THE OWNERS of a Yate-based plumbing, gas, and heating engineering company has been championed for their tireless service and support to their staff and clients throughout the coronavirus pandemic. The company continued to operate for the entire duration of lockdown ensuring clients emergency services were completed and protecting their essential workforce from the risk of redundancy, seen by many other companies, in the wake of the unprecedented pandemic.

Pass and Totterdell Plumbing, Heating and Gas Services, based in Yate, initially furloughed a third of their staff, all of whom were back working within six weeks.

Working directly in the public sector as an essential service, the team made the decision to ensure that all elderly and vulnerable people would be helped if they had no heating or hot water, although this wouldn’t count as an emergency during summer months. The firm offer gas service and repair, gas central heating systems , hot water installation, under floor heating, boilers, as well as fitting complete bathrooms. Savvy owners, Mark Totterdell and Geoff Pass were financially prepared for something such as the coronavirus pandemic, after creating a recession account when they opened.

Owner Mark said: “When lockdown started, we lost seventy-five per-cent of our jobs overnight. With the rules changing constantly, we didn’t know what was right or wrong.

“We were keen to let our staff know, that despite the imminent worries, we would come out the other end, without having to make any redundancies.

“Our team are our friends as well as our employees. As employers, we have a duty of care to protect them and their families as well as our own.”

As the employers took decisions to ensure the best interests, welfare and wellbeing of their staff, the staff in turn, offered to take pay cuts and work evenings and weekends to ensure the survival of the company.

Owner Geoff said: "We had ensured, through significant financial planning, stemming from when we opened our company, that we would be stable, in the event of a major disaster.

“We tried to do the right thing for what the furlough scheme is, that meant furloughing the least amount of staff possible, for the least amount of time.

“The scheme is there to assist the nation; it is not a tool to be abused.”

The partners credit their self-built Infrastructure with their steady growth over the last 8 years. Their unique approach to being available 24/7 allows customers to be confident any call out situation will be dealt with rapidly. The team like to offer over-the-phone assistance in the first instance to try and support the client to resolve the issue, instead of incurring emergency all-out charges.

Their diverse team include 72-year-old Ron Wylie, whom will undertake his LPG course in November to allow him to continue working for another five years.

Geoff added: “We are lucky to have some great staff, who really proved themselves over the last few months. Ron is a key member of our team, he’s got a job here as long as he wants it.”

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