Bidvest Noonan

A leading provider of facilities services and solutions

Content Manager

Introducing our new Sourcing Solutions business unit

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Bidvest Noonan is delighted to announce the launch of Sourcing Solutions, our newest business unit.

For many years, cleaning, security, and technical services have been the core pillars of Bidvest Noonan’s business in Ireland. However, this year we are adding a new pillar to meet our clients’ needs across a wide range of ancillary FM services.

Our Sourcing Solutions business unit will provide single and bundled service solutions that span areas ranging from janitorial supplies, washroom services, pest control, and many more.

We have appointed David Casey as Managing Director of the new business unit. David has over 20 years of industry experience and is a long-serving member of our senior leadership team. Under David’s leadership, our Sourcing Solutions business unit will leverage our group’s expertise and purchasing power to maximise the value we deliver to clients. David and his team will help our clients reduce their costs and carbon footprint while providing them with the convenience and reassurance of a single point of contact.

Watch our video below, where David Casey introduces our newest business unit.

Bidvest Noonan wins national innovation award

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We are thrilled to have been named the winner of the Irish Security Industry Association’s (ISIA) ‘Innovation in Security Award’, for 2021. This award recognises companies that are truly innovative in their approach to the delivery of security through product, process, or service innovation.

Bidvest Noonan received the award for our innovation programme, EDGE. EDGE provides a set of tools and processes to empower our teams to innovate faster and develop better innovation skills, capabilities, and culture. 

The ISIA has recognised that this programme gives Bidvest Noonan’s security managers a platform to share their new ideas, imagine better ways of working, and improve how they protect people, clients, and communities.

We are now Investors in Diversity ‘Bronze’!

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We are delighted to have been awarded the Investors in Diversity ‘Bronze’ accreditation! Bronze is the first of three stages in the Investors in Diversity EDI Mark. Investors in Diversity ‘Bronze’ affirms that Bidvest Noonan has built a solid foundation to embed Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) across the organisation and is equipped for the journey of becoming a more diverse and inclusive organisation.

This achievement follows the launch of Bidvest Noonan’s ED&I Council in 2021. The goal of our council is to develop a more diverse workforce and a more inclusive workplace. The council looks forward to achieving Investors in Diversity ‘Silver’ and ‘Gold’ accreditation in the future. 

Tips from our ED&I council #WorldMentalHealthDay

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To mark #WorldMentalHealthDay, members of our ED&I council came together to share advice on identifying early warning signs of deteriorating mental health and what to do if you are struggling with your mental wellbeing.

Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. It can be negatively impacted by such things as worrying about family members, dealing with uncertainties, or poor work/life balance.

It’s very easy to miss some of the early warning signs of mental health issues as they tend to develop over time. Some of the most common signs to look out for are:

  • Long-lasting sadness or irritability
  • Extremely high and low moods
  • Excessive fear, worry, or anxiety
  • Social withdrawal
  • Dramatic changes in eating or sleeping habits

If you are experiencing problems with your mental health, what can you do?

Talk to someone

Although conversation may seem insignificant, it is extremely necessary to maintain a healthy lifestyle and engage in different thoughts and emotions. This can be talking to someone about a problem that’s troubling you or just having a general chat. Communication helps achieve a better state of mind.

Talking may not always feel good, but it is always part of the healing process and will benefit you in the long run. Talking to someone who will listen without judging when you’re feeling down or frustrated gives you the freedom to express yourself.

If you are uncertain about talking to someone in person, don’t forget there are many organisations that provide a phone service or an online service. 

Our ED&I Council has compiled contact details of organisations that might be in your area. Click on the link below:

Helping Hands Flyer

Learn about mental health and wellbeing

Reading or researching verified mental health information can help improve your wellbeing. Attending a programme or enrolling in a course can also help. There are many courses available that can assist an individual and introduce coping strategies to help with their mental health experiences.

One of the programmes available across Great Britain and Ireland is ‘Living Life to the Full’. This is a course that covers topics around low mood, stress, and resilience. It was developed by an accredited CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) practitioner who is also an expert in education and training. Dr. Chris Williams, Emeritus Professor of Psychosocial Psychiatry University of Glasgow, is frequently recommended by health practitioners and is available online.

Aware, a charity in Ireland and Northern Ireland has been delivering the ‘Living Life to the Full’ programme. See here:

Aware (Ireland) | Living Life to the Full (llttf.com)

Living Life to the Full – Aware NI (aware-ni.org)

Spread the word, small suggestions on how to help a friend or family member can make a big difference to them when they are feeling down or experiencing low mood or anxiety.

