Day 155 - 14 Jul 95 - Page 22
1
2 Q. What about the badges? I think there are green, yellow and
3 white ones, are there?
4 A. Yes, that is correct.
5
6 Q. What do they signify?
7 A. A green badge basically is someone who is a new
8 starter, OK. After three weeks of probation they receive a
9 probationary PR. If they are successful during their
10 probation they then move on to a yellow badge. Once you
11 have got all your five stars on the yellow badge, you can
12 then qualify to become a training squad, in effect, you are
13 competent to train new starters.
14
15 Q. Then if you want to climb it, you started on the ladder
16 towards salaried management?
17 A. Mainly floor management, first of all.
18
19 Q. Yes. So after training squad, Floor Manager ---
20 A. And then salaried.
21
22 Q. -- Second Assistant, First Assistant, Manager?
23 A. Yes.
24
25 MR. JUSTICE BELL: So once you have your five stars and you can
26 qualify as a trainer, then you get your white badge, do
27 you?
28 A. That is correct, sir.
29
30 MR. RAMPTON: I understand. Roughly, from your memory and
31 experience, what sort of numbers of people were anxious to
32 climb that ladder and in what sort of proportion were quite
33 content with whatever they might be doing, whether
34 part-time or full-time?
35 A. As I stated before, there were a number of people --
36 I think it was about seven in total -- that become Floor
37 Managers for me, of which three are now current Restaurant
38 Managers. Once I found that the bottleneck had been opened
39 up, a lot more people wanted to do it, a lot more people.
40
41 Q. What do you mean by "the bottleneck"?
42 A. Well, when I first arrived there, there had been no
43 promotions, no training, nothing. You know, once the ball
44 had started to roll and you saw people, in effect, seeing
45 their friends being promoted, given pay rises, given
46 training and then go on to management, that they wanted to
47 do it as well.
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think Mr. Rampton was asking you if you
50 could give some idea of the proportion of people, the 100
51 -- of people who came in and survived, say, more than a
52 few weeks so that, for instance, they get their yellow
53 badge and start accumulating stars, what sort of a
54 proportion of people who get that far, i.e. apart from
55 people who come in and do not like it and go (which happens
56 in any job), you thought would like to have management
57 ambitions?
58 A. I would probably say maybe 20 to 30 per cent once I had
59 the 100 staff.
60
