ISO QSL Crowned ‘Family Business of the Year’

9 Sep, 2021

Back in June we were ecstatic to discover we had been shortlisted for three of the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber Business Awards; Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace, Employer of the Year and Family Business of the Year.

The glitzy black-tie event held at the Worcester Arena is a much-anticipated annual event, recognising local organisations for their achievements over the past 12 months.  We’re already proud winners of ‘Excellence in Professional Services 2019’ and ‘Excellence in Customer Service 2018’.  We were also highly commended in last year’s ‘Accomplishments in Adaptability 2020’ and, whilst we didn’t win this award, were also recognised as the British Chamber of Commerce ‘UK Business Hero 2020’ which was a fantastic achievement. 

This was the first time we’d be shortlisted for three awards, so our nerves were certainly a little higher this year. 

So, what were we shortlisted for…?

• Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace

This award recognises that the health and wellbeing of your employees is embedded in your businesses culture, that the activities that your organisation undertakes to promote and encourage the positive health and wellbeing of your staff, and the impact of this on your employees and the wider business.

• Employer of the Year

This award rewards organisations that demonstrate excellence in the promotion and implementation of a learning and development culture. In addition, this year we are looking for companies that can also demonstrate commitment to the health and wellbeing of their staff and have clear projects in place supporting their local area.

• Family Business of the Year

This award is open to businesses of all sizes, operating in any sector, that is family owned and run by two members of the family. Entrants will need to show how they are preparing the next generation of their family to ensure continued family ownership of the business. Judges will be looking for an organisation that can demonstrate how the family businesses nature and values have contributed to success across the business.

And the winner is…

Our hearts were quite literally racing as each winner was announced and we’re elated to tell you that we were crowned ‘Family Business of the Year’.

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Managing Director, Jennifer Appleton comments: “We are honoured to have won Family Business of the Year.  Being a family run business is important to us and how our whole company operates.  Our close-knit team operates as one large family, and we hope this is felt by both our clients and partners. 

The judges were particularly impressed by the introduction of our Board Advisor, Rachel Keefe, who has been a great asset to the business, helped us maintain perspective during Board meetings”.

Sadly, we didn’t win ‘Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace’ or ‘Employer of the Year’ but we’d like to congratulate winners NMITE and DRP Group as well as Design in the Shires and MT Cold Storage Solutions who were both highly commended. 

Here’s what the judges had to say…

“What impressed us is that it is a second-generation family business that is continuing to successfully navigate the challenges of passing from generation to generation. 

We were particularly impressed by their appraisal system and their staff mentoring program. Non-family members who work for them describe them as flexible, quick decision makers, and that they have found that it is a very easy business to work for. 

We were also impressed by the fact that they had considered and used the benefit of an external facilitator in their board meetings to help them make decisions!”

Congratulations to our clients…

We’d also like to say a huge congratulations to our clients and fellow winners and finalists:

Onside Independent Advocacy: finalists for ‘Commitment to the Community’

Surf Tech IT: winners of ‘Micro Business of the Year’

Wyvern Business Systems: finalists for ‘Best Use of Technology’

Did you know that writing awards entries is easier with ISO 9001? Find out why in our blog post.