Staff at Birmingham legal outfit DBS Law have been put on ‘short-time working’ – because they are so successful.
The Broad Street company has announced a two and a half hour cut in the working week without any loss in pay in return for ‘outstanding efforts’ by its entire staff, it was revealed today.
The company, set up 15 years ago, has rewarded its workers following record income growth and award-winning improvements in customer service.
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Around 100 employees across four offices in Birmingham, Bearwood, Nottingham and Leicester are now contracted to work from 9am to 5pm, rather than to 5.30pm.
The hours cut follows the firm bringing in £5.4 million in 2012-13, £250,000 more than the previous year.
DBS Law Head of PR Richard O’Brien said: “Everbody in the office is walking around with a smile on their face. It’s amazing what you can achieve by cutting off just 30 minutes.”
The legal outfit said it had been pursuing ‘an aggressive growth strategy’ since 2008 under the leadership of CEO Rob Bhol, with income growing during the five-year period by 170 per cent.
Earlier this year the Broad Street firm was awarded the Customer Service Excellence standard by the Government’s Cabinet Office. To date it is the only legal services company to have achieved this.
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CEO Rob Bhol said: “Our growth strategy relies heavily on the hard work of our staff and their willingness to be flexible. During the last five years we have asked them to take on new skills, adapt to the application of new technology, and to focus relentlessly on improving customer service.
“All our staff diligently applied themselves to improving productivity and this has paid great dividends for the business and for our customers. So we have decided to reward them with a shorter working week without any loss of pay to improve the quality of their lives. Needless to say, it’s been received well by all the staff.”