Anchor Group Services were awarded the prestigious University contract following a competitive tender process in November 2016. The contract saw the transfer of 32 employees from the incumbent security contract to Anchor. The security staff are employed across 9 university locations and consisted predominantly of night time workers. There were a number of new elements to the service also introduced during the tender process, these elements required day one recruitment.

Once awarded the contract Anchor built a bespoke mobilisation plan which captured the unique requirements of the transfer process and appointed General Manager Alex Hiles as the project manager responsible for the mobilisation of the contract. Due to the 1st January start date Anchor proposed to complete the mobilisation process prior to the Christmas break. The client was provided access to Anchors’ mobilisation platform and was able to track the process at every stage from inception to completion. Weekly update meetings were also held to items on the mobilisation plan.

Anchor held a series of site level TUPE workshops to ensure that one to one consultations were carried out with each member of security staff prior to the TUPE transfer. As a result of this approach to consultation we were able to achieve a transfer rate of 100%. Such was the positive impression left with the site staff we were also approached by a number of cover staff who currently work on the contracts, although not TUPE transfers these staff applied for vacant Anchor positions and some were subsequently employed by Anchor as new starters.

Due to the growth of the contract there was a requirement to recruit and train 8 staff to cover weekend library duties prior to the contracts commencement. These staff were all successfully recruited and trained prior to the start of the contract.

On the contract start date all members of staff were on site wearing their correct uniform, with all equipment and operating to their new assignment instructions. Anchor’s proactive approach to the mobilisation had enabled us to adopt a business as usual approach which resulted in zero loss of service during the transition process.

An Anchor representative was on site for the commencement of every duty to personally meet and greet each transferring employee, a personal touch the security staff had not previously experienced. The smooth transfer was achieved as a result of detailed operational planning, central process management and risk mitigation. Investment in the mobilisation phase of the contract laid the foundations for long term contract success. Since commencement of the contract Anchor have achieved 100% compliance with the SLA with zero lost hours as a result of down manning and zero use of untrained staff.