When WF Cleaning found itself unable to recruit staff for a contract it had gained near Bath, managing director Mike Walker was put in touch with specialist recruitment agency Skills Provision to solve his problem.
In 2002 WF Cleaning, Cumbria’s leading contract cleaning company commissioned Skills Provision to provide staff for contracts across the country.
Mike explained: Someone I knew suggested I should contact Chris Slay of Skills Provision as he specialises in providing Eastern European workers. I was told Chris would be able to supply staff to fulfil a vast array of contracts, this proved to be the case. I’ve subsequently used Skills Provision over the years.
Although Chris is based in Somerset, he has provided staff to work on various sites throughout the UK. I have always found the workers, primarily Polish, to be very hard working, dependable and happy to work evening shifts even weekends if necessary. They always turn up and are very adaptable. For one job in Scotland, we needed two people for which we were unable to recruit British workers as the shifts were antisocial hours. The problem with some British workers is that if there is a Saturday night shift, they don’t want to do it whereas Polish staff just get on with it. My business also needs a mix of contract and permanent staff in order to run efficiently, especially on some of its nationwide projects.
One of the benefits of contract workers he said is that they don’t need to be paid off if the work dries up and staff who have the required qualifications who are most suited to a particular job can be employed - criteria is given to Skills Provision which sources the most suitable candidates. When we win a contract we give Chris a call with the sort of person we’re needing – for example, it could be someone with a fork lift license. He sources the right people – they then know the type of job they’re coming to.
We do have to give workers some training but generally when they turn up they know what to expect and are able to do the work. One area in which the business was expanding was in managed labour contracts where functions such as in house catering, cleaning and waste management are outsourced and WF Cleaning directly manages the workforce. Here we work hand in glove with Chris as the provision of dependable and efficient staff is key to our own success. I am full of praise for Chris Slay he is dependable, always available to sort out any potential problems. WF Cleaning will continue to use staff provided by Skills Provision.
