How To Stay Productive Working From Home

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For many businesses, working from home is a foreign concept and has been another obstacle for businesses to face during this unprecedented time of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like thousands of businesses across the UK, The Fuel Store has temporarily closed our head office to contribute to the global effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. However, we recognise the work we do is an essential part of our customers’ supply chain in ensuring you can keep your fleets on the road.

Where possible, we have ensured our employees can continue their vital roles safely at home. By utilising remote working technologies, our teams can work alongside one another, albeit remotely yet remaining productive.  Our Fuellers are proving our outstanding service can continue to be delivered at this crucial time.

Working from home is a challenge, especially with nurseries and schools closed. It is also easy to be distracted in the comfort of your home. Working on your own can also leave you feeling isolated, so it’s important to keep up morale within your teams.

So how do we stay focused and productive?

We have put together some simple steps to take to begin your working day at home. Plus, we have some tips on maintaining productivity, even during the inevitable afternoon slump.

Step 1 – Get up, showered and dressed, just as you would for the commute to work.  

Step 2 – Before you sit down to work, take your daily walk or run, or do some stretches and a few minutes of meditation.

Step 3 – Create a designated work space, away from where you’d usually relax. I.e. Not on the sofa in the lounge!

Top Tip: Drink plenty of water throughout the day, as well as having a caffeine fix. Snack on nuts and fruit rather than reaching for the treat cupboard.

Step 4 – Make sure you take a break from your laptop every hour and a half.

Step 5 – Always have a lunch break, and not at your desk!

Top tip: Before eating, take your daily walk/run or try out a new online exercise routine. It will change your mindset and help you to keep productive throughout the afternoon.

Step 6: Keep in touch with colleagues throughout the day, via Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Skype. It’s a good idea to make phone calls to talk through any projects or queries, rather than just emailing. Human interaction will keep morale high.

Step 7: Make sure you finish work at the usual time. Turn off your laptop and put it away ready for your next working day.

 

Feel free to share these ideas to colleagues and employees, and let us know how you are keeping morale and productivity high.

For more information about the government Covid-19 guidelines for businesses, click here.

COVID-19 Pandemic: We Are Keeping Our Nation’s Fleets on the Road

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Here at The Fuel Store, we recognise that the work we do directly contributes to the success of the UK economy and is an essential part of our customer’s supply chain in ensuring you can keep your fleets on the road.  

During this unprecedented time of the COVID-19 pandemic, never has this statement been more true. We have taken every step necessary and are working harder than ever to keep our services running to make sure our customers can keep their fleets on the road. 

Our customers are some of the key links within Britain’s supply chain, delivering goods to ensure shelves continue to be stacked, raw materials continue to be supplied, ultimately ensuring our nation’s heart continues to beat. We are here to support them with their efforts, and we are here for you, too. 

Being a family run business, we are also being impacted by the challenges facing all of us at this time, we understand the pressures that businesses around the UK are facing. This has made us more determined than ever to give you peace of mind by delivering uninterrupted and highly effective services to manage your fuel expenditure.

 Your fleets need to be kept moving and our customers and the wider fleet community have our continued support. We will ensure fuel cards are distributed and your drivers have access to the fuel they need to carry out the important work that they do.  

Providing uninterrupted service to our customers remains our top priority.  

Where possible, we have ensured our employees can continue their vital roles safely at home. Utilising remote working technologies, our teams can continue to work alongside one another and are proving that even in such challenging times, our Fuellers have unwavering commitment to ensure outstanding service continues to be delivered at this crucial time.  

 If you need our support or assistance you can continue to contact us via the usual channels. We are here to support you as we always have been. 

 In times like these, families must come together and support one another, and the Fueller family is no different. We are confident that the steps we have taken mean that we will be able to continue to deliver our essential services.  

 On behalf of The Fuel Store family, we want to say a massive heart felt thank you to all of those who are putting themselves at risk to keep vital services running. 

How to Ensure the Safety of Your Fleet Drivers

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Our aim at The Fuel Store is to keep our nation’s businesses moving forward by providing fuel cards and other essential fleet services. We also like to ensure fleet driver safety on our busy roads. A new report has highlighted the importance for fleet managers to comply with basic vehicle standards to avoid ‘tragic’ consequences on our roads.

