Editorial

Twice in this edition we hear of situations where proprietors are left tearing their hair out over the behaviour of their engineers. Our columnist Mike Lynskey relates the story of a small company left without staff because they fitted trackers to their vans. Some people (especially those staff engineers out on the road) might say, fair enough – no one wants to be snooped on. But considering we’re in an industry built around surveillance, I can’t see the objection.

Often repeated in this industry to justify the explosion in CCTV – even covert surveillance – is the phrase “If you’re not doing anything wrong, you’ve got nothing to worry about.” So why should an engineer be worried when his boss fits a tracker to the van? As Mike points out in his column (page 13) trackers can make a business much more efficient ... if the engineer is so much against it, there’s probably a reason. As an industry, we can’t talk up the virtues of a surveillance society then moan when we’re the focus of it.

With this current skills shortage, however, qualified engineers can quickly find work elsewhere. This is, of course, great for the engineer, but very frustrating for the proprietor. In our Mailbox (page 11) one proprietor says she’s hitting a brick wall over the lack of training support and the attitude of arrogant engineers who leave directly they are half useful. I would think a lot more youngsters might come into this industry if they knew how much they’d be sought after when they were qualified ... and there is national training but it depends very much on which college you live near.

This question of installer attitude to work is frequently mentioned by correspondents to this magazine – the general conclusion being that the ones who start their own installation business have the most to lose, so are motivated to give a better service. One of our correspondents this month put some of his ideas to our Mike for advice. He was sending new customers satisfaction questionnaires after the install and was also thinking of sending £25 vouchers for any recommendations that came his way ... So here’s Mike’s reply:

“Good ideas and good intention ... The danger is in how you word it. Some people (myself included) are wary about filling in questionnaires and are of the opinion that if you don’t know what good service is, then you shouldn’t be doing the job. But if you were to phrase the questions to ask if there was anything they were unhappy with and what could you do to improve your service, they may comment. The £25 bonus? A good idea, but most times a bunch of flowers for a woman or a bottle of something for a man is more appreciated. I am thinking that most men wouldn’t get out of bed for £25 but would be over the moon with a bottle of whisky. It makes it more personal.” Thanks Mike ... What do readers think?

Alan Hyder, editor