Hi all,
I agree with Sean and Ian’s concerns about losing a fifth of Randall’s working
capacity. Studies suggesting that productivity is similar at 4 days and 5 days
a week aren’t relevant, given that Randall would need to perform all the
necessary Act Travelwise tasks in 4 days a week in addition to an extra full
day of work for WYTCL.
I think Ian’s suggestion to factor in this arrangement to our new strategy, and
identify if it will be feasible if placed alongside a sturdy network of
regional reps, is a good one. I also agree that placements could work well. But
all of this feels rushed to me – I was unaware that Randall had applied for
this position and now feel that we are under pressure to make a decision, when
we don’t have all the necessary information.
I’m not against the idea of handing more tasks to the regional reps and the
board, but this sort of handover shouldn’t happen in a rush and must be agreed
by all in advance. I think it would be irresponsible for us to approve this
role on the unfounded assumption that other people, including regional reps,
would take on more work as a result.
I personally would prefer if we could delay Randall’s response to WYCTL and
have a fuller directors’ discussion in our call next Tuesday. As has been
noted, Richard Armitage has links to Act TravelWise and I’m sure would
understand that we want to ensure that this move benefits both organisations as
much as possible. If we then feel assured that our operational capacity won’t
be impeded, and that this move aligns with our goals as well as benefitting
Randall, then we can proceed with confidence. In the meantime we can all look
at Randall’s task list, as Sean and Randall have suggested, which was a
priority in any case.
Let me know your thoughts.
Emily
Emily Shovlar
Senior WestTrans Coordinator
07850 972177 | www.westtrans.org<http://www.westtrans.org/> |
@WestTransTP<https://twitter.com/westtranstp>
[image002]WestTrans is a partnership of the six west London boroughs of Brent,
Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow. We work with
Transport for London to identify, develop and implement sustainable transport
projects to the benefit of the subregion.
From: act-travelwise-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<act-travelwise-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of ian.skinner@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: 24 April 2019 10:02
To: act-travelwise-board@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [act-travelwise-board] Re: Appointment of WYTCL Company Secretary
Hi all
I’ve just spoken with Randall and have quickly gone through the relevant emails.
I still have a slight concern in that I still haven’t really got my head around
all of the things that Act TravelWise / Randall does and so am slightly
concerned that we’ll be losing 20% of our administrative capacity… This is
particularly the case, as we do now have regional reps in several of the
regions to lead on local meetings. However, as the opportunity with WYTC has
presented itself, it fulfils various objectives (as noted by Don) and is
currently part of the strategy, I think that we should take WYTC up on their
offer for Randall to work one day a week with them.
Moving forward, we should factor in Randall’s four days a week in the new
strategy that we are developing and then aim to identify how we might fill any
gaps that we identify. It seems to me that a priority should be to get a good
network of regional reps in place, and then, as Randall notes, once the
Directors have specified areas of responsibility, it may mean that Randall
working four days a week does not affect our operational capacity. Having said
that, I like the idea of placements, as Randall suggested, as that could also
be seen as being in line with the organisation’s objectives.
Talk next week.
Best wishes
Ian
From:
act-travelwise-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:act-travelwise-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<act-travelwise-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:act-travelwise-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
On Behalf Of Randall Ghent
Sent: 24 April 2019 09:22
To:
act-travelwise-board@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:act-travelwise-board@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [act-travelwise-board] Re: Appointment of WYTCL Company Secretary
Hi Sean and all,
I think it would be a good opportunity to take a fresh look at my task list
overall. It would be up to the Board what to cut, but I wouldn't say it's as
simple as cutting 20% since we know from recent case studies that productivity
at 4 days/week is similar to 5 days/week - and of course there's Parkinson's
Law that work expands to fill the time available for its completion, along with
the corollary that work contracts to fit in the time we give it.
Having said that, I would suggest that once the Board is more established,
there will be fewer demands on my time in terms of the set up and orientation
including the financial side. Depending on others' time availability, some
tasks could be re-allocated to directors and/or Regional Reps once they're more
established. The setting up of events and meetings is an obvious one to look
at. I could also cut attendance of events in the North West and North East now
that we have directors in each - and instead focus on Yorkshire events in
Leeds, timed to coincide with days I'd be there anyway.
