Day 166 - 28 Sep 95 - Page 31


     
     1        everything.
     2
     3   Q.   Obviously, you would have been keen to get as close to the
     4        targets as you could?
     5        A.  Yes, beating the targets for the right reasons.  The
     6        stores are not all run at the same labour percentage.
     7        Stores might run at higher or lower for various reasons.
     8
     9   Q.   When you were talking to the First Assistant and Second
    10        Assistant Managers in your enthusiasm for, you know,
    11        keeping the store going and keeping on target wherever
    12        possible, you might have said to them:  "Look, we need to
    13        keep it below 15 per cent; we have to keep it below 15 per
    14        cent", or something like that?
    15        A.  No, 15, no.  I mean, that was my point to you.  The
    16        figure I had -----
    17
    18   Q.   Around 15 per cent?
    19        A.  Not necessarily, no.  The store runs at what it runs
    20        at.  If I can justify that to my Supervisor, then that
    21        would have been fine.  If I ran at 16 in January or if
    22        I ran at 17 or even 14, that is for me to run at.  If he
    23        was seeing things that were not right when he was coming
    24        in, or if we were not achieving good standards, then that
    25        would be for us to put right.
    26
    27   Q.   So your Supervisor would have talked to you about what you
    28        were achieving in terms of the labour cost percentage?
    29        A.  Yes.
    30
    31   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Can you just pause a moment?  Since we are
    32        concentrating on percentages, which may or may not be
    33        helpful, I would just like to look at the absolute
    34        figures.  The money you actually spent on payroll crew is
    35        higher than was budgeted for in January, February and April
    36        but lower than budgeted for in March.  In other words, you
    37        spent more in the budget in three of those four months?
    38        A.  You mean in terms of pounds?
    39
    40   Q.   In pounds and pence, yes, but so you had spent -----
    41
    42   MR. MORRIS:  Which piece of paper are we looking at?
    43
    44   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  We are looking at both of them.  If you look
    45        at the Budget Report and then look at the January actual,
    46        the budget would spend just under £26,000 and you spent
    47        just under £26,500 in January -- correct me if I have this
    48        wrong -- in February the budget was to spend £23,500 and
    49        you spent £24,700 odd.
    50        A.  That is right and, if you look at the sales, it is 
    51        achieving more sales, so by having more people on 
    52        and  ----- 
    53
    54   Q.   That is the obvious explanation.  In March, the budget was
    55        to spend £27,200 but you spent £25,700, so you spent less
    56        on payroll crew then, but then again in April the budget
    57        was to spend £27,875 and you spent £32,668?
    58        A.  Again the sales figure far outweighs the budgeted
    59        figure.
    60

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