Great John Street Hotel, Manchester

We started our weekend with a BBQ at the Great John Street Hotel in Manchester. The 30°c weather combined with our rooftop terrace location encouraged us to perhaps drink a little more than usual…  leaving a few (okay most of us) with sore heads on Saturday morning! But hey, this weekend is all about blowing off some steam, reuniting with colleagues from afar, and having fun.

The Activity 

On Saturday morning we headed across the road the the Crystal Maze Experience where we split into four teams.

We took on various challenges, just like you see on the TV! From physical to mental to mystery, our teams took on the 4 zones and won an impressive 11 crystals each.

We had a quick photo break half way through, in the Aztec zone

Our Crystals gave us a similar amount of time in the Dome, where we frantically reached to the skies to grab those Golden Tickets!

Our winners were team “Swish” who made it into first place by the skin of their teeth – just 3 points! A very well deserved victory.

After the games, we went our seperate ways for the afternoon. Some went for food, some retired to the hotel to nap off their hangovers, and some went for hair of the dog…

The Main Event

7.30pm rolled around and we sat down to our 3 course meal.

After eating, it was time for our awards ceremony!

First up was Nicole from our Barnsley branch…

Nicole decided to leave us last year to work elsewhere, but quickly decided that Essential’s grass is greener and came back!

For this reason we awarded Nicole* with a Noscar (Not… an Oscar!)

Second was Toni Ross with a Noscar for being in her own world

Toni has a habit of getting her words mixed up – something that has the office in stitches!
Whether it’s a simple word or common phrase, you can be assured that our Toni has her own version!

Next, another Noscar!!

We celebrate our long serving employees  – we have a 3, 5 and 10 year club – and we put special care into our staff retention… however we don’t always get it quite right.

This award goes to our Long Eaton office for the quickest leaver!

Next, Chloe Abbott with a special achievement award.

Chloe has developed and grown as a consultant, won our biggest internal competition, ran one of our biggest contracts and been promoted to a Senior Consultant.

Next up were our 2018 graduates! Lisa Hadfield, our Training and Development Director, runs the ‘Essential Academy’ – our internal training programme.
Chloe Abbott, Grace Hammond, Beth Wragg and Tom* Bates are the first of our staff members to pass the second level of the academy, so it was a proud moment for Lisa to be able to hand out their certificates!

Next we awarded another Special Recognition to one of our long servers, Paula.
Paula has been with us since 2013 when she joined as a temporary administrator to cover maternity leave… and she never left! She works at our Ripley office – however did a brief stint in Mansfield when their manager was on Maternity leave. Paula took the leap from admin to recruiting after having a family meeting (that’s just the kind of woman she is!) and she is now running one of our biggest clients.

Next up – the 5 year club!

Carl*, Emma, Paula, and Beth (Frankie pictured in her place) have all reached their 5th year of service this year.

All have been recognised with an award, but also added into our companies “5 year club” – a exclusive club for those who have served 5 years+.

Next up- another noscar!
This time Mitchel from our Burton office and Yasmin from Worksop received a noscar for not being able to hide their grumpiness…

However, they do work really, really hard. For that reason, we gave them – and their partners in crime – a special recognition award!

First up – Mitchel and Giles*. These guys started their Essential career on the same day and have grown with us since then.

Next – Angelika and Yasmin.
These 2 ladies haven’t had it easy – they had limited experience, their Manager went on Maternity, and then the second most experienced recruiter left! The Ladies pushed through with the guidance of the management team and managed to stay afloat – still smashing targets along the way.

Here’s a familiar face… yep, this is Summer from our Barnsley branch, who you might recognise as the last from last year who won a Noscar for being a little too forward…  (She told our director he had crows feet…. )

Well since then she has really impressed us, our candidates and our clients.  For that reason, we awarded a Special Recognition award to Summer.

Our next recipient also comes from our Barnsley branch… but has a sad ending.

Sadly one our clients went into administration earlier this year, rendering one of our on-site consultants redundant. Fortunately (and to no surprise) our Valentin has found his next employment, but we still invited him along to the weekend’s event because we are going to miss him! Despite the situation, Valentin continued to work as hard as he ever did… and for this we felt he deserved a special recognition.

Next up – some love for our Business Development Team!

Our BD Team (Kristyan – Sales Director, Andrea – Business Development Manager and Abi – Business Development) have been on fire recently. The contracts they brought to the business are making as much as a branch does and they are tackling some of the big names in Logistics. We thought they definitely deserved a special recognition for this hard work, so asked Abi to accept the award on behalf of the whole team.

The next Noscar goes to a lady who really got her celebrities confused! Chloe was confused – she thought that Christopher Reeves (Actor who was paralyzed after a horse riding accident) was the same person as Stephen Hawking (world famous physicist)…. whoops… 

Time for another Noscar…

our special recognition awards go to those staff members that demonstrate strength of character… but this award goes to someone who definitely doesn’t possess strength!

This Noscar goes to Jordan Hennell for having a glass back!

Next up, a lady who has put up with us for 10 whole years.

Belinda is our Mansfield branch manager, and the 4th member into our 10 year club.

Here is the team that back Belinda up in the Mansfield office!

Billy, Dani, Toni and Linda* are all key members of the team, and are crazy busy running 2 branches (Mansfield and Sutton) plus some of the busiest contracts we have.

*You will have noticed that some of our staff weren’t present, and were therefore replaced by our Stooge for the night, Jordan Hennell. Doesn’t he look great in a wig?

In conclusion, this was a fantastic weekend with amazing feedback from all.

Thanks for having us Manchester!