Sewell Group team are thrilled as company is named as one of the UK’s best companies to work for a fifth time

A northern-based, multi-disciplined group of
companies has been named in the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies to Work For
list.

Sewell Group, which has its headquarters in Hull as
well as offices in Huddersfield, York and Willerby, has been given its eighth Best
Companies accreditation and fifth appearance on the Sunday Times Top 100 list.

The group, which currently employs 450 staff, has
also maintained its previous accolade of Best Companies 3 Star ‘extraordinary’
accreditation, which recognises the highest standard of workplace engagement,
an area the group have seen an improvement on since their last listing.

Best Companies is the
number one specialist for workplace and employee engagement in the UK and its
survey, which was completed by Sewell staff, powers the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For list.

Sewell Group has now entered the Sunday Times Best
100 Companies to Work For five times in the past 10 years, including 2020, and
has been successful in making the top 100 every time.

Twenty of the team from all over the North of
England, and with 320 years of service between them, travelled down to the
glamorous award ceremony to hear where the business had placed on the UK-wide
league table.

Katie Crosby, Facilities Manager with Sewell FM, has been
with Sewell since she was 19 and actually left her previous job to be able to
attend the interview with the business. A decade later and she has joined the
team attending the awards evening after being awarded the chairman’s special
prize at the company’s internal recognition ceremony, The Sewell Star Awards.

She explains why earning a place on the Sunday Times Top 100
means so much to her:

“It’s something we often hear at our company-wide
convention, ‘People do business with people’. I think Sewell really understand
this more than most companies. A happy team means an enthusiastic, engaged and
motivated work force who will keep customers happy.

“I think that’s why, for me, this mark of recognition in the
Sunday Times Top 100 is so important. It’s a little pat on the back for the
whole team that they’re doing a fantastic job, after all it’s more than just
your manager who make your place of work a nice place to be.

“It’s really made me very proud to attend the awards this
year and hear in real time where we placed. It makes it even more exciting to
be a part of the reveal and be sat in amongst some of the best companies in the
UK while they hear where they’ve ranked too!”

Staff across the business were asked for their
opinions in the independent Best Companies questionnaire focused around their
manager and team, personal growth, wellbeing, giving something back,
leadership, the company as a whole and fair deal for employees, with the
results showing they feel happy, engaged and recognised for their efforts.

The feedback helps to shape a Best Companies Index
score, which determines a company’s accreditation level and position in the
Sunday Times Top 100.

Glen Poskitt was the other winner of this year’s chairman’s
special award and is head of technology at Sewell Group. He first started
working for the company in 1982 as an apprentice bricklayer. He said:

“I was so very proud to pick up the award at this year’s
Star Awards ceremony. It was an honour to realise all the fantastic things
being said on stage were about me and I was really very moved to hear my name
called.

“Representing Sewell Group at the Sunday Times Top 100 awards has been a privilege and once again I find myself feeling a sense of pride about what the whole team has helped us secure. Another year on the Sunday Times Top 100 list at number 32.

“It’s representative of the positive experience I’ve had
working at Sewell Group and it’s the reason I’ve stayed there for so many
years.”

Sewell Group is a multi-disciplined group of
companies operating across the Yorkshire region. From its developments, construction
and facilities management operations, to its 13 “Sewell on the go” fuel and
convenience stores, the Group aims to add value to its communities and deliver
a world class service for its customers.

Allison O’Sullivan,
Sewell on the go operations manager, was also presented with her opportunity to
attend the awards ceremony at the company’s Star Awards. She said:

“I was so proud to
receive the award for Culture Champion at this year’s Sewell Star Awards, even
more so when I found out it would mean I was attending the awards dinner for
Sunday Times Top 100.

“I’ve been a mixture of nervous and excited about hearing the result but I was so proud to hear that we were number 32 this year.

“I think it’s a
testament to the people that work for the business and the culture we maintain
that we’ve made the list again and it really makes me feel very proud about
where I work.”

In 2019 Sewell Group was named as a social mobility
accredited employer, pledging to offer as many opportunities as possible to
people from all backgrounds and further illustrating their commitment to its
people by showing off the many shining examples they already had of this based
on their fundamental value of investing in their people.

Former MP, Justine Greening, said during her time working
with the Sewell Group on the social mobility pledge: “One of the most creative
businesses I’ve met supporting the Social Mobility Pledge is the Sewell Group.

“Over the years, they’ve worked hard to get a real
mix of different young people through their doors and to cut through the
management layers so that they get involved in strategy and decision-making in
a way I haven’t seen anywhere else.”

The company has also continued their support for
local communities making a commitment to reducing plastic waste through retail
sites, offering workshops and careers insight to local education providers and
continuing their investment in local charitable projects like Tommy Coyle’s Box
Clever bus. In addition they are supporting Northern athletes like Powerchair
Footballer Kai Gill, Hull City Ladies’ FC player, Helen Lynskey and
Brighouse-based young Stoxkart racer, Lydia Hemmingway.

Jo Taylor-Standley,
Sewell Group office manager, has been with the business for eight years and was
the second culture champion winner at the Star Awards. She said:

“This is the third
time that we’ve secured a place on the Sunday Times Top 100 list since I’ve
been with Sewell Group.

“It’s an amazing
feeling, knowing what we’ve achieved by pulling together as one big team.  It’s that team work and real family atmosphere that make Sewell such a
lovely place to work.

“I’m feeling so proud and really lucky that I got to experience the live countdown to our number 32 position last night.”