Chartered Surveyors - London
HD is a medium sized multi-skilled independent practice of Chartered Surveyors with offices in West London. They offer traditional surveying advice together with architectural and structural design.In January 2003 they wished to expand and take on more fee earners. HD investigated moving offices to accommodate 6 more work stations for the fee earners as well as the necessary support staff. It was at this time that the Office Administrator contacted OutSec. He had been told by a friend that the quality of OutSec work was superb and that they had cut their support staff costs by 45%. A representative from OutSec visited the company the next day, providing a complimentary assessment of the way HD had operated previously and outlining the cost savings that could be achieved by streamlining staffing and outsourcing all typing requirements. There was a complete review of document management and workflow.
The end result was that the company did not have to move premises. By offering voluntary redundancy packets to all surplus capacity within their current offices they saved 75% of the anticipated moving costs. The space that resulted from redundancy provided 10 more work stations. No additional secretarial staff were required and they now have additional space for planned further expansion. The remaining 25% of anticipated moving costs were spent in installing digital transcription kits for the remaining secretaries and purchasing digital recorders for all surveyors. In addition various members of staff were given the option of working from home on specific days of the week, creating a flexible working environment which improved the employees work/home life balance. This flexible approach will also in future years mean that more fee earners can be employed on a 'share desk' basis. The morale of staff that had journeys to work of over 45 minutes has been greatly increased and all employees are looking forward to a bright and rosy future!
The one-to-one commercial secretaries that were assigned by OutSec now handle an average of 40 reports per week on top of general correspondence.
