Their current headcount will increase to 175 after the Property Maintenance Division incorporates a full team of joiners, gas engineers, plumbers, bricklayers and even administrators. 

 

This new team will operate from a depot in Spennymoor and from offices in Pity Me, in County Durham. They will cover the southern region, from Gateshead to Teesside, from April onwards. The company hope that this expansion of service provision will match the success of their northern area business model, which covers Northumberland, North Tyneside and Newcastle. 

 

Chief executive John Johnston said: "This £1m expansion is a further demonstration of the commitment we have given to invest in the region. 

 

"We’ve listened to our tenants, who told us just how much they value the quality of the service directly delivered by our Property Maintenance Division.

"The investment to expand our southern operations responds to this, enabling us to deliver a greater range of quality services, alongside future work experience and apprenticeship opportunities."

 

Source: Insider Media North East

 

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There are many ways to manage staff who don’t work in the same building or area as you. This might be working from home, or in a co-working space, or being on the road as a salesperson or merchandiser. In Bernicia’s case, the gas engineers and plumbers are likely to be working away from their base, fixing tenants’ problems. 

 

Studies have shown that many British bosses aren’t taking advantage of the flexible working phenomenon – which can improve morale and productivity immensely – because they are too concerned about workers slacking off. 

 

Here at Time and Attendance North East, we can help get rid of that paranoia. Our Self Service Module (SSM) is an addition to our overall software package, and it is ideal for remote workers. It is a browser or mobile phone-based app that workers can use to clock in and clock out, and request or cancel holiday. 

 

If it is used on a mobile phone, then the GPS location is sent to the central time and attendance system as well. This allows supervisors and managers to check that the employee is in the expected location. If the employees go into an area of bad signal, the mobile app can cache the information onto the phone and transfer it as soon as connectivity is restored. 

 

A record of their clock-ins and outs can be exported or printed if the company would like a copy in those formats, but the supervisor has full access to all the employees’ data on the app anyway, and can run reports if they need to.