Within The Drain Surgeon group, staff training is ongoing and includes, in addition to technical refresher courses, training in all aspects of customer service to ensure total customer satisfaction.

Our investment into the production of training videos now exceeds R800 000. These videos are based on written course material provided by BIFSA, and by making the completed videos available to BIFSA, we have put something back into the industry.

In addition to formal training of staff, we hold weekly meetings attended by all staff members, and this includes our tradesmen. During these meetings, everyone is encouraged to raise concerns before they become problems. Most importantly, we encourage our staff to accept that as part of this exercise, workable solutions must be suggested as well.

A Saturday workshop held towards the end of January 2001 and attended by all senior staff resulted in the creation of a document entitled Blueprint for Action 2001 (see left). It is the amalgam of suggestions made by each section on how to improve customer service even further.

A good deal more than mere lip service is paid to affirmative action at The Drain Surgeon / The Electro Clinic. From inception, we have been offering solid opportunities for advancement to deserving staff members. Once a suitable candidate has been identified, our extensive training programme helps him to reach his full potential. This is of direct benefit to our customers in the sense that we have a well-trained and loyal workforce that shares our service philosophy at every turn.