Industry-leading PVC-U systems supplier VEKA Group took home the ‘Employer of the Year’ trophy at this year’s Red Rose Awards.
Touted as ‘Lancashire’s premier celebration of business excellence’, the annual Red Rose Awards evening was held at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool with over 1,100 guests attending the black-tie event. Graham Liver of BBC Lancashire Radio played host to 150 finalists from all over the North West. Now in its eighth year, the auspicious evening has been described as ‘the awards for the businesses that keep the county alive – the heroes of the Lancashire economy’.
Over the past 12 months, Burnley-based VEKA Group has completely redeveloped its Employer Brand and VEKA Values to come up with a new ethos of VEKA SPIRIT. The SPIRIT values – Success, Pride, Integrity, Responsible, Improvement, and Team – have become the basis for all employer/employee interaction from recruitment to retirement, and everything in between.
Having selected VEKA Group from a short list of six, the Red Rose Awards judges had this to say of the winners, “In 2017 the development and implementation of the Employer Brand and VEKA Values found a way to put their people at the heart of the business. What they are and what they stand for was well evidenced, as was the fact that the changes the business has adopted are good for the employees, the suppliers and for the business.”
Dave Jones, VEKA Group MD, says, “We are all extremely proud to have been named ‘Employer of the Year’ at the Red Rose Awards, in the same year that we also won ‘Employer of the Year’ at the Burnley Business Awards.
“While VEKA is an international name in the PVC-U industry, we are also very much a local company in Burnley. With over 90% of our almost 400 employees from the town and its surrounding areas, we take our values very seriously when it comes to our workforce and this, in turn has a direct impact on our suppliers and customers.
“VEKA has always been committed to its team, encouraging professional and personal development at every level, organising and encouraging social activities for its staff and heavily supporting local charities and causes that give back to the community our employees live in with their friends and families.
“At VEKA, we conduct regular staff surveys as we know their feedback is key to making VEKA not just the business of choice for our customers but for our employees too. We’re certain that VEKA SPIRIT has had a huge effect on our employees, with department employee turnover cut in half since its introduction.
“Our continued commitment to our employees and the local area was reflected in our Red Rose Awards nominations that also included ‘In-House Training Award’ and ‘Corporate Social Responsibility Award’, but to come home as ‘Employer of the Year’ was the icing on the cake. It shows that all the effort we put in to supporting and nurturing our team is working, and of course we couldn’t have done that without the commitment and hard work from all the staff too.”
