In reply to Paul Shaw's letter on the Mailshot page of this issue regarding the piece I wrote last month on the staff day out at 'Paintballing', I hope that the staff - who read Call Sign as soon as it hits Brunswick House - do not become too demoralised over Paul's comments. When you have the responsibility for over one hundred members of staff, the hardest job of all is keeping them motivated to do their job. The DaC Call Centre is in simple terms a booking centre, and to expect staff to sit day after day and continuously take booking after booking and without making errors, can become a strain on the best of individuals. In order to break up the monotony, we regulate staff to do other tasks within the Call Centre, but you can only go so far. Therefore, staff motivation is very important to any business.
   In past years, we have arranged what we have called staff 'awaydays' where we have taken the majority to a hotel, or as on the last occasion when we went to Legoland. The days were planned to motivate, be informative and where possible team-build. The results of such events are so critical for an employer to really get to know the staff. Team games, such as problem solving, will establish who are the leaders and who are the followers. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having these two types of individuals within an organisation; in fact I'd go so far as to say that the mix is a necessity. Normally, the cost for such an event can be around £5,000 to £7,000.
   This year, because the vast majority of staff have been with us now for more than twelve months, it was felt that we could not improve on what we have done before, so the Paintballing was something very different. While I appreciate that it's not everyone's cup of tea, it certainly appealed to many.
   The buzz amongst the staff prior to the event and afterwards was

tremendous. Work rates and individuals performances improved dramatically and from an event that only cost £700, it was in my opinion money well spent. It also took place on a Saturday in the staff's own time and each spent between £30 and £40 of their own money to participate in the day.
   For Brian Rice, Allan Evans and myself, it was probably a risk, because if you think that the staff didn't fancy the idea of taking pot shots at us, then you're very much mistaken! Our staff are an integral part of the day-to-day running of this Society and you will not convince me that we should refrain from including their activities, personal merits and achievements from our in-house magazine. The art of managing staff is to ensure that they enjoy their work and stay for a long period of time. If Paul believes that the events I've arranged for the staff means I'm not in the real world, then I'll have to admit to not being in the real world...

Lost Property Messages
Paul also writes that he is finding the lost property messages put out via the driver's terminals to be annoying, laughable and unprofessional. I don't quite understand if Paul is unhappy with the messages in general being sent or the actual content of the message that end with "was it you...?"
   Passengers more often than not, hail a taxi off the street and rarely take any notice whether it is a radio taxi or not. In contacting us, all they are hoping for is that it was one of ours and that we can return their property. Our success rate is

Gratuities
It isn't really my place to comment on another Board member's article (Mike Son brought up the topic in last month's Call Sign), but I would add that I think Michael is correct to make drivers aware of client's requests for reductions in charges and the issue over driver's gratuities is becoming a common one.
   Firstly, they don't like the automatic charge and secondly, they would prefer the option of paying a gratuity only if they are satisfied with the service. We cannot operate this method of charging, so we will continue to sell a gratuity as part of our charges.
   Paul makes the point that once you give up something like that, it can be hard to get it back. That's true, but the reason we reduced the gratuity back in 1990 was because our top client at that time informed us that unless we were prepared to do this and match an offer they had received from a competitor, we would loose the account. Our administration system had what was known as 'fixed pricing fields' built into it. This meant that if you wanted to reduce the gratuity charge for one customer, then every other client would have to benefit from that as well.
   It took a further eight years before the computer was changed and with the new PH licensing laws being introduced, it was felt that an increase to previous levels would be damaging to the Society. At least one good thing to remember about our gratuity is that the driver is paid the full 10%. The Society does not retain a single penny of it...

And Finally...
At the time of writing this response, we are experiencing an increase in the number of calls coming into the Call Centre. The rain and cold winds have turned up and coincidently so have the customers. Let's hope that the lead-up to Christmas is now upon us and the exceptional service levels that we have achieved since September, continue...

Keith Cain