Undercover Boss by Diane Drummond

Abdul Akhtar

Abdul Akhtar

It feels right that all bosses should understand their businesses and understand what challenges their employees and customers face, if any. Being a Director at B-DACS, this is something I am very passionate about.

With this in mind, I had tasked myself with visiting a site last year and really getting to understand what we do as a business. This sometimes proves difficult, being a female in construction and trying to get access to some sites without having the necessary qualifications or site experience. I thought it would be far easier if I was to assist one of our maintenance engineers to carry out a planned preventative maintenance (PPM) on a site with flexible access. This way I was able to utilise at least one of my skills …… cleaning!

A Glasgow Hotel contacted us a few months back to look after their relatively new Air Conditioning system that had been installed the previous year by a contractor based in Northern Ireland.

Brian Drummond, our Technical Director, completed a site survey, tendered for the work and shortly thereafter we were awarded the contract which we were delighted about.

We made sure we liaised with the hotel to find out what date and times suited to do the maintenance as its a 24 hour operation. So the date was set, given that we only employ 20 staff I was hardly undercover, so our engineer Brian Sorley knew exactly who I was when I turned up for the shift. This was a new customer for B-DACS and we wanted to impress.

My first day on the job was rather unusual and I admit, I was a bit nervous, almost like your first day in a new job. I arrived at reception, introduced myself to the staff on duty and informed them that we were from B-DACS and we were there to carry out maintenance on the Air Conditioning systems. Once the receptionist behind the desk got over the initial shock of me standing armed with all my cleaning products and Henry Vacuum Cleaner, he acknowledged and we proceeded to test and clean the Mitsubishi Electric VRF equipment in all 103 bedrooms. I quickly found my place as chief cleaner while Brian carried out the more technical aspects of the PPM. The hotel staff were very accomadating and regularly provided coffee.

I found the day very rewarding with two positive outcomes. One was to purchase a new Hoover for Brian and Two was a change the process for organising engineers parking at the sites.

As B-DACS continue to focus on customer service this was a great way to understand the needs of our customers and change any internal processes which would result in a more seamless service.

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