Day 204 - 15 Jan 96 - Page 34
1 A. Yes.
2
3 Q. Can you just say, if we go to page 5 ---
4 A. Yes.
5
6 Q. -- at the top of the page, the crew numbers in September
7 1989, which was six months after the last chart we looked
8 at, are all down on the targets set, is that correct, for
9 the three stores?
10 A. Well, yes, but the target was set for a point in the
11 future, was it not? The target set in the second column is
12 for a point in the future.
13
14 Q. The same target was set previously.
15 A. Yes, but ------
16
17 Q. Or exactly the same targets that were set?
18 A. Oh, sorry yes, yes, you are right.
19
20 Q. Yes?
21 A. Yes.
22
23 Q. If you look at the bottom of that section, just before
24 Management Hire and Development, the last paragraph before
25 that, the conclusion of -- was it who did this? I do not
26 know who did this actually, this review.
27
28 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is 13th September, is it not, again, 1989?
29
30 MR. MORRIS: Yes. Anyway, the conclusion of your superior was:
31 "Neither of the set targets for crew numbers have been
32 achieved nor the required reduction in turnover". So you
33 were being criticised, were you not, at this time for crew
34 numbers and turnover levels?
35 A. To a certain extent, although it is relative to the
36 targets set and what actually happened. I think if you
37 look at the bottom of the paragraph, it says, "194 around
38 the summer without importing crew and 200 were not exactly
39 desperate", so that would suggest the targets set were
40 probably a little over the top rather than that we were
41 running desperately tight or anything.
42
43 Q. So, the targets set by your superiors you did not feel were
44 realistic then?
45 A. Looking back on it, if, I mean, Clacton is a seaside
46 resort which gets extremely busy in the summer. Quite
47 often we used to import crew from the other stores just for
48 the two month period or for the weekends or something like
49 that. I would say -----
50
51 Q. But you were being criticised for not achieving the set
52 targets; is that correct?
53 A. I would say it was commenting on me not achieving the
54 set targets. I would say -- you know, you could say
55 criticise, yes.
56
57 Q. Right. Just on turnover, the figures for turnover, while
58 you were Supervisor, there seemed to be a general downward
59 trend, yes? I mean, generally overall in that region,
60 because the Company was trying to get new turnover rates
