'Our people are our X-factor'

WINNING the Veuve Clicquot award for UK Businesswoman of the Year has capped 25 years of entrepreneurial success for Chey Garland.

But while the 48-year-old is proud of her achievements, she has no intention of slowing down.

Garlands employs 2,800 staff in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough and is planning to create another 1,000 jobs at a call centre village in Preston Farm, Stockton.

The first of four buildings will begin operating this summer.

"We ran out of space this year," she said. "It is a speculative build on our part. We have invested for growth, but the conditions have to be right before we go ahead."

She is confident of finding enough work for 1,000 staff, but believes this will be the end of her expansion in the Tees Valley.

The size of the business means that workers are not so easy to find - there are only so many good workers in the region.

"Based on the demographics, I don't honestly think we can employ any more," she said.

"But that would be a lovely problem for Tees Valley to have," she said.

Garlands is targeting older workers and mothers looking to return to work.

"I almost thought about having a bring your granny to work day," she said.

"Older people have lived life and there is no shortcut to that experience. They develop natural customer service ethics and skills.

"Our region has had to reinvent itself so many times. There are a lot of people who made their living working for chemical companies, or bashing bits of metal and those opportunities are not plentiful now.

"We have had a lot of success with people employed from those industries. They are people with a great work ethic and found themselves out of a trade.

"Initially, they apply for jobs with us, but these have fast become careers."

In salaries alone, Garlands already pumps more than £2m into the Tees Valley economy each month.

"They say you can times that figure by five for how it benefits the local economy," she said.

"The region, sadly, has a history of satellite operations being housed here. The problem is, that means the power base is elsewhere, which means the spending is elsewhere.

"If companies put their head offices here, ultimately it would create a lot more enterprise opportunities.

"I call them feeder businesses, because if you have them, other businesses will spring off that base."

But she has an eye on further growth in the North-East.

"We already have locations in mind," she said. "But this is blue-sky thinking and using your imagination a bit.

"You can never legislate for what is going to happen in another industry."

Born in North Ormesby, Middlesbrough, she founded a debt recovery agency in 1980 and then branched out into customer services in 1993, opening her first call centre in Middlesbrough in 1997, winning a contract with Vodafone.

The mobile phone network is still a big customer, but has been joined by other blue-chip companies, such as Wanadoo, Virgin Net, Virgin Mobile and Cable and Wireless.

"We had an opportunity for 12 weeks and 20 people," she said. "Our external accounts people thought I was daft.

"The investment in the technology was so much that 12 weeks wasn't enough to pay it back. But I knew it had legs."

The company has since grown at a phenomenal rate, with revenues of more than £1m in its first year.

Turnover for the year ending last October soared 74 per cent, from £16.2m to £28.2m, with profits of £2.1m.

"In a way, those results were more impressive because it was not through winning new work," she said. "Every contract that we had, we grew."

This year, revenue is expected to leap again, to about £40m, an increase of more than 40 per cent.

"We have not been aggressive this year in pushing for new business," she said. "This has been a year of consolidation for us. Companies are taking a big leap of faith when they outsource work to another company.

"It is something I never take lightly. We are given other people's customers to cherish, so we have to be careful not to over-stretch ourselves."

"When you grow a business at the rate we have grown, you have to stand back and catch your breath at some point.

"We have had to go back and fix some things that haven't grown as easily as others."

That included an overhaul of the process part of the business and recruiting experienced senior executives.

"I needed people to come into the team that have worked for bigger companies than ours, to bring their learning and experience."

She has also invested heavily in training and developing staff, along with introducing a grades system for employees.

"The grading means the process is transparent and enables us to pick out the people to develop for the future."

The company prides itself on taking care of its employees. It has its own radio station, Radio GaGa, and a scheme where staff are given paid time off to run it.

There is also a chill-out room, named Cafe Del Mar, after the famous Ibiza beach bar.

It is all part of her philosophy that happy workers are better workers, and one she believes her success is based on - including being handed the Veuve Clicquot award.

"Our people are our x-factor," she said.

"I genuinely feel I share the award with the people that work here.

"It can only raise the profile of the business and put the brand out there.

"I go out to win the work, but after the bidding and the beauty contests, potential clients will go and talk to our existing clients about what we do.

"It is a testament to the staff that work here that we win new business."