aws-admin, Author at voyonic.com

We are pleased and proud to announce that both Crystal Besnard and Emily McDonald have been promoted to HR & Payroll Team Supervisors with effect from 1^st September.

Crystal and Emily both passed their CIPP Payroll Technician Certificate earlier this year and have been recognised as being key members of their teams and key assets to Voyonic.

Since being promoted to Senior HR & Payroll Administrators in October last year they have demonstrated their ability to supervise and manage their teams as well as the extensive knowledge they have developed since joining us.

Lorrane Vidamour, Operations Director, said “Congratulations girls, we look forward to seeing you grow and develop to your full potential in your new roles.”

At Voyonic we are pleased to be able to support the continual development of our employees and to give them the opportunities to progress their careers further with us.

Voyonic Organise a Successful Beach Clean with Big Blue Ocean Cleanup

Thank you to our staff and volunteers from the public who came to assist us in our first beach clean with Big Blue Ocean Cleanup on 23rd August.

We were really pleased with the number of helpers and and in knowing that thanks to our efforts we have contributed to a positive effect on our community and our local marine wildlife.

We will announce any future beach cleans on our social media and website for anyone who may be interested in joining us in the future.

Voyonic Crewing Limited are delighted to join forces with Big Blue Ocean Clean up

As part of our partnership with Big Blue Ocean Clean up, a leading not for-profit organisation that help keep the oceans clean and protect marine wildlife, Voyonic Crewing Limited are pleased to be hosting a beach clean at 2pm on the 23rd August between Rocquaine and the Fairy Ring.

Chief Executive, Neil Carrington, said “As a marine employment company, Voyonic are committed to doing our part in protecting the oceans. As part of our social corporate responsibility to our beautiful Island of Guernsey we are proud to play our part in keeping our surrounding oceans and beaches clean.”

Our meeting point will be next to Portelet Kiosk at 2pm and from there we will clean the beaches from Rocquaine towards the beaches either side of Fort Pezeries at Pleinmont.

We welcome and encourage volunteers of all ages to join us in keeping our Island and the oceans around us safe and clean now and for future generations.

All equipment needed for the beach clean will be provided on the day, for all our wonderful volunteers to use.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible finishing back at Portelet Kiosk for a well-earned ice-cream, tea or coffee.

There is a facebook event on our page, Voyonic Crewing Limited, please click attending if you are able to join us so we have an idea of numbers.

ON THE PAYROLL

The importance of robust crew payroll solutions by Neil Carrington, CEO at Voyonic Crewing Limited

It sounds like a simple enough problem to pay the crew each month so why is the solution not easier? Unfortunately life is never quite that simple and in today’s highly regulated world it does not get any easier.

Crew still want to be paid gross and ‘take care’ of their own tax and social security liabilities and there are many solutions to facilitate this.

For a complete solution the process is a little more complicated because moving money around in the modern world is not as straightforward as it used to be with Anti-Money laundering legislation governing all payment transactions somewhere along the line.

Where does the money come from, where is it going and more importantly can you prove it? Even opening a personal bank account today is no longer straightforward and there are hoops to jump through depending who your banker might be.

Fortunately technology is available to take away much of the pain of the payroll process and help to simplify the due diligence processes that need to be followed. This technology also adds more value to the process in terms of how your money might be used to best advantage.

Some crew still don’t trust this technology for varying reasons but anecdotally it is a question of not letting ‘people’ know where you are or have been. This fear is misguided because there is no escaping from the fact that somebody somewhere knows exactly where we are if we are fulfilling a normal job and a normal life.

As a man of a certain age my trust in technology is still developing but there is no escaping the fact that it is here and we need to harness it to best advantage. Any payment process is at its weakest where there is any manual intervention and duplication of effort and this can be as simple as not being able to read somebody’s handwriting properly or transposing digits when typing in an IBAN.

Where there are systems available, then they should be used in order to help automate and simplify processes, an example of a system that aims to help simplify and automate this is Dovepay.

Dovepay is a new generation of payments company, founded to solve the problem of sky high banking charges within the marine payroll industry.

Based in the Channel Islands, their accounts and proprietary technology enables you to make payments in 35+ currencies, reconcile statements and process bulk payments faster and at a fraction of the cost of commercial banks, without needing to change your payment provider.

Dovepay bridges the gap between payments, banking and security, offering next generation features to an industry and demographic that has previously been overlooked.

This article was written for the Spring Summer 2020 edition of ONBOARD Magazine and can be found here.

Voyonic donates towards Covid-19 Emergency Appeals

Voyonic are pleased to support two great causes, the Seafarers UK Covid-19 Emergency Appeal and the Guernsey Social Investment Fund. We donated £500 to each of these charities through a combination of various staff incentives and dress down Friday’s after which all donations were then doubled by Voyonic and split equally to both charities.

Seafarers UK are a charity that we have always been proud to be able to support. Seafarers UK have been helping people in the maritime community for over a 100 years, by providing vital support to seafarers in need and their families. Their work helps to support seafarers and their families across the UK by giving grants to different organisations to support the Merchant Navy, Fishing Fleets, Royal Navy and Royal Marines.

We are also pleased to support a local cause, as we are all too aware in Guernsey the work of the voluntary sector has been a critical part of the community’s response to the virus – but some of those charities providing vital services are themselves facing financial difficulty because of the impact of the pandemic. The Guernsey Social Investment Fund is an appeal which aims to provide funds for charities who play a vital role in the Bailiwick of Guernsey’s coronavirus response and those providing key services who have seen funding reduced because of the economic impact of the pandemic.

