More efficient, more effective. Never say Die.

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With the wild weather that has recently hit this country, we suffered, along with many other companies, several power-cuts which disrupted the progress of day-to-day work. Rather than sitting tight and just waiting for them to happen, we have installed a substantial generator to ensure we can keep rolling through any power-cut! ‘substantial’ is the operative word – our operations manager reckons it has enough power to keep the local village going!

We’re on a high for the End of the Year!

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Over the past year we’ve been busy. Our No.1 focus was to get our service from a good standard, to a great standard, to exceed all expectations…it’s been hard work and our service team have really dedicated themselves to creating ‘raving fans’! And look at the results!

Our ‘10 minute response time to all service queries’ has increased by 40%!

Our ‘solution to query provided within 2 hours’ has increased by 32%!
…in just 6 months.

We think they deserve a large pat on the back! Watch this space for next year – we’re on our journey to create raving fans…

Instant Transparent Reporting – a Win-Win Solution for Our Clients and Us!

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Planteria implemented an ‘Open Reporting’ Software tool – providing instant, transparent access about our service visits. This is a ‘must have’ for Facilities Managers with multi-site responsibilities.

Lindsey Anderson, from the Service Management team explains more about our reporting tool, the benefits for our clients and its impact on our business processes.

“We went live with our new software in May 2013. In a nutshell it works from the technicians smart phones and it records technicians’ time on site. The software also runs the work flow processes seamlessly, recording any replacement plants used and ordering plants required for the next visit to a client. The technician writes a brief ‘report’ on his visit, and then it captures a customer’s signature. All this information gets collated into a client visit sheet and sent through to the client after each visit.

Our clients love it! It keeps them totally in tune with our service visits and provides a medium for the technician to communicate directly with the site contact, even when they are in and out before office hours. Multi-site managers can now benefit from instant reporting from all of their buildings, keeping them up-to-date every day.

As well as greatly increasing our communication with our clients, it has streamlined our internal ordering processes, and automatically runs a P&L report for us which helps with accounting.

The new system of working has improved things for our technicians too. No more scrappy bits of paper, everything they need is all there on one device. They can order plants quickly and smoothly, knowing they will be there labelled up with their name, and the customer’s name, ready to collect within the next few days at our nursery.

Finally the system has been a great advantage to me in managing the scheduling of maintenance rounds. Everything is all there on one system, with an easy to use drag and drop planner board all synchronised with the technician’s Smartphones. The technology allows real time allocation, updating and completion of field service maintenance jobs, linking the technician to the office based system, making processes much more efficient with less margin for errors”.

We hereby announce our New Cold Store open!

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To aid our rapidly growing floristry division, we have just doubled our chiller store capacity, which gives us more ability to keep our flower stock at optimum freshness…as you can see, it is a great moment for our team and will massively assist them in their work!

Introducing our feathered residents…!

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There’s nothing like fresh, truly free range eggs from happy chickens allowed to roam the six acres at our Head Office nursery. These birds are real characters and provide us with some extra amusement. Promise we’ll keep them away from answering the phones..!

Meet the Team Event, London

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Our Meet the Team Event day was a great success. The concept was to give our existing and potential clients an insight into our organisation and services. A good number of plant displays, showing a large range of containers and plant specimens helped provide an idea of the world of different styles and environments that can be achieved. Several demonstrations throughout the day from our florist and plant technician were very popular and showed the expertise that lies behind these key roles. The constant provision of refreshments concluded what could be described as a very enjoyable day!

We can’t wait to do the next one….see you there….

Looking Back at 2018

planteria staff at 2018 staff event on stage in front of large screen

2018 was an excellent year for growth at Planteria, with both new and existing clients engaging with our business. We ended the new year on a high, with our annual event to celebrate our achievements.

At Planteria, we value our staff not only in thought but through our actions. Our annual All Staff Meeting allows us to thank everyone for their hard work and to recognise achievement. It is an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made and to focus on the challenges, strategy and vision for the coming year.

The impressive venue for our meeting was The Imperial War Museum in Duxford, Cambridge. This museum displays military aircraft alongside wartime memorabilia, but it is also occasionally a site from which stunning airshow displays can be enjoyed.

runway

Luckily for us, the day of our All Staff Meeting we were blessed with a beautifully crisp winter morning. The day kicked off early, at 07:45 with a full English breakfast which equipped us for the busy agenda ahead.

A series of seminar-style presentations from our department managers shared insights and overviews of 2018. Recognising the immense ground we’ve covered together allows our organisation to take pride in our individual skills as well as the business as a whole, which emboldens us to approach the year ahead with hope and enthusiasm.

Katie Le Chevalier talking at Planteria 2018 staff event

We showed our gratitude to particularly active members of our organisation through awards. Like many successful organisations, we reward long-service and excellent work, and this year we were very pleased to hand one such award to technician Sarah O’Brien, who is now the current owner of the title ‘Employee of the Quarter’.

We followed this emotive and positive start to the morning, with some delicious refreshments. To be seasonal, our treats included some festive mince pies, alongside the traditional tea, coffee, pastries and fruit. This break was made very special thanks to two of our talented team members, Lindsey Anderson and Marcus Norman, who both took to the piano to further entertain and enlighten our morning.

staff chatting with refreshments at Planteria 2018 staff event

We continued the day with the Planteria Quiz. This battle of the brains kicked off with a round of questions inspired by our business. Other topics included questions about colleagues, food, London and ‘round-the-world’. A practical round, to build the largest free-standing structure using only paper and sellotape, was both fun and deadly serious, there were chocolate santas to win after all! Overall, it was a fun team builder that everyone could get behind.

team building event, making towers out of paperRolled paper tower held up by lady in red dress

After the quiz, Director Matt Anderson shared his vision for Planteria’s expected growth over the next two years, considering both long and short-term plans that could help us to achieve our goals, one of which will see our Head Office in Hertfordshire undergoing a re-fit to give our growing team the space they need to be creative and productive.

Following this round-up, we were given the chance to engage in a stimulating Q&A before wrapping up by lunchtime. In keeping with the festive theme started by the mince pies, the day ended with the gifting of hampers to all staff from the management team. It was at this moment that we were lucky enough to get the chance to view an aerobatic display and Spitfire fly-past, organised by The Imperial War Museum.

As usual, our annual All Staff Meeting was a roaring success. We’re ready to approach 2019 with gusto and look forward to bringing you happier, healthier, greener corporate environments through biophilic design services, our wide range of office plants and expert maintenance across the UK.

Are you ready for 2019?

planteria staff at 2018 staff event on stage in front of large screen