Life is a journey, sometimes it’s blue sky and sunshine, admiring the view from the peaks. Whereas sometimes it seems far harder, a struggle which feels constantly as if we’re going uphill with storms, and it can feel lonely and cold. – LLTTF.com

Helen Emerson, Dania Gohar, Tammaryn Steers – Bidvest Noonan ED&I Council Members

Open-minded discussions for a more inclusive society

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There have been many questions surrounding the best practices in creating a more inclusive and involved workplace throughout businesses, especially regarding the LGBTQIA+ Community. We have experienced major leaps and made progress throughout these last few years, however as with anything, there is, and always will be, room for improvement.

From a personal point of view as a member of the LGBTQIA+ Community myself, I would always remind colleagues that identities are complex and that we should always be encouraged to participate in open-minded discussions. I often find that people are too afraid to ask questions, no matter how well-intended, because they are afraid of saying the wrong thing or accidentally coming across as offensive. To those people I say: There’s no way forward unless we are prepared to make a mistake or two, learn from it, and move on.

Sincere, unbiased curiosity makes for wonderful conversation and if you happen to stumble over, or get someone’s pronouns wrong, the acknowledgement of that along with a genuine attempt to get it right the next time is worth more than a thousand apologies. Learning to say Spouse or Partner instead of assuming Husband or Wife is easy. The comprehension of (and respect for) the fact that some struggles surrounding certain individuals are deeper than they appear will allow for the safe space people need to be engaged and productive members of their work team.

Unfortunately, many LGBTQIA+ workers aren’t open about their sexual orientation or gender identity at work because they’re worried about hearing homophobic jokes, being stereotyped, and feeling excluded. According to an important survey conducted by the Trade Union Congress with LGBTQIA+ people, “of the 68% who said they had experienced sexual harassment, 66% did not tell their employer, sometimes because they were afraid of being “outed” at work”.

At Bidvest Noonan, our ED&I Council has defined the ED&I policy to ensure all employees comply with our core values and respect our valuable differences. We also have developed some guidance documents to raise awareness about the best practices throughout the organization regarding Gender Reassignment and Sexual orientation. We want to make sure that our people are equally valued as employees and individuals. To be an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community, we strongly encourage everyone to actively call out discrimination in the workplace, report to managers or higher management, and let individuals know what they are doing is not right and that we, as a business, will not tolerate hate crime.

But it is not all doom and gloom. It has progressed massively over the years, and the LGBTQIA+ community has become more accepted worldwide than ever before. Even countries that have never approved of it are looking at sanctioning bills that protect the LGBTQIA+ community. More and more individuals and companies are embracing pronouns, PRIDE, and educating employees in the workplace on stonewall, how to be a good ally, setting up ED&I councils, etc. The more we talk about it, and the more it is a part of everyday life, then I believe we are continuing to head in the right direction.

As Jason Collins, the first openly gay athlete in the U.S professional sports, once said – “Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it’s a good place to start”.

Richard Seddon – How cleaning practices will change in the post-pandemic world

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“Push your boundaries beyond the ordinary; be that “extra” in “extraordinary.”

In the years before the pandemic, cleaning teams were often unnoticed as they quietly went about their work. In some sectors such as Life Sciences and Agri-foods, cleaning has always been critical and essential to business continuity. In many other industries cleaning less likely to be considered in a risk management strategy.

The pandemic has transformed perceptions about cleaning services. Management teams want to show their investment in cleaning to reassure their people that workplaces are both clean and safe. As a result of this, today, businesses want their cleaning teams to more visible.

We are living in a world where cleaning is more valued and prioritised than ever before. This brings added pressure on the industry to continuously offer more dynamic and efficient solutions. However, the industry has proven itself to be equal to this challenge. In recent years, we have seen the implementation of new cleaning strategies, the introduction of specialist sanitisers and chemicals, and new technologies.

At Bidvest Noonan, we stepped up our training programmes to ensure our people are ready to lead the way today and in the future. There is a great quote from author Roy. T. Bennett that says to “push your boundaries beyond the ordinary; be that “extra” in “extraordinary””. I believe our cleaning teams are that extra. The work they do is extraordinary.

We have also made big investments in our structures and resources to support our clients, and we continuously invest in innovation. Earlier this year, Bidvest Noonan launched Edge, our new innovation programme. The programme was designed to enable us to innovate faster and share ideas and lessons across our group. Edge is helping us to evaluate solutions across a wide range of domains, ranging from robotics to green cleaning solutions.

The growing demand for greener cleaning solutions has also become a driving force in our industry. More and more companies employ cleaner chemicals and products with a lower carbon footprint. At Bidvest Noonan, this been a motivation for many years. We champion environmentally-friendly products and practices and recently signed a pledge to cut our carbon emissions dramatically.

These changes are helping our industry to grow and develop. I have every confidence that it will continue on its strong trajectory. It will continue to serve our economy and communities and to provide stable employment and opportunities for all the dedicated people who have committed themselves to the industry.