WINNER OF THE HANDBOOK CONTEST FOR A $25 GAS CARD
Congratulations Kimberly Kelly! Kimberly is the winner of the $25 gas card for the July Handbook Contest. She was one of many who correctly answered "G" as the correct answer: all six statements were accurate concerning time off work (PTO or LWOP). PCP are expected to be available to work on holidays if needed, Every employee is important & every absence affects our ability to serve our clients, you must submit a request for time off at least 2 weeks in advance, if you take leave after being denied you will be subject to disciplinary action, Time off should be entered into Bluewave by selecting the DNS button, time off and last minute request for time off can be included in interim & annual reviews.
This month's Handbook Contest question is at the bottom of the Human Resources Updates section.
Welcome Scott Stice
Scott joined the BPC Team in early July as a Customer Care Rep. He has been substituting for a mid-day dog walking route while growing his own pet sitting route. Scott moved here from Los Angeles. He has a 17 year old Shih Tzu, Molly. He comes to BPC with a wealth of office and project management experience. He has a degree in Business Administration from the University of Central Oklahoma. Please introduce yourself and welcome Scott to our team.
Health Insurance Open Season
Open Season for Becky's Pet Care Health Insurance will be the month of September. Full-time employees may enroll for insurance and make changes to their current enrollment during open season. At this time, details of the 2011-2012 company insurance plan are not available. You can contact Johna in September for information. A presentation of the 2011-2012 insurance plan will be given at the Annual Meeting on September 21. There will be time for individual questions with the BPC insurance agent.
Annual Meeting
The Annual Company meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 21 from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm. Mark your calendars. More information will be coming in next month's newsletter, a flier in an upcoming paycheck, and an email reminder closer to the date. Topics for the meeting include: changes in company policies and procedures as well as a presentation on the 2011-2012 company health insurance policy.
WIN A $25 GAS CARD
Monthly Handbook Contest
All Pet Care Professionals are responsible for knowing and following the Pet Care Procedures Manual and the Employee Handbook. Here's a contest to help learn the policies and procedures. Answer the question correctly and be entered to win a $25 gas card. Email your answer to Johna. All correct responses received by 5 pm Monday July 11 will be entered in a drawing to win. Employees who work full-time in the office are not eligible to win. Send the correct answer or answers to this question.
August's Question:
This month's Handbook & Procedures question is made up of 10 statements that are True or False.
Return your answer to Johna indicating which letter statements are TRUE and which letter statements are FALSE.
a) Pet Care Professionals may take a check from client & bring the checks to the office.
b) While doing a Dog Walk or Pet Sit, always assume you are being observed by security cameras or neighbors.
c) If you arrive at a client's house and it appears that someone is home, but the visit has not been cancelled, you don't have to do the visit.
d) BPC employees are expected to behave in a professional manner at all times, interacting respectfully with co-workers, clients, visitors, and vendors.
e) Managers monitor all employee unscheduled absences (leave without prior approval).
f) All BPC employees have Annual Reviews in October
g) Employees must maintain confidentiality about company and client information.
h) Your employment at PBC is "at will", which means that both you and BPC are free to terminate the employment relationship at any time, for any reason, with or without notice.
i) BPC has been providing pet care since November 1, 1995.
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PET CARE: NEWS YOU CAN USE
Thank you to our staff members who completed the June Employee Survey. We wanted to share some comments with you and what we would like to do about them. Here are some of the things that you and your fellow employees had to say:
Employee comment: I suggest a Bluewave feedback method that would allow easy annotation whenever someone runs across a Bluewave shortcoming.
Response: If there is something going on with Bluewave, or if you have a suggestion on making it more user-friendly, please email your comments toservice@beckyspetcare.com. We will send these to the software developer for review.
Employee comment: Managers could contact us every now and again just to see how we are doing. I emailed my manager with questions over Memorial Day and she never got back to me.
Response: We are always looking for ways to better connect with our staff in the field. We will continue to work on this. Emails to a specific person will be returned when that person returns to work. Emails to service@beckyspetcare.com should be returned no later than the next business day. Over Memorial Day, most of our management staff had full pet sitting schedules and did not get to emails over the weekend.
Employee comment: Returning emails! Often when I write an email to service, I have to follow up a second or third time to get an answer.
Response: We are working to achieve our goal of all emails being returned the day they are received. We have noted your comment and will try to do better.
Employee comment: I love this company!
Response: Thank you! We truly have the best employees and want to do the best for you.
Employee comment: Thank you for all the work that the office staff does. In my experience, they have always treated me well. I am very pleased with the office staff.
Response: Thank you for the compliment. We appreciate all the work that our Pet Care Professionals do to make Becky's the best pet care company in Northern Virginia (and the world)!
Employee comment: I wish they would share with me the kudos that I get from my clients instead of sticking them in a file.
Response: We are trying very hard to get compliments back to our pet care staff promptly. We do this by both the "Shining Stars" in the newsletter and by sending emails to you with the compliment. We will continue to work to improve this.
We had a lot of comments regarding the cost of gas and declaring mileage. In many cases, you are able to track your mileage to declare on your income tax return. This will provide you with a significant deduction on your taxes and we strongly recommend that you discuss this with your tax advisor.
We also had a lot of comments regarding our cancelation policy. The majority of you thought that the policy was fair to both the client and the pet sitter. We did have some comments that asked for special situations to be taken into consideration. We will try to do a better job of making exceptions when they are warranted.
Thanks!
Becky
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