We look through the keyhole at a team dedicated to making life easier for home-movers, where Timetastic fits in nicely with their efforts to keep things upbeat.
Moving house can be one of the most bafflingly complicated life events you’ll ever experience. Whether it’s scrutinising a detailed survey report, assessing flood risk data or figuring out which combination of numbers will persuade the seller to accept your offer, confusion lurks around every corner.
If only there was a better way…
Thankfully, Compare My Move are here to take the headache out of home moving. They’ve been up and running since 2012, helping people in the UK save money, time and stress by linking them up with removal, surveying and conveyancing companies that have gone through a strict verification process.
“We want to help people with every step of the moving house process,” co-founder Dave Sayce says, adding they’re now helping 90,000 home movers every year.
As well as helping out with the practical matters such as helping you find a trustworthy removals firm, they have a wealth of handy guides and information for househunters on their website.
So, what makes this team tick? Peer through their letterbox in Cardiff (other less creepy methods are available) and you’ll find 16 people keeping the operation alive.
“We are big on creating a positive and healthy environment in the office,” Dave says. “We will always find the time to celebrate birthdays by going out for a team lunch, spending time together outside of the office helps keep up a friendly atmosphere.”
However, keeping up with all those birthdays is not without its difficulties: “Being a small team still, it’s an entertaining challenge to secretly sign the birthday card without getting caught.”
It looks like the team managed to keep things under wraps for Dave's 40th...
It wouldn’t be a team effort without some shared responsibilities, and alongside the day-to-day demands of de-stressing home-movers, the music playlist also requires attention. “A day can start with ABBA and end with Metallica, anything goes,” says Dave, taking care not to give away whether he’s responsible for everyone humming the tune to Stayin’ Alive before the first coffee of the day has kicked in.
Those who’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty have a chance to be recognised in a monthly team vote, which serves as a good morale booster and helps keep an eye on the month’s goals.
In general there’s a flexible approach to time in and out of the office, as is the modern way. “We have flexi time in place, which allows everyone to start work at a time that suits them, giving team members the option to build up extra days off throughout the year. Our office is closed over the Christmas period, too, meaning the team gets time off work to spend with family and friends without deducting holiday days.”
Looks like they’ve got a healthy mindset when it comes to time off, then.
“We can’t wait to hear about a team member’s time off, whether they’re just catching up on sleep or going somewhere tropical."
“As an unwritten rule, we will often bring back a present from a holiday, which is usually in the form of chocolate, sweets or biscuits!”
When it comes to tracking time off, they suffered years of paper forms and antiquated processes before de-stressing their absence management with Timetastic. In fact, before signing up with us in 2018, they had tried using another web-based platform for tracking time off.
It wasn't without its issues, though.
“The old system’s downfall was its lack of integration with other apps such as Slack, meaning we often had to manually go and check who was off and when."
“As the company began to grow, we found that we needed to move on and explore different options to avoid overlapping absences from the same department."
"Timetastic offered the perfect solution, allowing us to go paper-free by tracking time off work in one calendar. Its interactivity with other apps is a huge benefit for us.”
Result! And like many businesses using Timetastic, it's the slick Slack integration that is particularly loved.
"We integrate our Timetastic calendar into our Slack channel, so everyone knows who's off work each day and for how long. This really helps us avoid clashes and understaffing at busy periods of the year,” Dave says.
Well it’s nice to know all that time we’ve spent making sure Timetastic plays nicely with other apps has been worthwhile.
Before we hand over the keys and call it a day, what does Dave have to say to anyone considering signing up for Timetastic?
“If you want to eliminate the paperwork and stress of keeping track of your team’s holiday, use Timetastic, you'll never go back.”