DECEMBER 2019 | 41
Business
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
WORK SMARTER,
NOT HARDER
Rhonda Ridge, managing director of Ad-
• A written disciplinary and
grievance procedure. There
is an ACAS code of advice
for these. It is not compulso-
ry to follow the code, but it
is likely to go against you at
any tribunal if you don’t.
Cover additional things in your
contract of employment such as:
• Probationary period, during
which the normal discipli-
nary process should not
apply. This should be up
to 6 months, with the job
offer subject to satisfactory
completion of the probation
period. You should have a
shorter notice period during
probation.
• Job description, reporting
structure, details of incen-
tives, bonuses or commis-
sions which should also
be clearly defined and also
subject to management
discretion.
• Confidentiality provisions
and restrictions following
termination and protecting
the goodwill of the business.
You may restrict the right to
work for a direct competitor
or entice other employees
to leave for a period of 6
months after employment
ceases.
• Reserve the right to change
the employee’s contract.
sult a professional employ-
ment advisor or lawyer.
• I never say to any member
of staff, at any time, anything
which I would be embar-
rassed by if it was mentioned
in a tribunal.
• If there is a hint of a dispute
with an employee, I keep
dated, written notes.
• I have my interactions wit-
nessed. This piece of advice
alone can save a fortune if an
employee makes an allega-
tion which isn’t true.
The settlement
agreement
A settlement agreement, which
can bypass the disciplinary and
redundancy processes can seem
attractive. However, remember
that you should consult an ad-
visor before discussing such an
agreement with an employee and
you have to pay for them to get
legal advice. If you fail to do this
any agreement will be invalid in
law.
Pulling it together
There are a lot of tank traps
around employment. But they
can be avoided with preparation
and care. Business objectives can
nearly always be achieved while
treating employees fairly. All of
the best.
The iron rules About the author
In many years in business,
including dismissals, redundan-
cies and more, I have never been
taken to an employment tribunal.
That is because I have always fol-
lowed a few simple iron rules:
• Before I do anything that
could be contentious, I con- Benjamin Dyer is CEO and
co-founder of Powered Now.
Powered Now’s mobile app aims
to take the pain out of paper-
work for installers and other
small trade companies.
www.powerednow.com
minBase, explains how the introduction of
mobile apps has taken the UK’s most popular
management system for installation companies
to a whole new level
‘Work smarter, not harder’ is a common man-
tra of motivational speakers and productivity
coaches the world over. This is often easier said
than done, but actually, in today’s modern world
of smart products – gadgets that are designed
to make our increasingly busy lives easier and
more manageable – working smarter has become
eminently more do-able.
When I launched AdminBase, around 20 years,
I was inspired by my time working as a financial
controller at a double glazing firm, to create a
management system that would make life easier
for installation companies by introducing effi-
ciencies to the sales and ordering processes. That
system has evolved massively over the last cou-
ple of decades and has proved so successful that
it is now an integral part of window and door
installation companies all over the UK, including
over 3,000 users from relatively small businesses
to larger companies that are fitting hundreds of
frames per week.
Of course, a lot has changed in the industry dur-
ing those 20 years, and while we have experienced
a big shift in consumer demands and a much more
exciting range of products for example, we’ve also
enjoyed huge leaps forward in technology – ad-
vances that can perhaps be best demonstrated
in the mobile phones and tablets we all take for
granted today. When AdminBase was launched, the
thought of high speed 4G and 5G, and the connec-
tivity that it has enabled was virtually unthinkable,
especially because at that time we lived in a world
where computers all stayed in the office and inter-
net speeds were prehistoric in comparison.
And as a result of this next generation tech-
nology, we are now at the point where we have
taken AdminBase to a whole new level, with the
introduction of mobile apps for sales, survey, in-
stallation and remedial services – adding a level
of functionality that we identified the need for
a long time ago, but which has only now been
made possible.
So how will our new apps help installation
companies work smarter, not harder? Put simply,
by better coordinating the entire process of sales,
to survey, to installation – as well as any reme-
dial work – by linking every stage to a central
system via easy to use, intuitive mobile technol-
ogy and eliminating the need for old fashioned
handwritten instructions, and orders scribbled
into fax machines in the process.
There is an AdminBase app for each stage of
an order. A sales person is equipped with an app
that allows a quote to be created for the home-
owner, documents that can be signed digitally,
and copies to be sent instantly to the customer
via email. All this information is sent to a central
database, so that when the survey team needs
it, they can gain access via their own app and
make any necessary changes with ease. Any
documents created or updated at this stage can
also be signed digitally by the homeowner, via
a tablet, and recorded once again in the central
system. When it comes to the installation, the
fitting team can then access all required informa-
tion, again through a dedicated tablet and app,
and once they have completed the job they are
able to secure another electronic signature from
the customer, as well as record any feedback or
problems that were encountered or any follow
up work that is needed.
If this is the case, then service engineers can
bring up detailed notes on their own app, along
with any outstanding balances, and as before,
can collect the customer’s signature before send-
ing everything off directly to the head office.
Successfully incorporating these on-site func-
tions into Adminbase has realised a long term
goal to take the whole system to the next level,
using technology that is familiar and intuitive
to everyone. It is evident that some people will
always defer to a pen and pad, but today, where
we all use apps on a daily basis whether that’s
planning a journey or doing the weeks grocery
shop, the introduction of our mobile apps really
has made it a lot easier to work smarter, be more
efficient and stay ahead of the competition in
what has become an increasingly competitive
market place.
adminbase.co.uk