Donna Reid, Group Director, said “During such difficult times, we are pleased to offer our support in the form of these donations. Both of these charities are doing great work to assist in reducing the impact of coronavirus. We have all seen the devastating affect that this global pandemic has had on this industry, causing uncertainty for seafarers worldwide as well as extended periods of time away from their families. In these times we believe it is especially important to support causes like these.”

If you are interested in finding out more about either of these appeals please find more information on the links below:

Congratulations to Emily and Crystal!

We are pleased to announce some good news in that Emily McDonald and Crystal Besnard have passed their CIPP Payroll Technician Certificate!

Emily and Crystal were both promoted to Senior HR & Payroll Administrators in October 2019 after being recognised as key members of their teams. The course has given them the knowledge required to efficiently and accurately handle the variety of issues encountered when processing payrolls.

Operations Director Lorrane Vidamour said “Emily and Crystal both put a lot of hard work and commitment into their course and we are all very proud of them.”

At Voyonic we aim to ensure that our staff are trained to the highest standards and that they are given the opportunity to continue to develop in their roles with us.

Advice for seafarers struggling with mental health during the Covid-19 global pandemic

Currently many people in countries across the world are experiencing a new way of living, suddenly confined to their home and perhaps feeling “cabin-fever” and for some a sense of loneliness.

However while this is new to a lot of us, it is a different story for seafarers who experience time away from their friends and families and being confined to one space as a norm. This, among other reasons can be detrimental to the wellbeing and mental health of seafarers.

Due to coronavirus some vessels are unable to continue with their planned schedule, meaning there is the added worry of not knowing when seafarers may be able to see family again. As well as this seafarers may not be able to join vessels leading to job insecurity.

Below are some useful ways to cope with the increasing pressures caused by the current circumstances:

As well as these tips, The International Seafarer Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) have also produced a video with counselling psychologist Dr Kate Thompson giving advice for seafarers in coping with the stress of Covid-19 restrictions.

A helpful piece of advice from this is making sure you have enough activities to pass the time, including physical exercise and time to contemplate and connect with others. As well as this, make sure that you are talking to your employers if you are struggling and also use the resources and support organisations available to you.

Update on Covid-19

With the coronavirus pandemic continuing globally, we thought we would update you on how it is currently affecting us here in Guernsey.

Currently in Guernsey we are on “lockdown” for a minimum of 14 days. This means that from today all of our staff are working from home. With this in mind, the best way to contact us at the moment is through emailing, rather than calling, the contact you normally speak to or enquiries@voyonic.com. We can then call you back if required.

It is without doubt an unprecedented situation and with advice and instructions from government changing daily by necessity we shall endeavour to maintain services to our clients and assist in any way we can to ease the uncertainty currently facing us all even if that is only to ensure to keep people paid.

We would advise you to only look at official information from government and flag state sources rather than rely on social media and from a seafaring perspective all Flag States have information now available on their websites.

For example you can find further information about how this will affect seafarers here:

Voyonic Crewing Limited become a Corporate Partner of Big Blue Ocean Cleanup

Big Blue Ocean Cleanup helps keep the oceans clean, protect marine wildlife and support the development of innovative technologies. They run free educational workshops and provide resources for schools around the world; inspiring every generation to take action and protect our blue planet. The non-profit organisation also sends out free clean up equipment to anyone who requests it, and this is done on a global scale from their distribution network.

Rory Sinclair, Chief Executive at Big Blue Ocean Cleanup said “We are delighted to have Voyonic Crewing as our new corporate partner. Voyonic and the team truly care about protecting the oceans and our new partnership will hugely benefit the marine environment. I look forward to an exciting year ahead together with the Voyonic team.”

As part of our partnership we will be organising at least one beach clean in Guernsey this year, details will be announced on our social media and website once confirmed and we would be delighted if members of the public came along to help us.

Voyonic Crewing Limited are pleased to announce senior promotions to our Board of Directors

Becky Webb-Stanley and Lorrane Vidamour have been appointed to the Board of Directors as part of the continued growth of Voyonic.

Becky has been appointed to the position of Resources Director. Becky joined Voyonic over 10 years ago when it was in its infancy and has embraced every opportunity to develop and expand her knowledge in all key areas of the business sharing this and developing those that follow her lead.

Lorrane has been appointed as Operations Director on the same board, and will also bring her depth of knowledge and skills to the board of Aspire Corporate Services Limited. Lorrane joined Voyonic in 2008 with many years of experience in HR and Payroll with a vast amount of knowledge in the Marine sector. Lorrane has been fundamental in the management and the development of the Client HR & Payroll team over the years within Voyonic.

Neil Carrington CEO said, “We are delighted to make these appointments at a time when the company is expanding further due to continued confidence in the Marine Sector. As a part of the longer term succession planning within all areas of the business it is vital that we continue to provide the quality service to our clients on which we pride ourselves. With the breadth of experience and the knowledge Becky and Lorrane bring to their roles, it is an excellent move for the Group particularly with the increasing legislative requirements being placed on global employment businesses in Guernsey and elsewhere.”

Group Director, Donna Reid, added “Voyonic prides itself on not only providing professional training and opportunities but also due to its uniqueness our in house training and guidance encourages all our employees to meet their full potential to which the above is testament.”

Voyonic are pleased to announce internal promotions