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Winners of the Coventry & Warwickshire Employer of Choice Awards 2008

Employers across Coventry and Warwickshire have been recognised for their commitment to staff following a glittering awards evening attended by over 200 people, representing 48 businesses, at the annual Employer of Choice Awards 2008

Now in its seventh year, the event, held at Dunchurch Park Hotel on Thursday 4th December, publicly recognises and celebrates the achievement of organisations that have developed and now offer exceptional work-life balance policies and practices to their staff. This includes flexible working, remote working, incentives to return to work after maternity leave, and much more.

This year for the first time, Warwickshire County Council joined up with Coventry City Council to host the awards. This year also saw the launch of a new category to reward businesses for demonstrating that they care about their employees' Health and Wellbeing.

Merle Bayliss from Warwickshire County Council, who organised the Employer of Choice Awards and who offers free advice to employers to develop their work-life balance policies said: “The winners tonight are proven to be the best employers in Coventry and Warwickshire to work for, as they offer the most up to date policies and benefits for their staff”.

“The awards give us a chance to celebrate the success of these organisations who understand the importance to the success of their business - particularly in the long term - of offering a range of flexible working opportunities and other benefits.” “Work-life balance is now high on the agenda for many employers as a way of working that gives staff the freedom to pursue activities and responsibilities outside work without reflecting on work responsibilities and productivity.

The Employer of Choice Awards reward all size of business in Coventry and Warwickshire as part of the County Council and City Council’s initiative to raise the profile of Work-Life Balance policies - from small companies that employ less than 10 people up to corporate companies employing many thousands of employees. This year many high quality entries were received, including more from organisations who have not taken part in the awards before.

Jim Graham, Chief Executive of Warwickshire County Council and Bev Messinger, Acting Chief Executive of Coventry City Council presented the awards, while Sue Lyness of Lyness Accountancy Practice was guest speaker.

The master of ceremonies for the evening was Paul Galland, Director of the Environment & Economy Directorate, Warwickshire County Council. All winners of the awards are included within a profiles booklet, released after the awards ceremony, which details all the policies and practices the winning businesses have developed. The profiles booklet acts as a guide for any other employers looking to adopt work-life balance into their businesses. Click on the below link for more details.

Profiles for winners and finalists from the Coventry & Warwickshire Employer of Choice Awards 2008

A total of eighteen awards were presented to companies within the county. These included winners, highly commended and commended, as well as special achievement awards for outstanding work in Work-life Balance. All winners received a framed certificate and magnificent cut-crystal block engraved with the name of the business and awards category in which they had won.

The Warwickshire Employer of Choice Awards are organised in partnership by Warwickshire County Council and Coventry City Council. They help in raising the profile of Work-life Balance as a first-class benefit to businesses and organisations within the sub-region. Congratulations to all those who entered the awards or supported the event this year.

Sponsors of the Coventry & Warwickshire Employer of Choice Awards 2008

Small Employer Award 2008

Winner - Hair Management Salon Group, Warwick for creating an exceptional working environment and excellent opportunity for personal development, where care of staff and customers is paramount. • Hair Management Salon Group operates a customer care programme which involves constant assessment of the quality of performance. • In the last 12 months it won an EDGE training award which was used to take all staff on a residential course. • Employees are encouraged to produce a ‘dream board’ to visualise and identify motivations, aspirations and career ambitions which helps them to structure a career development path.

			Highly Commended awarded to Hinckley Road Nursery, Coventry for embedding work life balance into the philosophy of the nursery and creating a working environment where care of staff and children is paramount and staff feel valued and are happy to come to work.
			Commendation awarded to Heartland (Midlands) Ltd, Leamington Spa for the extensive range of flexible working opportunities, training, and benefits on offer to all employees.
			Commendation awarded to Progress Children’s Services Ltd, Coventry for the dedicated hard working staff who are prepared to go beyond the call of duty to support the residents on a 1-1 basis, with a range of individual needs, to provide a safe caring home environme.

Medium Employer Award 2008

Winner - Warwickshire Association of Youth Clubs for demonstrating flexibility in all its work practices and for continuing to review policies to reflect the changing needs of staff. • The Association uses the annual staff survey to identify work-life balance issues and consults with staff on proposed action. • From 1st April 08 all staff have been given 15 hours of paid volunteering each year. • Weekly coffee and chat staff meetings give people the opportunity to propose agenda items and to discuss issues.

Commendation awarded to Bright Kids, Studley for continuing to offer a range of policies which underpin the work-life balance of the organisation and which result in a secure and stable team.

