Dear All,
As NATS becomes more commercially focussed, Swanwick is increasingly becoming the showpiece of the company and in turn much more exposed to current and future customers. In the past few months we have not only seen a number of UK airline customers but also had potential customers from Qatar, Oman, Japan and Hong Kong visit us here and this will only increase as we continue to grow external business. Swanwick is staffed by highly professional people and I’m sure you’ll all agree that we want to create the best impression with any of our visitors by allowing them to see the professional way in which everyone works and all staff members, around whom the business revolves, rightly take pride in.
As we are now more visible than ever to external visitors it is vital that we also convey this in the way we are all seen. Sadly on recent occasions this hasn't always been the case and this, along with the change in business focus, has led to discussions with both Prospect and PCS about how to ensure we portray ourselves properly. During these discussions, the subject of dress standards has arisen. The need for a dress code has been debated in the past and hasn't previously been thought necessary, however that has now changed.
Having consulted with our trade union colleagues, Swanwick Management are committed to promoting a more professional and therefore smarter form of dress from Monday to Friday, as this is when we have the majority of visitors.
At the moment we have agreed that it is not necessary to be overly prescriptive and so there will be no strict rules associated with this. However as a rule of thumb smart/casual’ should be considered as the benchmark. If you require guidance on what ‘smart/casual’ should constitute then your line manager or Ops Supervisor will be able to help you.
Sooooo, Swanwick only then? Seems fair considering there are no other units in NATS........ Don't Prestwick and the towers get visitors then?
To be fair i have noticed alot more visitors in the ops room recently, standing behind me, talking loudly, leaning over a vacant assistants position so they can see ifacts. I wonder if they'll be more offended by my flip flops or by me telling them to bugger off because they are distracting me?
The way i dress has nothing to do with how proffessionally i do my job, and frankly either a visitor can tell that or not by how i'm working not by what i'm wearing.