Pride drives world-class Bradford recruiter Driver Hire

CHRIS Chidley believes that pride plays a key part in business success.

He sees pride in the job; pride in working for an organisation or pride in doing business with it helps contribute to the bottom line

He says Specialist People Services Group, the Bradford-based recruitment business he acquired in 2004 with venture capital backing , has pride " in bucket loads".

"One of the things that has made me most proud is statistics we got in January from a survey of all our customers, candidates, employees and franchisees.

" We achieved a ten per cent response rate to an unprompted e-mail survey which showed that 80 per cent of Driver Hire customers were happy or very happy with our service and would recommended us.That's three times the usual response rate for surveys.

"Nearly a quarter of 4,000 candidates responded and more than 80 per cent said they were wither proud or very proud to work for Driver Hire and would recommend us.

"Of staff with a personal e-mail we got a 50 per cent response and 90 per cent were proud or very proud to work for us .

"Research on the power of pride shows that it is the powerful attribute a business scan have and this business has got it in bucket loads. It comes form doing the right things, treating people and customers well and from the pride of our franchisees.

"ISS Labour, our specialist rail operation has very similar pride attributes," he said.

Chris has expanded the business since buying Driver Hire from founders Mark Lawn- current Bradford City chairman, and John Bussey who ran it for 20 years or so. The business celebrated its 30th anniversary last year.

The son of an electrical retail entrepreneur who cut his teeth on Ellesmere Port market, certified accountant Chris moved into recruitment after an international career mainly spent with global car rental giant Avis and after a takeover, GE Capital. he spent 12 years roving the world working on mergers and acquisitions, including stints in Mexico City, Canada and Brussels, returning to the UK to settle his family and joining Kingston Communications in Hull.

Specialist People Services, now backed by private equity investor LDC, focuses on the 'hard to serve' staffing markets in transport through Driver Hire and the rail sector through ISS.

Chris said: "Driving is complex and it's not a simple role to meet the demands of transport and rail customers; It's highly regulated and complex and requires a specialist approach.

"The ambition for the business is to form a stable that serves the hard to do staffing markets and not only for recruitment but also related services to employing people such as training; compliance services and online assessment ;

"ISS provides a range of staff, including safety critical and track staff, overhead line staff and design and technical specialists. We also provide people-related plant such as lighting and fencing . Much of the labour we provide has to be rail qualified.

"It's about being able to wrap other things around the basic offering to meet specific requirements and regulation.; things which add value."

SPS has invested a significant sum on a new indoor rail training centre near Manchester with a full size rail track and full overhead line structure which is seen as leading UK facility in the sector

Driver Hire, the original transport and logistics recruitment company, continues to expand and now has more than 100, mainly franchised, UK offices. It also has a growing presence in Australia .

In addition to providing around 3,000 temporary drivers on a typical day, Driver Hire also incorporates an expanding training division and an e-services business providing online driver licence checking, competence assessment and e-learning for drivers.

It is this area of operation which Chris sees as key to future growth and diversification of SPS.

He said: "Driver Hire has had an incredible couple of years . But while it is now the biggest operator of its kind in the UK, we still only have around eight per cent of the market. There's still much to expand our market share and open more offices.

"The training and online assessment and checking operations also provide great scope for growthWe can also sell training and licence checking services to companies to which we supply drivers .

"The exciting thing about e-services is that they are a momentum rather than a transactional type of business. We think our online business could be as profitable as the core Driver Hire operations. It's an exciting area of opportunity ."

Chris also has ambitions to expand SPS's international operations following the success of the Australian Driver Hire business which now has bases in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne.

"Australia has proved to be a good choice. It's a market where our industry is established but with not many players. Also, employment regulations and the business culture are similar to the UK and the language is the same.

"The cost of operating back office processes in Bradford are considerably less than in Australia .Technology and a convenient time difference means we can process drivers' time sheets while they are in bed in Australia," he said.

Future expansion of the Australian business is planned as well as pursuing opportunities in the United States, Canada and Ireland rather than in Europe which has more onerous employment regulation.

" Our strategy is to build our driving training capabilities in the UK, particularly around e-learning and assessments online. We are looking at the possibility of acquiring businesses in the licence checking sector also for complementary labour providers in the rail sector

"We are also keen to find new businesses in other hard to serve sectors sich as aviation and the marine industry," said Chris.

As SPS continues to diversify IT staff in the Bradford head office, which currently employs around 55 people, are playing a crucial role . The company has invested around £500,000 on systems upgrades in recent years and now develops all its own IT.

Chris said: "IT is a hidden gem in this business. We think having our own IT capability gives us competitive advantage and enables us to develop systems to suit our market and be fleet of foto and flexible. The cost of developing e-licence checking system with an external provider would have been less innovative and more expensive.

" We have some real stars in that area and our IT team creates incredible value."

SPS recently completed an £18.5 million refinancing deal to fund investment and expansion following its best ever trading year

The refinancing followed bumper financial results for 2014/15. In the year to end of March 2015, turnover rose 32 per cent to £116 million, against £88 million the previous year.

SPS expects another set of strong results in the current financial yea and the latest financing package will be used for working capital and to fund investment in equipment for ISS Labour.

Chris said: We are confident that 2015/16 will be another record year as we invest in the business. Alongside LDC’s continued support, Yorkshire Bank’s funding provides a great platform for long-term growth.

“The broad range of specialist services offered by the SPS Group provides us with a platform to reach an increasing number of businesses.

“Companies want access to great people and services to maximise the productivity of their workforce in an increasingly service-oriented economy. These firms need a stable of reliable, specialist and niche recruitment businesses that operate in ‘hard-to-serve’ marketplaces. We are meeting that need.

“As a business we’re capitalising on a flight to quality. The companies we serve expect a reliable supply of high-quality temporary labour. This is especially vital in the sectors that we serve. In addition, an increasing number of firms are coming to us for our wider range of services, such as driver training and online licence checking.

“Looking ahead, we are confident in our position. We are actively pursuing acquisition opportunities in Australia and working to identify a further specialist business to join our UK portfolio. ”