The report, by Brake’s Global Fleet Champions, a not-for-profit global campaign to prevent crashes, states that fleet managers should be regularly checking and servicing safety-critical components, such as brakes and tyres. This will help fix small problems early on before they escalate into costly repairs and expensive insurance claims.

John Eastman, from the Institute of Road Transport Engineers, suggests that fleet managers should take a systematic approach in maintaining their vehicles to ensure fleet driver safety. Mr Eastman says that preventative maintenance has lots of benefits. This includes the safety and well being of drivers and other road users.

There was also advice from Autoglass in the report. They advise fleet managers on how they can effectively maintain advanced driver-assistant systems (ADAS) for the technology to work effectively.

Keeping Up With The Latest Technology

Jeremy Rochfort, national sales manager for Autoglass said: “The adoption rate of ADAS in fleet vehicles is much higher as fleet cars tend to be newer and come with up-to-date safety features. However, our research shows that keeping up to date with technology ranks low down on fleet decision-maker’s priorities.

“That’s why we’re committed to educating the fleet industry on the importance of ADAS calibration and investing in our technical expertise and capabilities to ensure we can match the rising demand for these services.”

For more information, visit https://globalfleetchampions.org/

What Are the Benefits of Using Fuel Cards

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Businesses of all kinds are always looking for ways to reduce costs and thus save money. That has not and will never change. However, the ways in which businesses can save money continues to change. As more and more businesses need to be flexible to their clients, the need for Business fuel cards, fleet fuel cards and fleet management services has seen a significant increase in popularity over the years.

This is due to the fact that more careers and job roles now have the requirement for travel. In addition to the fact that cash is becoming less and less popular, for security and hygiene reasons. So, as more fleet managers become aware of the benefits of using fuel cards, are you aware of the many features these fuel cards offer?

This post aims to highlight the benefits of our UK fuel cards, as well as to help you identify the best fuel card for businesses. If you need any help or support, please contact our customer support team or refer to the fuel card comparison page.

Fuel cards are a simple and streamline way for businesses to pay for their fuel, which have several advantages for fleet management.

Fuel cards eliminate the need for cash or corporate credit cards when paying for fuel. A fuel card is used in the same way but comes with a weekly fixed price per litre, that is often cheaper than the varying costs between stations. This helps to spread the cost of business expenses in order to make weekly, monthly and annual cash flow more manageable.

As well as making cost savings, fuel cards also reduces administration within your business. Instead of having the stress of gathering hundreds of fuel receipts together, a fuel card will come with a single HMRC approved, VAT invoice.

Using fuel cards to manage travel expenses gives business fleets more flexibility for refuelling. This is because our fuel cards give access to a large network of fuel stations across the UK. Sometimes plans and routes change and the ability to use a fuel card across a wide network of stations gives your drivers the freedom to adjust their route in order to make the most effective use of their time on the road. Do you want to know exactly how many fuel stations accept UK fuel cards? Our fuel cards will give you access to a network of over 3,000 branded and non-branded stations across the UK.

So how do you know where a fuel card can be used? We have developed a free tool to help you find your nearest fuel station. Explore our Station Finder today. It is an incredibly useful tool for our customers, as it can be used as a sat nav when downloaded to a drivers phone. Drivers then simply add their route to the system and the nearest fuel stations on their route are highlighted.

A Fuel Card To Suit Your Business

The Fuel Store currently has two Fuel Cards available to our customers, which help to provide a fuel card that is tailored to their needs.

The Classic Card, is our credit option, where customers receive a weekly HMRC approved invoice, providing them with 14 days of credit. The Advantage Card is our no credit check fuel card option. It’s the ideal fuel card for new businesses and those with limited access to credit.

Both of our fuel cards come with your very own dedicated Account Manager who provides continued support, along with instant online access to your transactions and fuel reports with your very own online account.

Additional Services To Help Manage Your Fleet

Both of our fuel cards come with your very own dedicated Account Manager who provides continued support, along with instant online access to your transactions and fuel reports with your very own online account.

Our fuel cards both come with access to FraudGuard which helps to keep your account safe and secure, giving you peace of mind that you won’t be liable to absorb the cost of fraudulent activity should it ever happen. You will also be able to join the Clean Air Partnership which provides our customers with a way simple and measurable way to offset your carbon emissions.

Learn more and compare our Fuel Cards and fleet management services today.