Over the past year you’ve been nominating colleagues for living and breathing our Culture Essentials; helping us to achieve our ideal culture, be the great company we aspire to be, and of course to create unforgettable holiday happiness for our guests.
Our focus on how we do things is so incredibly important and by living our Culture Essentials every day we’ll reach our long-term goals and aspirations.
We’re grateful to each and every one of you for the contributions you’ve made in 2022. A number of people were specifically highlighted in our Culture Essentials Awards throughout the year, with individuals and teams identified as our quarterly Culture Essentials Awards winners.
Now it’s time to vote for your winning individual and winning team of the year!
Not only will the winners be recognised as our 2022 Culture Essentials Award Winners of the Year, they’ll also receive amazing prizes! The winning individual will enjoy their own piece of holiday happiness – a cruise for up to 14 nights for themselves and a guest, and the winning team will enjoy a special team event worth up to £5,000.
So who gets your vote?
Our quarterly Culture Essentials Awards winners are our nominees – click on the names below for a reminder of the reasons they were nominated. When casting your vote, think about the nomination that reflects how you’d like to see us going about our work here at Carnival UK.
Our individual nominees
Ben Gaskin – Advisor, Service Desk, Shared Services
Ben Gaskin – Advisor, Service Desk, Shared Services
Ben has gone totally above and beyond to be available and help out during the roll out of O365. It may be his job to help with IT but his calm manner, positive assistance and constructive advice for resolution of issues has been invaluable. Just knowing someone is there who will respond so effectively and seek a full and quick solution has made the whole experience much less tense. As an EA, I sometimes manage up to 5 accounts simultaneously - knowing Ben has always 'had my back' in getting things working has been phenomenal. Huge thanks and appreciation! Congratulations, Ben.
Leanne Stutchbury– Beverage Development Manager, P&O Cruises
Leanne Stutchbury– Beverage Development Manager, P&O
A member of the team was having a difficult time outside of work and Leanne has been outstanding in being positive, supportive, understanding and respectful of their difficult situation - signposting them to various agencies for support and checking in with the member of staff daily to see how they are and if they need anything. Leanne has listened to them and empowered and encouraged the member of staff to reach-out for help and support. Leanne has been understanding and non-judgemental and this has made a tremendous difference to her colleague and their safety. Thank you, Leanne.
Maciej Piwowarski, Contact Centre Team Leader, Shared Services
Maciej Piwowarski
Maciej Piwowarski (MJ) has received two individual nominations and a group nomination from the P&O Cruises team leaders for this quarter. MJ has listened to feedback regarding the ongoing issues the contact centre are facing in handling guests queries or complaints. MJ has been communicating with other external departments, like the My cruise team, to help them improve processes in the Contact Centre. Individually he has been a key stakeholder in perfecting the process to improve the way that personal cruise advisors handle guests queries and ensure that the previous issues/ pain points for our guests are non-existent. Mj has introduced a new floorwalking process, giving personal cruise advisors inspiring to become team leaders the opportunity to get involved with admin, one to ones, coaching, and guidance. He has also played a big role in empowering the contact centre to handle more call volumes, helping to reduce the average handling time by 13% and decreased the hold time by 43% . In addition to this he has also taken on additional responsibilities to support Becca Dunn (contact centre manager for P&O Cruises) taking care of critical tasks such as headcount tracking, reporting, and HR to ensure changes are made in a timely way. He has been a valuable member of the Team. Thank you, MJ!
Katie has been an outstanding individual in transforming the Partnership Helpdesk Team within the Contact Centre. She has implemented a number of positive changes – including a new initiative called ‘Shine Month’ – created to educate the team all about Arvia, which improved knowledge within the CCO and involved a fun event with prizes for the team to win. Her passion to improve and educate both the Partnership Helpdesk Advisors and our travel agents has been phenomenal and has resulted and in creating a positive working environment which transformed how the team works. Since Katie has joined CUK, the Partnership Helpdesk Team has achieved outstanding service levels and continues to deliver invaluable support to our travel agent partners.
Our team nominees
CUK Vaccine Working Group, Various
CUK Vaccine Working Group, Various
As of 12 February, 100% of our crew on board our ships, including those not in service, are fully vaccinated. We are the first in the Corporation to achieve this position. This is an incredible milestone and has been incredibly challenging and complex to achieve. It will make a huge difference to the safety and wellbeing of our people, will support effective operations and will also give our guests the reassurance they are seeking to sail with us. The vaccine working group is now focused on ensuring all eligible crew receive their booster. This has been a real team effort with incredible support from multiple teams and departments to achieve. Congratulations, all!
Health Services Team, Maritime
Health Services Team, Maritime
Another very busy quarter for the Health Services team on the back of a hectic two years keeping our Fleet and Guests safe during the pandemic. We were also impressed by the fortitude of the team, who were supporting QM2 over the Easter period during her long cruise to the USA and Caribbean. Additionally, the team have worked hard with on board / shoreside colleagues ensuring near-COVID free refits. They have also worked collaboratively with Fleet People Operations and People Team to ensure ships are appropriately resourced with Medical personnel. Thank you to the Health Services Team!
P&O Cruises On-Board Sales and Loyalty Team
P&O Cruises On-Board Sales and LoyaltyTeam
Despite the various challenges with trading and resourcing since our return to service, the On Board Sales and Loyalty team have totally excelled and smashed their targets!
In June and July for example, we had a medical disembark, numerous team members in isolation with COVID-19, and various gaps in our resourcing – including two Senior Loyalty and Cruise Sales Managers. The team triumphed in the face of this adversity, by ensuring our on board offers are as compelling as possible, maximising marketing opportunities on board and coming up with creative solutions to resource challenges, including using our CCO secondment scheme resource and even flying Joe from the shoreside team out at less than 24 hours’ notice to act as a Loyalty and Cruise Sales Manager on board Ventura!
The team has shown incredible tenacity, togetherness and strong collaboration and empowerment skills. In July this year, they exceed revenue target by +10% to target and achieved a +2% on conversion target (10.6 v 8.5%). They are the only sales channel to exceed their revenue targets and deserve to be recognised for their incredible work
Sola Froude & Odette McFarlane
Sola Froude & Odette McFarlane
Sola and Odette have gone above and beyond with the creation of the REACH network (race, ethnicity and cultural heritage). They held an open-door welcome event in October to gauge interest, have worked with key stakeholders across the business to engage with leaders and get support, and have dedicated hours of their own time to the cause. They have shown exceptional communication skills and have spoken up for an underrepresented community at Carnival UK. They are empowering other colleagues to speak up and join the network, adamant to make positive change. They’ve spent time listening and learning about what a network would and could look like, and respect and protect all those who are underrepresented, improving our DE&I offering at Carnival UK.
Ready to vote?
After reading the nominations above, VOTE HERE! You can only vote for one individual and one team, so make sure you place your vote carefully.
What happens next? The vote will close at midday on Monday 12 December and the winners will be announced in the Atrium on 15 December.