We could also redirect queries to various people (to spread the load) depending
on topic, via an amended Contact Us page on the website that states who the
contacts are for each query type. Discrete tasks like member surveys, specific
events (or aspects of them e.g. programme/theme development) and reports as
well as some social media can more easily be re-allocated than ongoing tasks,
aside from the Contact Us example.
Another possibility/opportunity is to have Masters students from Inst for
Transport Studies at Univ of Leeds work for one day/week over a few summer
months as work experience in exchange for a job reference and a voluntary
opportunity to put on their CV. We did this successfully a few years ago with
three students and it would be more viable again now if I were available to
meet them occasionally in Leeds, which this WYTCL post would allow.
Just to add, Don is having trouble with his @acttravelwise email, so he's just
sent me this from his personal account:
Hello All
My view on this proposal is as follows :-
1. Its a good career move for Randall, it broadens his experience and gives him
new skills, our responsibility as an employer is to give him the best
opportunities to develop himself and support his career development.
2. It allows us to reduce our costs without losing our most valuable asset.
3. I believe the arrangements will not seriously impact on our operational
capacity
4. Richard Armitage is a former member of the organisation and I think was on
the old Travelwise executive (not sure on that) and is likely to be sympathetic
to our aims and objectives
Best Wishes
Don.
Randall Ghent
Business Operations Manager
Act TravelWise
Tel: 020 8144 7366
Mobile: 07960 180851
Email: randall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:randall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Web: www.acttravelwise.org<http://www.acttravelwise.org>
Skype: act-travelwise
Twitter: @ActTravelWise
________________________________
From:
act-travelwise-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:act-travelwise-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<act-travelwise-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:act-travelwise-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
on behalf of Ford, Sean <Sean.Ford@xxxxxxx<mailto:Sean.Ford@xxxxxxx>>
Sent: 24 April 2019 07:57
To:
act-travelwise-board@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:act-travelwise-board@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [act-travelwise-board] Re: Appointment of WYTCL Company Secretary
Hi
At present Randall has 5 days for ACTTW , excuse abbreviation.
If we are losing one day to WYTC Randal can you quantify the 20% of tasks
that would be effected??
Can we also understand what are the non priority duties or non essential tasks
that would be possible to reduce, lose completely or share with the board?
That way we can agree with some confidence on what would be effected by the
role.
Kind regards
Sean
Sean Ford BA (Hons) CMILT
Associate , Transportation
WSP

M: 07581 536380
8 First Street
Manchester
M15 4RP
wsp.com<http://wsp.com>
On Tue, Apr 23, 2019 at 12:44 PM +0100, "Randall Ghent"
<randall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:randall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi all,
It was just me and Emily on the call today, although I spoke to Don and Sean
separately beforehand.
Just before the call, I spoke to Chris Dixon, who confirmed that my calculation
(below) was sound, but we'd need to charge at £200 plus VAT per day. I suspect
WYTCL is VAT registered, in which case this wouldn't impact them. Secondly, we
should assume that this would count as a trading activity subject to 19%
corporation tax (payable 9 months after the close of the financial year, being
Sept 2020). So in that case the annual profit would be more like £8k. I should
also ask WYTCL about provision for a rate increase over time.
Emily wanted to discuss the impact of losing 20% of my working capacity among
the Board via email, so I'm starting that off here. What I'd suggest is that we
could address some of the capacity loss via partnerships with other
organisations so that we don't need to deliver everything centrally. One
example would be the proposal to extend SmartGo discounts
(https://www.smartgo.co.uk/standard<https://www.smartgo.co.uk/standard>) to our
members as part of our membership benefits package (to be discussed
separately). Another would be event partnerships involving co-branding with
members and other organisations who take the lead on the particular event.
