FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Inappropriate Incentives Can Damage Reputation And Relationship With The Public

June 15, 2007

Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK

A day off at the races has landed a Gloucestershire school in trouble with its parents. The school, Sandford Special School in Seven Springs, spent £1,600 for a “team building” day at the horse races at a cost of £50 per person.

The student’s parents, the county councilor and the local MP are all calling for an investigation for the inappropriate use of tax payers monies. Most think that while school budgets are tight, the money could have been better spent. The situation has additionally angered some parents as it was on a school day and they had to each make special arrangements for the care of their children while the teachers were away.

Public sector employees are incentivized for several reasons; for meeting defined targets, for good attendance, for innovative ideas or cost saving efforts, or to increase moral within teams. However, since the financing of these incentives is coming from the tax payer, the incentive must stand up to public scrutiny. Like any expense, it must have a defined outcome with preferably measurable results.

Traditional incentives are things like in-house stress relief training, team building at an offsite location with a reputable company, vouchers for products or services like DYI centres or shopping centres, holidays on cruise ships or in local hotels, traditional loyalty gifts like Parker Pens, or organization branded clothing and items to bond a team together.

This is where www.buyersguide.co.uk helps the UK public sector. There are hundreds of companies offering incentive services like; hotel stays, holidays, pens, branded clothing, team building experiences, stress relief training, in office massages or other services or products designed to motivate employees.

Buyers Guide has been helping private companies get access to government contracts since 1996. With over 5,000 company listings on www.buyersguide.co.uk of specific products and services targeting public sector work, Buyers Guide is an easy solution for helping government buyers find qualified suppliers.

Companies listed on Buyers Guide range from multinationals to sole traders, but all have the goal of working on public sector contracts. These include working with schools, colleges, universities, local councils, ministry of defence, NHS, housing authorities, and government funded non-profit agencies.

The advantage that Buyers Guide offers is that the company “profile” on the www.buyersguide.co.uk website is written to specifically answer the pre-qualification questions from public sector buyers. This usually includes information like; previous work with other government bodies, years in business, industry qualifications or certifications like ISO 9002, testimonials from clients, government awards like investors in people, confirmation of equal opportunity employer status and specific contact details.

The Buyers Guide “profile” system allows government procurement specialists to quickly find companies that have government experience, the pre-qualification standards and a willingness to work with the public sector in one place saving time, effort and ultimately money.

Contact:

Buyers Guide
0191 260 5388
0191 221 2287
info@buyersguide.co.uk
www.buyersguide.co.uk

Company History

Buyers Guide, based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, was established in 1996 and is the leading online directory of UK companies that are targeting the £600 billion in public spending each year. To date, there are over 5,000 company listings in 1,200 categories on the www.buyersguide.co.uk website.