Flame Heating Group, a heating and plumbing merchant intends to more than double its workforce after achieving a multimillion-pound funding package.

 

The £4m deal with HSBC UK will enable the company to launch several branches in the North East and enter new regions over the next three years. It expects to create at least 60 jobs. 

 

Established in Gateshead in 2011, the company has grown and now operates 11 trade counters across the region and in Scotland.

 

The company specialises in heating spares for commercial and domestic applications, renewable energy solutions and bathrooms, working with a number of global manufacturers.

 

John Savage, managing director of Flame Heating Group, said: "We have enjoyed seven consecutive years of growth and are now in a position to drive forward our expansion plans. Our branch network has continued to thrive as a result of investments in our workforce, new services as well as emerging technologies, and this financing deal will strengthen the Flame brand further by allowing us to continue delivering on our ambitious strategies."

 

Gordon Forster, area director at HSBC UK, said: "John has a clear vision for his business and their exceptional service and focus on renewable energy solutions sets them apart.

 

"We place great importance on supporting local businesses, communities and economies. Flame has clear plans for expansion and we were thrilled to help support the next step in the business’s progression."

 

A major increase in staff numbers, such as Flame Heating will encounter if its expansion plans go smoothly, can cause unforeseen problems for staff performing HR, admin and accounts job roles if the company’s method of recording time worked has not been updated. 

 

For example, it is very easy for staff to fill in paper timesheets incorrectly. Sometimes this can be deliberate time fraud, but sometimes it is just new staff getting confused, or people forgetting to fill in their timesheets until a week later, by which time they’ve forgotten their exact shift details and are likely to just fudge it. 

 

Even if the details are all correct, most paper timesheets must then be manually transferred to a database (usually an Excel spreadsheet) before being sent to payroll software. 

 

There are many opportunities for human error to kick in during this time-consuming process – e.g. making an unrecognised typo in entering, or misreading employee’s handwriting (1 or 7? O or 0 or D?). This can result in incorrect payslips, 

 

Incorrect data can also foul up HR tasks too, making it much more difficult to spot issues like adherence to the Working Time Directive or someone taking three 30 minute breaks plus lunch.

 

At Time and Attendance North East we offer specialised attendance management software which can work either with smartcards or with biometrics. 

 

Our smartcards are about the size of a credit card and fit nicely into most wallets. The Radio Frequency technology means that you don’t need to physically swipe the cards, just hold them up near the reader terminal. This reduces wear and tear.

 

For the ultimate deterrent against time theft, we can provide a hand scanner and/or a fingerprint reader. Smartcards can be lost, or swapped with colleagues to input fake times. This isn’t the case with hands and fingers!