Company bosses who invite their employees to express their views and opinions about the organisation they work for are few are far between – but an established chauffeur company in Middlesex is doing just that!

Arscott Chauffeur Services based in Ashford has hired a top management consultant who has spent three months monitoring the business and finding ways of not just improving the efficiency of the service and reducing overheads, but also improving the working relationships amongst the work-force and with its clients.

The consultant was hired by Bill Arscott after 13 successful years in business, and now with the aim of making his company even more successful, Bill has drafted in the consultant to work with the company and report on ways it can be improved.

Every chauffeur and employee that works for ACS was invited to take part in an hour-long meeting with Joe to discuss their ideas on ways of improving the service and any  operational issues they may have. They were also invited to complete an anonymous survey covering all aspects of the business.

Bill believes that the welfare of his chauffeurs and staff is an extremely important part of the business. All chauffeurs that work for ACS are fully licensed and trained through IAM defensive driving courses. They also complete specialist first aid training and attend annual medicals.

The company now employs almost fifty permanent drivers and an office support team of 15 to give clients a 24-hour service.

Bill Arscott said, “The key to running a successful chauffeur business is to maintain a constant level of drivers that relates to the volume of work being handled ensuring good driver retention and sufficient resources when the bookings come flooding in!’

“All our vehicles are fitted with ‘black box’ style devices to provide useful data for managing the fleet and allowing drivers to get the appropriate rest periods. This ensures both driver and passenger safety”.

He continued, “When I see the final report on the company, it will allow us to work on areas which we consider important in maintaining a high quality service. I think every company could benefit from this kind of exercise; the results can be very enlightening and rewarding!”