Business in Liverpool

[Paul D]

By including Royal Lytham & St Annes golf course as being in Liverpool,they're obviously referencing the nearest big city that they've heard of.

[Scarecrow]

Ha Ha! Up yours there Accy!

[liverpolitan]

Originally Posted by PhilG

ONE of Europe’s biggest providers of credit management services has created almost 200 jobs in Liverpool, and could add another 200.

Swedish-owned Intrum Justitia has relocated its UK headquarters from Stratford-on-Avon to Liverpool’s Plaza office block.

A handful of staff moved, but most of the 200-strong workforce are Merseysiders, said Liverpool-born marketing manager Simon Frost.

He said there was plenty of capacity for further expansion in its office, which covers the entire fifth floor of the Plaza: “The future is positive for us in Liverpool.

“There are 200 people here and that is likely to expand.

“There are a lot of new clients coming on board. The floor here has the capacity for expansion, probably room to double.

“The firm has ambitious growth plans and the move here shows that, and the way that people view Liverpool generally now.”

He said Intrum’s global headquarters in Stockholm, which oversees 24 centres across Europe, was keen to relocate its 30-year-old UK operation to a north west site: “I would not be surprised if the Capital of Culture played some part in their decision.”

Mr Frost reckons the Liverpool office is now the biggest operation of its kind in the north west.

Superb news, and another good sign that Liverpool is recovering. Thanks for posting this.

http://www.intrum.co.uk/scroll.asp?ID=imgmenu7 We really need to see Liverpool becoming the Head Office, I hope that happens (you have to scroll down past the Head office to see the Liverpool office details).

Taken from the recruitment part of their website today:

"Business Development Professionals
£100k OTE + excellent benefits

We are Europe’s leading provider of Credit Management Services, with more than 80,000 clients in 22 countries. As part of our ambitious and exciting expansion plans for the UK, we are now looking for a number of senior Business Development Professionals who will be responsible for the development of strategic outsource partnerships with blue chip companies in specific sectors. The roles are 100% sales focused, flexible on location and offer fantastic rewards for the right candidates.

If you have:

A proven track record of sales success in Credit Management or a related area
An appetite to excel in a challenging and rewarding role
Career aspirations to progress to board level
and think you’re ready for the challenge, send your CV and details of current salary and package to:

Ruth Pointon,
HR Officer,
Intrum Justitia Limited,
The Plaza,
100 Old Hall Street,
Liverpool
L3 9QJ."

Not sure if the Liverpool office just does back-office HR, or if they have some high paid staff in Liverpool.

[JUXTAPOL]

That is good news about Intrum Justitia, hopefully this is the start of a number of finance based companies starting to move into the new office developments around the city.

[Doug Roberts]

On a good news day such as this a bit of wishful thinking, I know 2/3 years ago someone on this forum mentioned the return of Cunard to the city. Now that cruise ships have finally returned the icing on the cake would be for Cunard to set up its European HQ in Liverpool, and why not? their original HQ is still there along with waiting rooms apparently unused and the CLF converted to a full terminal status. And what a day it would be to announce such a move!!

Sounds like a good business plan pulling all this together into a top quality location.

[Martin S]

Originally Posted by Doug Roberts

On a good news day such as this a bit of wishful thinking, I know 2/3 years ago someone on this forum mentioned the return of Cunard to the city. Now that cruise ships have finally returned the icing on the cake would be for Cunard to set up its European HQ in Liverpool, and why not? their original HQ is still there along with waiting rooms apparently unused and the CLF converted to a full terminal status. And what a day it would be to announce such a move!!

Sounds like a good business plan pulling all this together into a top quality location.

Sounds like a great idea Doug. Actually, it was me who made that suggestion but only so that I could use that 'my Billy works for Cunard' joke again.

[bustcapl]

Yes but our are many quangos and agnecies actively courting the likes of Cunard... they should be!

[Doug Roberts]

Thanks Martin I couldn't remember who suggested, great idea and yeah quagos should be chasing this one like their lives depended on it.