I can also add that the previous Board had a longstanding objective of finding
an opportunity similar to the WYTCL role, so it was on that basis that I
applied for it. My Act TravelWise contract was for 5 days/week because of 2
days/week required for the ENDURANCE (European SUMP) project, leaving 3
days/week for general Act TravelWise work. So after ENDURANCE ended, the
employment costs were (and remain) higher than the Board originally intended.
Also the job stability aspect of the WYTCL offer is particularly important to
me, as it allows us to meet our annual budget and therefore I wouldn't need to
worry about that as much.
Richard Armitage, Chair of WYTCL, will be back from leave tomorrow and is
expecting my response then, so it would be great if we could resolve this
today/tomorrow. I've left a voicemail message for Gill and will send a text
message to Ian as he's away until 29 April.
Thanks,
Randall
Randall Ghent
Business Operations Manager
Act TravelWise
Tel: 020 8144 7366
Mobile: 07960 180851
Email: randall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:randall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Web: www.acttravelwise.org<http://www.acttravelwise.org>
Skype: act-travelwise
Twitter: @ActTravelWise
________________________________
From:
act-travelwise-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:act-travelwise-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
<act-travelwise-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:act-travelwise-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
on behalf of Randall Ghent
<randall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:randall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
Sent: 23 April 2019 10:26
To: Chris Dixon (Eightoaks)
Cc:
act-travelwise-board@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:act-travelwise-board@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [act-travelwise-board] Fw: Appointment of WYTCL Company Secretary
Hi Chris,
Hope you had a nice Easter break. I've got this offer to work approx 1 day/week
for West Yorks Ticketing Company Limited, which could be done as an outsourcing
arrangement via Act TravelWise. They're offering £26.67/hour or £200/day plus
expenses e.g. travel to Leeds. I've calculated that my wage is £19.64/hour.
When including gross wages, NI and pension, it's £20.52/hour. When including
1/3 of the Eightoaks accountancy fees (my estimate of payroll expenses, being
£50/month or £600/year), it comes to £20.88/hour. So that works out as a profit
to Act TravelWise of £5.79/hour or £9,727.20 per year, plus of course the fact
that approx 1/5 of our employment costs would be covered by WYTCL, which is the
main benefit.
If you could check my calculation below and raise any issues, that would be
great.
Thanks,
Randall
My calculation:
52 weeks/year
- 7.2 weeks/year of bank holidays and leave
= 44.8 weeks/year >> 1,680 hours/year @ 7.5 hours/day
£33,000 / 1,680 = £19.64 per hour
add £400 NI and £1,080 pension:
£34,480 / 1,680 = £20.52 per hour
add 1/3 of the monthly £150 Eightoaks accountancy fee (being £50/month or
£600/year as an estimate of payroll costs)
£35,080 / 1,680 = £20.88 per hour
£26.67 - £20.88 = £5.79 profit per hour to Act TravelWise
£5.79 hourly profit x 1,680 hours/year = £9,727.20 profit to Act TravelWise per
year
Divided by 12, that's £810.60 profit per month
As this would start on 1 May, it affects 7 months of FY 2019, so this FY's
profit would be £5,674.20.
Randall Ghent
Business Operations Manager
Act TravelWise
Tel: 020 8144 7366
Mobile: 07960 180851
Email: randall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:randall@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Web: www.acttravelwise.org<http://www.acttravelwise.org>
Skype: act-travelwise
Twitter: @ActTravelWise
________________________________
From: Richard Armitage <richard@xxxxxxx<mailto:richard@xxxxxxx>>
Sent: 12 April 2019 14:11
To: Randall Ghent
Cc: Dave Pearson; Mike Nolan; Joanna Chew
Subject: Appointment of WYTCL Company Secretary
Dear Randall
Thanks for taking my call this afternoon.
I attach an offer letter, as discussed. Please do not hesitate to ask for any
clarifications or for further details. Otherwise, please call me on my mobile
on Monday or Tuesday next week, as agreed.
Best wishes
Richard
Richard Armitage BSc FCILT
Chair
West Yorkshire Ticketing Co. Ltd.
M: 07973 538 556
T: 0161 368 6603
E: richard@xxxxxxx<mailto:richard@xxxxxxx>
[signature_376854092][signature_899659209]
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