean to move slowly
- Every standardised improvement provides the foundation for the next
- Continuous improvement workshops give the opportunity to make changes in a week that would otherwise drag on for months
- Lean focuses on improving processes, confident that they will in turn improve financial results
- Adopt Lean principles , but put them into your language in a way that fits your business and technology
- Developing a Lean system will require leadership who believe in the philosophy and will consistently and continually develop the process over time
- Create the right processes to produce the right results
- Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation
- Make decisions slowly, thoroughly considering all the options, implement decisions rapidly
- Make the process flow evident throughout the organisation
- Level out workload, eliminate unevenness
- Build a culture of stopping to fix problems
- Standardise tasks built on best practices
- Make the effort to teach individuals how to work together as teams
- Make people accountable
- Secure a structure for continuous improvement; Plan-Do-Check-Act
- Success depends on management commitment which is essential for creating and maintaining the drive for improvement
- Lean and continuous improvement will not work as a process bolted on to the company; it has to be fully integrated into the way the company is managed
- Lean is a relentless focus on driving out waste and creating customer value
- Refine your existing processes to develop a World Class system
- Provide practical improvement solutions
- A Pull System should be adopted to eliminate inventory build up between processes
- A workplace organisation system known as 5S can be used to maintain a safe, clean, organised and efficient working environment
Email Louise directly: louise@hewett-recruitment.co.uk
It's all about technology - 30 years on!
04 February 2010
Technology has changed every aspect of our lives. In a relatively short space of time, we’ve seen our work and leisure time completely transformed, it’s hard to imagine life without our almost surgically attached mobile, blackberry or iphone.
Looking back 30 years ago when I started my business, communication was so much slower and rather gentile…. letters all had to be sent by post, phone calls were made from landlines, records were kept manually… now everything is instantaneous.
Many of us have become Twittering, Skyping, email junkies, it can be difficult to abstain from the obsessive need to constantly check our emails! Remote working offers us the ‘freedom’ to work from home, on the train or anywhere we like, the difficulty is switching it all off….. dumping the gadgets and clearing the mind, something we all need to do occasionally.
How we ever found our way to meetings without Sat.Nav is a mystery…. and if we broke down on the way, we’d have to use a telephone box to call for help, that’s if we had the right change for the phone! In those days there was a chance some of us might even know how to fix the problem if it was under the bonnet…. could just be a case of using an old pair of tights to replace the fan belt… no chance now.
I can’t remember life without Google being particularly challenging…. but then our expectations were different… we expected to do our research from books at the library… we use it to find everything now from holidays to restaurants. Technology connects us with colleagues and friends old and new all over the globe, we can shop online [oh joy], upgrade our skills with online training and it can even encourage us to do more exercise!
For the moment I will resist the e-book option, there is nothing like opening the crisp pages of a new book and although Wii Fit can be great fun, it can’t beat the simple pleasure of a walk in the glorious Worcestershire countryside……having Googled the route and pub first of course!
Email Louise directly: louise@hewett-recruitment.co.uk
'Next Generation' - HR shaping the future of businesses...
14 January 2010
‘Next Generation’, a high profile research project launched recently by the CIPD, explores what Human Resources might look like in the future. Through the research they are seeking to identify the emergent trends and groundbreaking practice existing today, to enable them to build a picture of what HR might look like in 5 or 10 years.
The report will undoubtedly generate debate…..HR’s emerging role is seen as creating ‘organisational equity’. Simply, HR professionals should be business people focused on increasing the capacity of the organisation, helping it become more alert, agile and adaptable and unlocking sustainable performance.
HR Director of Tesco, Therese Procter was quoted as saying at a recent conference how HR plays a pivotal role as the ‘conscience’ of the organisation, ensuring values are met at every stage of the process. HR’s role could be seen as the ‘soul of the business’ and the natural ally of the CEO.
The key messages from the report so far seem to say that HR needs to broaden its horizons, think more strategically and financially and take responsibility for moving organisations forward. HR Director of Diesel, Tim Pointer said “Next Generation gives a clear indication of the decade ahead, I look forward to hearing more about the increasing alliance between HR and Marketing…. the value that brands can have for products and people. But mostly I really like the fact that it focuses on emergent practice… we want up to date reports from the front line”.
There are some excellent professionals out there leading the way with an innovative and creative approach…. every business is taking a long hard look at itself to shape up for the challenges ahead…. it’s good to hear that HR are at the forefront…. ’holding up the mirror’ to organisations, reflecting the interests of its people and its business. For more information: www.cipd.co.uk/nextgen
Louise Hewett
Email Louise directly: louise@hewett-recruitment.co.uk
