Day 155 - 14 Jul 95 - Page 59
1 action did not work, then that could well be the case.
2
3 Q. What improvements did you make in training?
4 A. Basically, there was two or three people that had been
5 there X amount of months, maybe some were a bit longer than
6 that, where they showed very, very good potential, they
7 were actually well trained themselves, which was a bit of a
8 surprise considering the rest of the people, and I just
9 pencilled these people where they took a group of, like,
10 six or seven people in a way to partner these people, get
11 the observation check lists done, the test, etc. etc., just
12 to get them up to scratch a little bit.
13
14 Q. At some point you introduced video training?
15 A. Well, video training, I gather, has been in place for a
16 number of years.
17
18 Q. Do you remember whether it was in place or not when you
19 arrived?
20 A. No, I do not remember.
21
22 Q. You do not remember?
23 A. No.
24
25 MR. MORRIS: You said that there was no more than 10 per cent
26 under 18s and about 20 to 30 per cent over 21s and,
27 therefore, 70 to 80 per cent of your staff were 21 or
28 under?
29 A. Approximate figures, yes.
30
31 Q. The only place you advertised outside the store was at the
32 polytechnic specifically?
33 A. That is right.
34
35 Q. You said that you were willing to take on in your
36 statement: "Our policy was and is to employ whichever
37 people in the local community were willing and able to work
38 for us." You targeted students and, presumably, you also
39 targeted people aged 21 or under?
40 A. I did not really target any sort of age group.
41
42 Q. So can we assume then that people over the age of 21
43 generally were not willing to work for you?
44 A. No.
45
46 Q. How can we explain the fact that if you say you were
47 willing to employ anyone who was willing to work for you
48 and you did target students, how do you explain the fact
49 that the majority of the rest just happened to be under 21?
50 A. Sorry, I do not understand what you are saying.
51
52 Q. You talked about in a store if somebody particularly excels
53 in a year, they might get a special pay rise, would that be
54 like, you know, Crew Person of the Year or something? At
55 the end of the year you would say: "Right" -----
56 A. No, it is -- you can have merit rises at any time
57 however many times in the year that you want, but that is
58 Store Manager's -----
59
60 Q. That would be for exceptional crew performance?
