Meet the team

Matthew is an energetic professional with hands on approach who has played a pivotal role in the launch of the Picking School and the subsequent opening of Pro-Force Kent in 2008 where a positive impact has already been established.

Matthew firmly believes that Pro-Force has the foresight to become the UK’s leading Recruitment Specialists within the sector and with the ever growing team of industry professionals involved in the enterprise the vision will become the reality.

Matthew says “Pro-Force is fast becoming the bench mark for quality for the supply of labour to the industry, and we have an exciting development plan and the team to achieve success for both Pro-Force and our clients over the coming year".

Andy for the most part of his HR career has worked in Agencies providing varied clients with staff on both a permanent and temporary basis. Much of the work that Andy has been associated with over the last 10 years has been in the Horticultural sector in not only supplying labour to Garden Centres, Nurseries, Farms and Pack Houses but to becoming involved in the training and development of the workers.

Andy is a founder member of The Association of Labour Providers (ALP) and continues to be an active member of the committee, the premier voice for all businesses registered under the Gangmaster Licensing Act.

After working for a successful Kent farm Andy realised that management was the career he wanted to focus on, so spent two years gaining a level 7 Diploma in Management studies becoming a member of the Charted Management Institute before studying horticulture at Hadlow College.

Andy’s horticultural experience is gained from a three year stay at grass roots level with Gaskains, working the land, the packhouse and stores before joining the largest strawberry producer in th UK in 2004 as an assistant harvest manager at their glasshouse site in Kent, Where he progressed to operations manager in 2007. In this time he helped create what must be one of the UK’s most innovative and advanced businesses in strawberry production, referring to the business as a strawberry factory, rather than strawberry farm.

With a mix of present day study, the understanding gained from different industries and up-to-date farming experience, Andy brings a wealth of the latest knowledge and new ideas to the table. Following a “Keep It Simple” approach to management, and mixing a few principles of management modelling with his experiences.

Andy’s most recent appointment allows him to stay hands on, to work in an environment that he has gained a real passion for;- modern day farm production and focus on his chosen field and strength, operations & labour management. With a strong belief that himself and his team can bring a real change to the horticultural industry and the goal of changing the opinion people have of labour providers Andy believes businesses have a real gain and opportunity working with Pro-Force.

Paula started work for Pro-Force in 2008 heading up the international recruitment side of the business. This is a natural position for Paula as her strongest skills lay in communication, culture knowledge and organisation.

From February to May Paula divides her time between England and Poland preparing and inducting candidates for the oncoming season. From the middle of May to September Paula drops into a welfare role looking after staff at the various sites; - “being involved right from the beginning puts me in a powerful position in gaining our staffs trust and respect. I am their first and last point of contact from meeting, inducting and interviewing candidates to writing letters of recommendation and introducing them in to new places of employment once their seasonal work has ended”.

Aneta is also responsible for the Internal Recruitment Team that is involved in the pre-selection of workers to the Clients in the Hampshire and West Sussex area.

He became Manufacturing Director of Canadair in Montreal, Manufacturing Director of Leyland Truck and Bus, to Aerostructures Director and Operations Director of Westland Aerospace - where he was responsible for the largest aerospace composites manufacturing facility in Europe.

He led each of these Companies through the implementation of Continuous Improvement strategies, embracing technology and working practices, thus making him one of the most experienced hands-on Change Management implementers in this country.

In 1992 Bill established the independent consultancy Harris Associates, with the objective of making his hard-earned experience available to other organisations. He brings the confidence of a "grey-haired - been there before" approach and, having himself introduced and implemented a total quality culture into three large corporate enterprises, he now shares his unique knowledge and experience with small and medium-sized organisations across every sector of activity.

Bill has coordinated the activities of SCION since its launch in 2004. SCION is now a cooperative of well over twenty member organisations in the horticulture and farm sectors across Southern England, recently launching a franchise in Kent. Primarily focusing on the effective employment of seasonal labour across the group, Bill’s role ensures that a win-win relationship exists between SCION’s members and its labour provider Pro-Force - which was especially set up to supply staff meeting SCION’s exacting standards in effectiveness and employment ethics. SCION has been particularly successful in obtaining government grants for training. This has led to a new and unique dimension in seasonal labour employment, where trained, versatile and motivated staff are able to work at high productivity levels in more than one organisation during the year, depending upon their differing peaks of demand.

In 1984 Chris joined Edward Vinson Ltd as a team leader in orchard husbandry and harvesting, progressing to Farms Manager and Director. During this period he honed his labour management skills and enjoyed a 'favoured farm' working relationship with the SAWS labour provider, Concordia.

Following 12 years of senior management in the largest and one of the most successful and innovative fruit businesses in the UK, Chris moved on to focus on the area that he has come to specialise in: labour productivity.

He has lead several successful HDC projects that have demonstrated the potential to significantly increase productivity in harvesting and other gang work through fully understanding what makes the champion workers so good. Recent projects have focussed on champion supervisors and the pre-selection of labour.

Over the last decade Chris has trained many hundreds of harvest supervisors and has provided on-farm coaching to supervisors employed in leading UK grower businesses. He has worked as a BASIS qualified crop advisor, a farm business advisor through Business Links, held public office on the Apple & Pear Research Council and has provided management consultancy to board level.

In 2008 Chris agreed to take on the SCION franchise in Kent, working closely with Pro-Force Recruitment.

"It has been a joy to find a labour provider that fully embraces my own ethos of maximising output by careful selection, effective training and a balance of excellent motivational support and consistent firm discipline."