KEVIN BRYNE NEVER throws cold water on employee feedback — but he's happy for his workforce to throw icy water on him. The Checkatrade.com founder and managing director took an ice-bucket challenge last year, inviting staffers to drench him in freezing water in aid of a project to build new changing and shower rooms at Redwood Park School in Cosham, Hampshire, for children with learning difficulties. Checkatrade.com, the recommended trade register where people can assess and review tradespeople, has a mission to eliminate rogues. Its 180 employees say Byrne runs the place on sound moral principles (giving this statement a top-two positive score of 95%). He founded the firm in the wake of a tornado in 1998, when hundreds of homes and buildings were damaged in Selsey, West Sussex, and, it says, “rogue traders travelled from all over the country to take advantage of the situation”. Today the Selsey-based company has published more than 1.5m customer reviews, and prints and delivers 8.2m free directories a year, listing background-checked traders who have signed up to its standards. Its profits come from charging its 14,000 members. In the last available financial year, 2013, the private firm says revenues grew by 48% to £6.7m and profits rose 31% to £110,000. It opened offices in Newcastle and Guildford, and staff numbers rose by almost two-thirds last year. Employees believe the business is making a positive difference to the world (89%) and run on strong values (94%) — both top-10 scores. Its principles include integrity, being responsive, partnerships and a social conscience. www.checkatrade.com
