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Company Director Stella Weeks set up Mainline Employment Ltd in April 1990 to offer temporary and permanent staff to the industrial, driving and commercial sectors. The local Chamber of Commerce recommended IMSM to her after she decided to attain ISO 9001. Stella said, “Because I am an independent agency, I wanted my clients to know that we do carry out procedures properly and can offer everything and more that a national agency does. I felt my clients all knew about ISO and would therefore feel more reassured when using us.”
The agency started in Bristol and now has a branch in Swindon. Since Bristol was a new area to Stella, it therefore took a lot of hard work to become established. She offered a full 24 hour service and for the first 3-4 years, this meant taking a phone home every night and filling bookings through the night. By offering this round the clock service, the business expanded rapidly and if Stella was unable to fill the bookings, she would often go in and work the shift herself in order to really understand her clients’ needs and further the amount of work from them. The current annual turnover is an impressive £10.5 million and growing.
Stella explained the benefits that they derived from implementing ISO 9001: “This was a good exercise for us to ensure we keep everything monitored and checked so that we all follow the same procedures. By doing this yearly, it keeps us on our toes and regular problems are resolved from these audits. We have improved since IMSM help us obtain our ISO certificate, because we have become aware of some areas where we were not following set procedures with two branches (shortly to be three). It has also helped to ensure that everyone is following the same rules, which for me is added peace of mind. We have also become more organised and professional, which in turn saves time and money.”
Stella feels that this definitely adds credibility as a company, in addition to having the satisfaction of being able to show the certificate to their clients, and display it in the office for their temps, because it is a widely recognised qualification.
Initially there were concerns that the process would prove time consuming, but Stella found that since all staff tend to make short cuts or changes to company procedures anyway without telling everyone, the ISO 9001 system helped them to keep this more documented and organised.
Finally, in praise of IMSM, Stella said, “IMSM offered an excellent service. We have built a relationship up with our auditor Linda Merchant who we love. She takes a real interest in our company and has many useful ideas which we try to implement, as we believe she has a wealth of experience with all the companies she visits.”
http://mainlineemployment.co.uk/
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