Day 181 - 01 Nov 95 - Page 57
1 days, does that give any indications about what the average
2 length of stay of people that leave -- what I am trying to
3 say is, can these figures be seen as turnover figures?
4 A. They are -----
5
6 Q. Is it possible for me to say: this means that basically
7 seven per cent of people stayed less than one month?
8
9 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not see how it can possibly say that.
10 It may be useful in various other examples.
11
12 MR. MORRIS: It just strikes me as obvious. Am I wrong there or
13 -----
14 A. Well, the trouble is you cannot from these figures very
15 readily -- you cannot be sure about annual turnover figures
16 from this profile. It just suggests, if you look at the
17 half yearly figure, with a turnover of 35, 36 per cent, it
18 points to me to achieving in half a year what the catering
19 industry achieves in a full year. So, I think it indicates
20 a higher than average turnover for the industry, just from
21 looking at the half year figures. I am still not sure
22 whether I am answering your question, however. I most
23 apologise for that.
24
25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: If I may say so, I think Mr. Morris is just
26 asking you to be his conduit for what is an argument, in
27 fact, rather than your actual evidence. I think I have to
28 consider what you want to say should be deduced from this.
29 I do not think Mr. Pearson can ---
30
31 MR. MORRIS: Right. OK, I will move on.
32
33 MR. JUSTICE BELL: -- get anything from it that you cannot take
34 in argument.
35
36 THE WITNESS: I mean, if it is being suggested to me that the
37 annual turnover figure is potentially much higher from this
38 table than that which is appearing in other statistics,
39 yes, I mean, I would say that is an arguable point because
40 you do not have -- I do not believe you have seen proper
41 profiles. These figures, these figures in their own right,
42 and if you look at earlier quarters they do show hefty
43 turnover figures at short lengths of service, that is
44 without doubt, and these are very unusual profiles for the
45 industry.
46
47 I must make that very clear. It is most unusual in the
48 catering industry, which has a high turnover profile, to
49 see such a wastage at such short periods of service and
50 that would, you know, that could potentially -- I am being
51 quite careful with the words I choose -- that could
52 potentially throw question marks over turnover rates
53 annually of, say, 120 or 150 per cent. These figures are
54 capable of generating quite high turnover figures, but
55 without the proper generated turnover figure from this
56 database, it is impossible to be sure, it just points in
57 that direction. It points a question mark at the turnover
58 figure that was discussed yesterday.
59
60 It may well be, for example, that returnees are not
