News – xbite

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REMEMBERING GRACIE

With the start of a New Year, we are thinking about our friend and colleague Gracie who we tragically lost last year. Her loss was a shock to us all and we have all shared in the sadness of no longer having her here with us. She was so enthusiastic, a joy to work with and had such a sunny personality about her, it’s impossible not to miss her. We are just lucky to have the close knit work family we have here to help each other through the tougher times. We know she is missed so much by her colleagues and friends and she will always be a part of the Xbite family.

OLD WAREHOUSE NEW PURPOSE – XBITE LOGISTICS

Xbite has expanded its horizons with the new and exciting XBITE LOGISTICS. The company will operate from our modern, secure 15,000+ square foot facilities at our head office in Barlborough, Chesterfield just minutes from the M1 with excellent transport links. ‘XBITE LOGISTICS’ purpose is to carefully handle all aspects of third party storage whether it be for short, medium or long term storage at an extremely competitive rate.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION…

With our newly optimised photography studio our creative opportunities are endless! After lots of preparation we now have a purpose built space which allows our Marketing team to create engaging content with great quality photographs for our incoming and existing products and we are over the moon with the result! The new studio will allow us to try out new lighting and angle techniques for both photography and video. We can dress the set in a huge variety of different styles to match any aesthetic and most importantly, photograph larger items with ease.

GRACIE DAY 2021

With On the 30th July Xbite had a day of raising money and celebrating the life of Gracie Spinks, a colleague and friend that will be truly missed by many. In addition to having a really memorable day, we are delighted to say we have raised an amazing £1855.00 which will all be donated to Gracie’s family to help contribute towards the upkeep and care of Gracie’s horse, Paddy.

CUSTOMER RELATIONS GETS A NEW SYSTEM

The Customer Relations team have gone live on their new system. This is a unified platform that offers all of our customers a first-class customer service experience. There are three elements to the system which are service desk, chat and caller, this means that it incorporates our emails, live chat system, our chatbots and our phones all in one place and because of this we can streamline all of our customer conversations.

CUSTOMER RELATIONS GETS A NEW SYSTEM

2020 was a difficult and polarising year not just for businesses but more importantly for our personal lives. Some people have faced tremendous challenges dealing with a worldwide pandemic which are rarely seen twice in a lifetime. The business community has been generally well supported with government initiatives and although Xbite has not required the support, it has been very much welcomed for the broader benefit of our supply chains and partners.

NEW HOPE FOOD BANK DONATION

As you are all aware, our usual Christmas treats, games and party cannot take place this year due to Covid restrictions. A decision was made that a small percentage of the budget allocated for our festivities would be used to bring a little Christmas cheer to some local children who in all probability will not be getting a visit from Santa this year. This year more than ever has been so difficult for so many families and the difficulties will continue well into the new year, so hopefully, our gift bags will go a little way towards helping those families.

70TH APPRENTICE FOR XBITE

Kieran Taylor (21) from Clowne became the latest apprentice to join the firm, which has been running a successful apprenticeship programme for seven years. Its proven track record of growing and developing people and offering career progression has seen apprentices graduate to become buyers, marketing experts, accountants, software developers, and even managers of departments at the company, which now employs 170 people at its HQ offices and warehouse at Barlborough.

£1.8M OFFICE EXPANSION

Over the coming 2 years, we will be expanding our office space and recruiting new office roles in addition to roles for our warehouse and logistics departments. Xbite is committed to the constant improvement of the work environment to support our work family and to make work more enjoyable. We have partnered with The DL Company who will carry out the work for the evolution of our headquarters over the next 2 years as we look to recruit like-minded people that align with our values and want a long term career to share in our success. We are a small company with big aspirations as we relentlessly pursue our aims and objectives but hopefully find the fun along the way. If you are looking to join a company like ours please get in touch (we have been known to create roles just to get the right people to join our work family).

£74K SOLAR ENERGY INITIATIVE FOR XBITE

Xbite is committing to a project worth £74,000 to power its operations and reduce its carbon footprint. It has been awarded a maximum value £20,000 low-carbon energy grant to help install over 270 solar panels at its HQ offices in Barlborough. The grant was made available through the DE-Carbonise project, a collaboration between the University of Derby, Derby City Council and Derbyshire County Council which offers help to SMEs seeking to lower their carbon emissions and will contribute to the total project investment of £74,000.