[William McKenzie]

Originally Posted by Doug Roberts

Thanks Martin I couldn't remember who suggested, great idea and yeah quagos should be chasing this one like their lives depended on it.

Agree but I would be much happier if our quangos were so efficient that the likes of Cunard were chasing us!

First we need a stop off point (done), then a terminal as a base for several ships (hopefully). Only then would the idea of relocating from Southampton be feasible.

We would be the northern gateway. BUT, we would also need the infrastructure and ability to attract southerners here rather than a soulless Southampton. Easier said than done.

We have at least made a good start though!

[buggedboy]

Actually, the ground floor of teh Cunard building is GONW. However, if we don't need Objective 1 anymore, maybe they could relocate and make room for em.

Wishful thinking but hey.

[Scarecrow]

Move it to Manchester with the rest of it.

[thecityofgold]

I will try to restrain myself. I run a business that depends very heavily on the postal system. These strikes are creating utter chaos and will ultimately threaten the jobs of some of the local people who work for me.

I've posted on this thread because one thing Liverpool needs to sort out if it is to attract more business is it's image as work-shy and strike prone. All of yesterday I heard on national TV and radio how Liverpool's postal workers had launched wildfire strikes whilst the vast majority of the rest of the country got back to normal. Unfortunately this is typical of Liverpool.

What would the head of a company contemplating relocating to Liverpool think of that I wonder? I've been in Liverpool for 9 years but it even makes me think about whether this is the right place for me to be running a post dependent business.

There is a hard core of anti-work sentiment here, a legacy of the 70's and 80's, that needs to be eradicated. Personally I would fire all the postal workers who went on unofficial strike and hire people who want to do the job.

[the golden vision]

Originally Posted by thecityofgold

I will try to restrain myself. I run a business that depends very heavily on the postal system. These strikes are creating utter chaos and will ultimately threaten the jobs of some of the local people who work for me.

I've posted on this thread because one thing Liverpool needs to sort out if it is to attract more business is it's image as work-shy and strike prone. All of yesterday I heard on national TV and radio how Liverpool's postal workers had launched wildfire strikes whilst the vast majority of the rest of the country got back to normal. Unfortunately this is typical of Liverpool.

What would the head of a company contemplating relocating to Liverpool think of that I wonder? I've been in Liverpool for 9 years but it even makes me think about whether this is the right place for me to be running a post dependent business.

There is a hard core of anti-work sentiment here, a legacy of the 70's and 80's, that needs to be eradicated. Personally I would fire all the postal workers who went on unofficial strike and hire people who want to do the job.

Your real beef is that people are on strike and it's affecting your business,unfortunate but don't be labelling the people of this city as work shy.Tens of thousands of people have left this city to find work.Any more stereotypes handy?

[JUXTAPOL]

Originally Posted by thecityofgold

I will try to restrain myself. I run a business that depends very heavily on the postal system. These strikes are creating utter chaos and will ultimately threaten the jobs of some of the local people who work for me.

I've posted on this thread because one thing Liverpool needs to sort out if it is to attract more business is it's image as work-shy and strike prone. All of yesterday I heard on national TV and radio how Liverpool's postal workers had launched wildfire strikes whilst the vast majority of the rest of the country got back to normal. Unfortunately this is typical of Liverpool.

What would the head of a company contemplating relocating to Liverpool think of that I wonder? I've been in Liverpool for 9 years but it even makes me think about whether this is the right place for me to be running a post dependent business.

There is a hard core of anti-work sentiment here, a legacy of the 70's and 80's, that needs to be eradicated. Personally I would fire all the postal workers who went on unofficial strike and hire people who want to do the job.

I know you can do little about incoming mail, but aren't there a number of private Mail companies out there who you could use.

Also on this problem, if we are going to get this mess of Royal mail (which used to be great), and competition, then shouldn't the sorting offices be mixed Royal mail and private, so the private companies can handle the backlog. Then any mail company can go on strike to financially hurt thier company, but mail wont be affected.

[Toadboy]

The real problem is relying on Royal Mail. The government know it's dying (should I say trying to kill it), the managers know its dying and so do the workforce.

