My year on the front line...
It is universally accepted that the care sector is living through the most challenging period in living history....
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Micropress trading since 1974 is one of the UK’s leading printers located at its state of the art 10-acre site just outside the picturesque seaside Suffolk town of Southwold. Over the years, the business has seen plenty of challenges. The printing world has undergone wholesale structural changes like the threat from the internet and the company has adopted, making large capital investments in the latest printing equipment to improve its performance and maintain a competitive edge so that it remains at the forefront of technology. Like other organisations, nothing prepared the business or its staff for the global pandemic.
Overnight, Micropress and its 150 workforces had to switch to a combination of working from home and on-site. The very nature of printing means that there always had to be people working in situ just to keep the business trading. Teams were put into small bubbles with strict Covid protocols in place in the hope that by putting the structures in place that the company could avoid a total shutdown.
In October 2020, Covid struck. “I remember that initial feeling of panic only too well. We had strict Covid protocols in place but this was a new disease and the proof is always in the pudding. We hoped social distancing and small bubbles would work. Immediately we sent home everyone who had been in contact with the individual concerned and tested to see if we had contained the outbreak. The relief I felt when we realised that our protocols and safe Covid practice had been enough.” Said Rob Cross Director of Micropress, “ We have had a couple of outbreaks and every time, so far, we have managed to come through without having to close the business which has been a total relief.
“Testing was an easy decision for us, throughout the whole 14 months it has been our absolute priority to keep our team safe and our testing programme has heavily stacked the odds in our favour of doing this. Testing isn’t the nicest of experiences but all our team have reacted really well. They are doing their bit and they all feel much safer by doing the tests.”
“We have been mindful of how difficult the last year has been for all my colleagues. So we have tried throughout the whole time to maintain morale through various initiatives. Only small things in themselves such as our “keep smiling” campaign in October as the Covid storm clouds were gathering again and present giving at Christmas, and eggs at Easter. It was important to us that our team knew that we cared about them and appreciated that working through this was unprecedented for all of us. As we see light at the end of the tunnel we are really looking forward to growing the business and putting the last 12 months firmly behind us.”
It is a picture of Amrit Dhaliwal, MD of Christies Care Franchising at our in-house lateral flow testing site to ensure he had a negative test before meeting with Christies Care colleagues.
