Believe it or not, company productivity can get stimulated by an employee’s surroundings, right on down to the chairs. At least that’s the theory of one fast-growing British subprime lender.
Duncton Group’s Moneybarn says its new 20,000 sq. ft. building is especially designed to suit its flow of business and allow for optimum interaction between teams. The better flow, company leaders say, allows employees to further improve the service the lender is able to provide customers and business partners, according to Motor Finance.
Moneybarn says the building has been outfitted with the comfort of its staff in mind. “The three things I’ve focused on in terms of staff are air, light, and chairs,” manager Peter Minter said. “So we got people good chairs, they can breathe good air, and they can see what they are doing, and they are comfortable all day.”
Moneybarn was founded in 1992 in the back room of a car salesroom. It’s new space will allow it to grow to more than 150 employees in the next few years, from the 90 it has currently.
Moneybarn spent the past nine years in a converted 15th-century barn, and four years ago expanded into another converted building, a Victorian railway station. After a two-month refit, the new building has more than enough space to accommodate Moneybarn’s existing staff.
Following the old adage that a happy workforce is a productive workforce, the firm feels that the move will be a springboard to even greater success. The business has met all its objectives, exceeded targets across sales and new business, and has made profit before tax for 2013 of £5.9 million ($10.1 million). In 2012, profit was just more than £1 million ($1.7 million).
See what a few new chairs can do?
The Yaris is assembled by a Toyota subsidiary, Central Motors, in Miyagi Prefecture, the area most impacted by the quake/tsunami.
The following was received from Charles Lipton, who lives in Japan. My wife just returned from there Monday night in a state of shock.
Transportation is severely interrupted and there are many collapsed
bridges and impassable main roads. There are just bigger stories than
the shipping problems and only a certain number of broadcast hours
during the day.
Just some personal observations:
From the Kashima area of southeastern Ibaraki it is still impossible to
reach Tokyo by kosoku or rail. With some knowledge of local
roads, a programmable navi system, and a lot of patience, it is
possible to reach an on-ramp 50-odd km away but reports are that
it takes up to four hours to make the trip that used to take
about 40 minutes.
Bridges are out all over the coastal area of the Prefecture. If you look
at a map of the northern Chiba / southern Ibaraki coast we have an
extensive waterway network that must be crossed in order to reach other
places. All of the “new” bridges constructed at the time of the World
Cup are gone — Kashima Shin-Jingu-bashi is closed, although the
decades-old Jingu-bashi it “replaced” is open to up to ten tonnes, the
Rokko-ohashi (reputedly Nukaga-giins personal pork barrel project) is a
total loss. The postwar one lane + passing turnout Rokko-bashi at Fuda
is operational while the new two-plus lane bridge being constructed next
to it is now in four pieces.
According to Ibaraki Kenkei, trains and kousoku are open from Tokyo
only as far as Narita and Kashiwa. No heavy truck traffic is being yet
permitted on the Tokandou or Jouban from central Chiba or Saitama
northward.
In order to travel north, into the teeth of the earthquake and reactor
meltdown, kousoku and rail access is non-existent. All other roads I
personally have tried to use to travel to Tsukuba, Mito (and points
north including Iwaki and Hitachi) are a mess. I have been able to
get through on a 250cc off-road motorcycle The same four-lane Oarai
Bypass that I convinced three shirobai to escort a 20-vehicle convoy
down at midnight last Friday night has now been declared impassable and
is closed indefinitely. The only “major” North-South “artery” that is
running uninterrupted up and down the entire length of the Prefecture is
Kendou 18, a nominally two-lane road which runs up the eastern side of
Kitaura through Hitachinaka and Iwaki.
Essential equipment movement heading north seems to be mostly made up of
antiquated rotary wing aircraft bearing Jietai markings. I have not
seen so many Hueys (mostly H- and N-models) and Chinooks in one place
since I took Mr. Nixon’s Youth-in-Asia Tour forty years ago.
In our area, farmers are giving away carrots, potatoes, cabbage,
hakusai, asparagus, sweet potatoes, gobou, ginger, maetake, and
garlic. We’re helping a local dairy farmer who cannot sell his
production distribute bottles of raw milk to local houses. There is no
gasoline.
—
Charles Lipton