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Orderly departures
Page 66
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Jason Hamer applauds professionalism and mourns a man who embodied it
As with most transport companies, our business is very much labour oriented.The largest portion of this is made up of drivers running a fleet ranging from small vehicles through to artics.
Recently we offered a position to someone I have done business for, and with, for a couple of years. He was employed by a national forwarding company and maintained many of its large contracts. It was for this reason that I felt he would be a great asset to the future of our company.
To my surprise, when I asked what his notice period would be he told me three months.A replacement would need to be trained to cover these contracts before he left. It was a refreshing change to hear how he actually wanted to finish his employment with the company. Instead of jumping ship, giving little or no notice at all to his employer, he wanted to hand over his role with the same professional attitude that he adopts in his working life.
Notice period
I have always felt that should one. of my office staff wish to leave, whether in accounts or operations, they would always give me a minimum notice period of a month in order for us to find and train a suitable replacement before they leave for their new job.Therefore, this would not put a major strain on the hub of our operation.
However, all this was soon forgotten when, on Sunday 18 July, I received a telephone call from Neil Horgan my general manager. Fred Velthuis, our operations manager for Freight Forwarding and European Transport, had suffered a heart attack and passed away that morning.
Fred was an excellent employee. He spoke four languages, was never late for work and fitted in with all the staff. He was greatly respected due to his knowledge within the European haulage business.
I don't think anyone here had ever experienced anything like a loss of a work colleague before. The office was very sombre and sad for a couple of days and then after the initial shock everyone started to relay their fond memories about Fred. But still his chair is empty.
Fred's timing was strange; it was as if he wanted everything to be all right for his colleagues.The Friday before he passed away was the start of a fortnight's holiday, so he had left everything in order in the office.
He was due to fly to Iceland on the Sunday to go whale watching and spend time with his wife. At 6.30am that morning his luggage was in the car and his wife went back to the house to collect her bag. When she returned to the car Fred had suffered a massive heart attack and died. Had he driven five minutes up the road it could have been far worse.
Fred, your time was too early and you've left a void in our office. It was an honour to know you and a privilege to work with you. But somehow you made sure everybody was OK. •