XBITE LAUNCHES EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

The HR department shared the news that we had launched one of our new benefits, an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), as part of Xbite’s ongoing pledge to continuously support all of our people and their families well-being!

MARKHAM VALE EXPANSION

WARNING EXCITING UPDATE!!!! We would like to share with you some exciting news, possibly the biggest and most exciting project Xbite has ever undertaken!! We are exploring the possibility of relocating our warehouse operation to a modern 102,515 sq ft unit located 10 minutes down the road, just off J29a of the M1 at Markham Vale.

STEP UP PROGRAM

We are now proud to announce that we have partnered and built a trusted relationship with Pathways in Chesterfield to create the Step Up Project. The aim of the project is to break down the barriers and provide support to vulnerable and in-need individuals who are ready to get into the workforce, this gives them the much needed step up to integrate back into society. We can’t make this possible without the support from our people to make the individual feel part of the Xbite family and help them to integrate and feel valued. We are delighted to announce that we have found a suitable candidate who will start on Monday 4th May 2020.

WORKPLACE FACEBOOK LAUNCH

We are trying to keep everyone across the business connected so we have decided to launch Workplace Facebook at Xbite. Workplace gives people easy ways to come together in a fun way, at a time when they can’t be together.

UK CAREERS FAIR

Today we dropped by The UK Careers Fair the Novotel in Sheffield! This gave us the opportunity to speak to lots of wonderful people and spread the word about the awesome opportunities we have available at Xbite. If you would like to know more about the opportunities we have visit the careers page. If a job isn’t advertised and you would like to work for us please send us your cv through a general submission! We’re always on the lookout for Awesome people!

2019 COMPANY END OF YEAR UPDATE

”2019 has been another year of significant change for the business. The progression of employees has been great to see and with a large number of internal promotions into new and existing roles. I look forward to working with all employees to continue in further developing the business. Xbite achieved a 20% growth in sales during the year to £36m and continued to invest in each area of the business including a number of in-house IT systems. We have expanded our facilities to create a great working environment and we are looking forward to enhancing these facilities in the coming years.

‘TIS THE SEASON OF GIVING…

Thank you to the fantastic team at Xbite for their generosity in supporting the Chesterfield Foodbank, who help local people in a crisis. I am proud to see the team caring for the community”. – Nick Whitehead If you would like to donate to your local food bank and do your bit this Christmas visit https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-help/find-a-foodbank/ to find your closest food bank.

CHILDREN IN NEED 2019

A big thank you to everyone that donated to our Children in Need fundraising day! We raised an AWESOME £246.77

RECRUITMENT DAY @ XBITE LTD

Want to let us know you’ll be coming? We’re glad to hear it! Let us know your name and email here!

END OF A ERA! SWITCH OFF PARTY

IT’S THE END OF AN ERA! Through the tireless efforts of absolutely everyone in the company, Xbite has successfully launched their new IT system powering the eCommerce and wholesale business. It has been a long time coming and certainly been a lot of hard work, but our efforts have paid off and we are ready and prepared to take on the peak trading period. The new system will bring improved efficiencies and new processes to the company and increase profitability. Now… let’s party!

ITS OUR ANNIVERSARY! CELEBRATING 15 YEARS OF SUCCESS!

Any excuse for an ice cream truck! And a pizza over… and a cake… not that we need an excuse beause here at Xbite were celebrating 15 years of success!

RED NOSE DAY

Our staff have been busy raising money for Red Nose Day, with a bake sale, various competitions and ofcourse, wearing as much RED as we can. We raised an awesome £192.91 thanks to our amazing staff!

OUR OFFICE EXTENSION IS COMPLETE!

This month we have completed the build on our warehouse extension which will more than double the operating space. Our dedicated site totals 45,000 sq ft with further expansion capacity for the future. This new space may last 18-24 months, will create new jobs and opportunities for existing staff and meets our objectives of growth and investment in infrastructure.

COMPANY UPDATE: MESSAGE FROM NICK WHITEHEAD

This month we have completed the build on our warehouse extension which will more than double the operating space. Our dedicated site totals 45,000 sq ft with further expansion capacity for the future. This new space may last 18-24 months, will create new jobs and opportunities for existing staff and meets our objectives of growth and investment in infrastructure.