If staff are given real responsibilities, they start to feel responsible for the success of the business too.
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Entrepreneur: Daryl Murrell, General Manager
Company: Murrell Group of Companies - Bay City Cabs, Murrell Chauffeur Drive, Westcoast Parcel Express
Business type: Personal transport services
Founded: 1964
Turnover: $5M - $10M
Head office: Geelong North, Victoria
Contact details: +61 3 5278 9699
The Murrell Group Story
When Daryl Murrell and his sister Lynette joined their parent’s taxi business in 1982, it had seven licences, which was then the limit in Victoria for one owner in Victoria’s heavily regulated taxi industry. The regulations also kept the business tied to Geelong’s only taxi co-operative.
After Daryl and Lynette’s father, company founder Gordon Murrell, successfully challenged the regulations in 1984, the licence limit was dumped. On 7th May 1987 the Murrell family started building Bay City Cabs into Australia’s largest privately owned and operated taxi depot, independent of the Geelong taxi co-operative effectively breaking its monopoly.
Daryl Murrell, now general manager, says the company’s long-term success is the result of plain hard work by the Murrell family and its staff. Lynette, now administration manager, says: “We have always run it as a family business and included the staff as being family as well.”
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Key learning points:
- Staff relations - Informality between managers and employees helps involve the employees in all aspects of the business. The more they are involved, the better the chance of success.
- Devolution - Delegating decision-making authority to staff builds their confidence - and that creates confidence in clients.
- Multi-skilling - Having staff members who can do each other’s jobs improves efficiency and continuity.
- Employee benefits - Family friendly employment conditions can help lower staff turnover.
- Succession strategy - Respect the needs of the generations that are giving up - and taking - control of the company’s business.
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Daryl believes Murrell’s employees are its best asset. He says: “If your staff are dedicated and involved in what you do, [that] goes a long way towards success.”
Daryl works hard to keep staff involved in all aspects of the business. Work relationships, for example, are as informal as possible. He says: “Everyone is on a first-name basis so no one is made to feel that they are on a different level from anyone else. Staff can always come straight to my door and talk about anything they like.”
Managers delegate much decision making to the most practicable level. Front office staff can make decisions ranging from corporate contracts to wedding car hire. Daryl says: “Because you have delegated the authority to them to make those decisions on the spot, they feel confident. If you are our client, you feel confident because you know you are talking to someone who will give you an answer there and then.”
The company has always encouraged multi-skilled staff and managers. Lynette says: “Everyone can do everyone else’s job although most people have a specific task. It doesn’t matter who you are - and that includes Daryl. If someone goes on leave, someone else takes over and it just keeps on rolling.”
The family culture extends into the company’s very flexible employment conditions, which allow staff to move between full-time, part-time and casual hours as their family needs and responsibilities change. Staff turnover is extremely low. Many are into their second decade with the company, some having started as 16-year-olds.
The company’s succession plan reflects the tangible respect that Gordon Murrell and his children have for each other. Daryl says: “The succession plan is in place and operates now. Our father spends very little time here but he likes to know what’s going on. We always keep him involved as far as knowing what’s going on and as a sounding board. You can’t replace experience.”
Daryl, who scrubbed the taxi as a boy about his own son’s age, says: “The grandparents harbor aspirations that the Murrell name will continue on through my son, (but) I would never put that on my children.”