In January 2009, Clare Neville of Social Firms UK interviewed customers and staff of Social Firm, Benchmark Furniture & Design (www.benchmarkfdab.co.uk). Below is a transcript of those interviews with:
- Ian Stewart, Manager
- David, Workshop Manager
- Paul Maher, customer, PJ Services (Bolton) Ltd
- Sue Dixon, customer, Bubble Enterprises CIC
Ian Stewart, Benchmark Manager
Ian: My name is Ian Stewart and I am the manager of Benchmark. We do two things. We do products and we do services, so in terms of products we make any kind of furniture item that you can’t buy and in terms of our service we provide work-related opportunities got people with complex and enduring mental health needs.
We set up in April 2000. We got pump primed for one year by the Strategic Health Authority. We’d identified that there was nothing inbetween coming out of a hospital ward and trying to get into employment. We also got a lot of service users asking to do more time with us which we couldn’t provide because of the demand on the service, so it seemed obvious to try and put the two together and set it up as a business so that people could come in and work a flexible week and we could begin to make some money from the orders that the staff were putting in to us.
Clare: Could you describe the sort of products and services that Benchmark offers to its customers?
Ian: Products – we produce basically bespoke furniture, so we do work in people’s houses, built in wardrobes and things like that. We do work for businesses and building contractors, whatever that may be. We build reception desks, food serving counters. Most of our work is generally one offs, but we’ve had a few jobs which have been large scale for us, which have been a number of hundred of repeat items of the same thing, so that’s proved very good. We produce a very high quality job and we’re competitive with other bespoke cabinet-making companies
Clare: In terms of price and quality?
Ian: In terms of price, absolutely, but I’d say our quality far outstrips any of our competitors.
David, Workshop Manager
David: I’m David, I’m the Workshop Manager, which really involves overseeing the everyday production of furniture, service users, patient welfare, security of the building, health and safety, going out procuring work as well as the mundane paperwork side of it.
I’ve worked here now for 8 years. I actually came here as a service user. I had for one reason or another 8 years ago I had a breakdown. My background going back to my teens was in woodwork, I used to be a shop fitter, just really for something to do while I was off work sick. I came to Benchmark and worked closely alongside Ian, and when it came time for me to really go back to work, Ian said how do you fancy staying here and becoming our workshop manager, which I grasped with open arms because I was in financial services at the time and there was a lot of pressure which had gone towards the breakdown that I suffered. And I kind of really enjoyed what I was doing here, and still do.
And I think that the job we’re working on at the moment is a big milestone. By the time we’ve hopefully finished these radiator covers by the end of this week, we’ll have hopefully made something in the region of 168 of them. So that is a big batch run for us. And the customer is absolutely thrilled with them. We’ve not only met his expectations, we’ve exceeded them.
Paul Maher, Benchmark customer, Director of PJ Services (Bolton) Ltd
Paul: I’m Paul Maher, I’m Director of PJ Services, which is a building company that supplies a mixture of local authorities and private sector organisations.
Clare: How did you hear about Benchmark?
Paul: It was through a web search in the first instance then we had a meeting and went from there.
Clare: So did you have a business need, a particular project?
Paul: We did, we had about 200 or so radiator cabinets doing for an old people’s home in Bolton.
Clare: So Benchmark have made these.
Paul: They’ve done all the cabinets yes.
Clare: And how do you feel about the service you’ve received?
Paul: very good, it’s been excellent, no problems whatsoever. You know you have set ideas about what’s happening but they’ve done everything they said and what we’ve asked them to. If there’s been a problem, they’ve let us know and we’ve worked with them, but it was the council that were holding up the programme. Don’t tell them that (laughs).
Clare: When you employed Benchmark, did it matter that they were a Social Firm? Is that why you chose them or was that incidental?
Paul: I had a look at them, I must admit, because it’s an old people’s home, I thought the council would be interested in that sort of thing. It didn’t become a major issue, I just let them know what we were doing. And it can only help. I’m all for it. Good idea isn’t it?
Clare: And how far would you recommend that other people buy from Social Firms bearing in mind your experience?
Paul: 100%. Based on what Benchmark have done, I’d recommend them.
Clare: By using a Social Firm, are you able to get more work through that. You said you mentioned it to the Council
Paul: well it doesn’t do any harm does it? It’s the sort of thing councils look at and they’re happy to use. We monitor the production and the standard of work so it all comes back to us. So if we’re happy, they’re happy.
Sue Dixon, Benchmark customer, Bubble Enterprises CIC
Sue: My name is Sue Dixon and I work for Bubble Enterprises which is a community interest company and also for a partnership called WTP which is a business consultancy. We were setting up a café at the local hospital which was in the mental health unit so that meant that we could commission a counter for the café. We gave them the broad design and then worked with them on the finishing touches and they’ve installed this beautiful U shaped counter.
Clare: What was your experience of working with Benchmark? How did you find them compared to using private organisations to do similar jobs?
Sue: Well it was exactly the same in terms of quality and standards, but there was an added value to us because of course a company that provides training and support for people with mental health problems, and that was of course what we were aiming to do so there was a lovely fit. We found them to be very professional, lots of ideas.
Clare: How far would you recommend that other companies use Social Firms, or Benchmark in the future?
Sue: Unreservedly I would say because the quality of product is good, the quality of the management process is exactly the same as any other company, very business-like and there’s an added value that it’s doing good for somebody as well as making profit. Obviously the profit is then ploughed back into the business so there’s an added value to supporting Social Firms and other social enterprises in my view.