Large Employer Award 2008

Winner - ConocoPhillips Ltd, Warwick for creating an exceptional working environment by continually pushing out the barriers in terms of work-life balance and striving to meet the needs of its employees. • In 2008 Conoco worked on a special project, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility policy, related to road safety. Working with the County’s Education Business Partnership in association with BRAKE. • There is a gym on site and a GP is available once a week to deal with minor ailments. • As a result of its review of benefits survey all employees now have access to private medical insurance.

			Highly Commended awarded to Alumet Systems (UK) Ltd, Southam for developing exceptional work-life balance policies in this market sector which reflect the changing needs of the staff, the business, and its clients.
			Commendation awarded to Inkfish Services Ltd, Coventry for offering a range of flexible working options which benefit the business and at the same time support staff to balance work and home life

Corporate Employer Award 2008

Winner - Coventry Building Society for embracing work life balance, giving staff excellent opportunities to develop and grow, and for creating an exceptional call centre working environment that demonstrates real consideration for staff. The Society's attitude to how it treats staff and customers TLC not PLC is one of the fundamental attributes that makes the Coventry a great place to work. In the last 12 months Coventry Building Society has introduced; • Seven hour contracts in the Customer Service Centre. People on this contract tend to be students, working parents and people looking to supplement their existing income. • Student Sponsorship sponsoring 4 people through degrees with paid work experience. • The opportunity to purchase up to 3 days additional holiday each year.

			Highly Commended awarded to AXA UK, Coventry for demonstrating a real commitment to work life balance and for creating a working environment where staff are extremely happy with the exceptional range of flexible working opportunities on offer to support their needs.
			Highly Commended awarded to MIRA Ltd, Nuneaton for being an outstanding employer and for creating an excellent working environment where staff feel happy and motivated by the support they receive.
			Commendation awarded to Dow Corning, Meriden for creating a culture that supports work life balance, allowing them to attract and retain talented, engaged, employees who contribute their best and for creating an exceptional working environment.

Special Achievement Award 2008

Winner Hinckley Road Nursery for creating a strong, caring focus on all aspects of employee's health and wellbeing - so much so that it is business as usual. • The owner manager is always looking to introduce new initiatives and actively involves the staff for suggestions of what they would like to change. • An Employee Assistance Program, was introduced recently, which is quite outstanding for such a small business. • The manager believes a happy workforce is a happy business with happy customers. This also helps to reduce stress and sickness, which is virtually non existent at the nursery.

Health & Wellbeing Award 2008

Winner CSWP Ltd, Coventry for embedding health and wellbeing into the organisation’s culture by creating a healthy and safe environment where staff take advantage of the support available to them, to help manage their general wellbeing and, to avoid illness. • CSWP employs over 300 staff on over 100 different sites within Coventry and Warwickshire giving advice and guidance relating to education, training and employment to help young people plan their future. • A range of initiatives have been introduced which include a cycle to work scheme, provision of fresh fruit, corporate gym membership, staff consultation forums, training for managers and other staff on identifying and dealing with stress, and tool-kits have been developed to support managers. • As a result they have achieved lower rates of absence compared with other publicly funded organisations and a 100% return from maternity leave.

			Commendation awarded to CAVA - Warwickshire for ensuring employees are supported through a period of dramatic change and that the Health & Wellbeing policy being developed reflects the needs of the organisation and its people.
			Commendation awarded to Heartland (Midlands) Ltd for recognising its corporate responsibility for the health and wellbeing of its employees and ensuring that they are well supported, happy and motivated, to the benefit of the organisation and its clients.
			Commendation awarded to Coventry Building Society for its extensive Wellbeing Programme which recognises that investment in employee's health and wellbeing helps individuals to take responsibility for their own wellbeing and staff that are healthy and engaged with the business help to improve business performance.

Free Health Promotion Day Prize Winners

			Willenhall Community Forum, a community based voluntary organisation which has a range of strategies in place to support the health & wellbeing of its staff. On limited resources this organisation is working hard towards creating a healthy and safe environment, providing regular risk assessments, lone working and outreach guidance and free health screening events. Appreciating how far they have come the panel felt that Willenhall Community Forum Ltd, based in Coventry, would benefit greatly from this prize to help them further on their journey.
			Myton Hospices, a large organisation which recognises the need to support the health and wellbeing of its staff who work in a stressful environment on a daily basis. This organisation is making great headway, on a small budget, to introduce measures which relieve stress and improve employee health including, counselling, alternative therapies, one to one support and duvet days.

To view winners and finalists from other years of the awards click on the links below Award winners for the Employer of Choice Awards 2007

Back to The Employer of Choice Awards Main Pages