[Paul D]

Originally Posted by Toadboy

The real problem is relying on Royal Mail. The government know it's dying (should I say trying to kill it), the managers know its dying and so do the workforce.

You're right Royal Mail is finished,It's a public service that's been made into a profit making business and it doesn't work that way.It worked perfectly well years ago but when they opened it up to competition everything went tits up.Basically what has happened is private companies are now able to come in to Royal Mail and take all of the most profitable business by undercutting them.What people don't realise is that these people just bundle up the work they've taken off RM give it back to them,they then sort it,process it and deliver it for them for a fee.So when we're on strike,the mail they've taken off RM still doesn't get delivered because there is no profit in delivering the mail and they wont touch that side of the operation with a barge pole,it's a bizarre situation.

[Toadboy]

It's a national scandel, some things go beyond profit and loss - not to say efficiency and quality should suffer - one of the institutions that brought the nation closer together and led a postal system will be destroyed and we'll regress a few hundred years in that regard.

[Paul D]

Morale's that low that I think people are past worrying about losing their jobs now,nobody cares anymore.I think that's exactly what they want so as not have to pay them redundancy when the leave voluntarily.They can then get their way and get in a casual workforce without a union who they call bully at will,don't expect a great service off them either,there's nothing more puzzling for us than seeing someone from Iran trying to sort letters when he can't even read English,this happens.Here's a story,once a group of lads were throwing in their packets in all of the corresponding bags and with them was a casual worker.He seemed to be going like the clappers for an hour until one of the lads asked him how come he was so good if it's the first time that you've done it? The lad replied "I'm Just copying you lot",he'd apparently just been throwing them in any bag on the frame for an hour instead of where the addresses on the parcels were saying they should go.Peoples mail will have been getting sent anywhere in the World as a result of this when it might have just been meant for just down the road,this is the future.

[eyesparky]

I think 'thecityofgold' has a valid point although I wouldn't say Liverpool people are "work shy" to be honest. I was really pissed off last night watching the news and hearing yet again a golden opportunity to slag Liverpool off given to the media. This kind of thing really does stick in peoples memories when they come to make inward investment decisions. It also sticks in investors minds when, as a business seeking capital in the market, the mention of Liverpool as a location or HQ crops up in a business plan. The same old issue of strike action amongst workforce pops up.

It doesn't matter that the majority of Liverpool's workforce are hard working, intelligent, willing, able to think quickly under pressure and outside the box,when the story that hits the press is always "unofficial strike" etc.

[thecityofgold]

Your real beef is that people are on strike and it's affecting your business,unfortunate but don't be labelling the people of this city as work shy.Tens of thousands of people have left this city to find work.Any more stereotypes handy?

The fact is that a tiny fraction of Royal Mail’s workforce chose to go on unofficial strike yesterday and today. Of which, almost all of them were on Merseyside. I’m not intentionally working the stereotype but it is hard to avoid when you look at what has actually happened.

My point was that by being the first to jump into wildcat strikes like these the postal workers are reinforcing the typical Scouser stereotype still held by many people.

It is my opinion that these 2 days of ‘wildcat’ strikes will have done more damage to Merseyside as a destination for business than a successful Capital of Culture could ever do good. The press coverage over the past 2 days has been extensive.

Liverpool has to work hard to get rid of an image and reputation gained, whether fairly or not, over at least a generation. Strikes like these are the last thing Liverpool needs.

The good people of Merseyside should be down at Copperas Hill protesting against the strike.

Regarding private mail, I wish we could use it, but we are too small. And the last leg of the journey is always by Royal Mail anyway. Mail from companies like TNT is not getting delivered either at the moment.

Royal Mail does need sorting out, it needs modernizing, and this is exactly what management is trying to do. Royal Mail must be one of the last companies in the UK to maintain 1970’s ideas like Spanish practices for instance. And all of our pensions are going to get fucked over, that’s just how it is.

The workers at Royal Mail need to wake up and see 1. The damage they are doing to ordinary people 2. The shape of the modern world that everyone else lives in.