College wins Public Sector Organisation of the year at top awards!

In a recent celebration of excellence and innovation in the HR landscape, Gower College Swansea has been named the Public Sector Organisation of the Year at the British HR Awards 2024.

Nominated as a finalist in both the Public Sector category and the Employee Wellness Initiative of the Year for the work it has undertaken on raising awareness about the menopause, the College was delighted to have won.

This year, just over 300 entries were received from organisations across the UK and so to have won in a category alongside global companies such as Jaguar, Selfridges and TSB is amazing. 

“We are delighted to have won this award,” said the College’s Director of HR, Sarah King. “We are committed to creating an environment where our employees’ wellness is at the forefront of what we do. For example, we are an accredited menopause organisation and have invested in targeted initiatives to support the wellbeing of our female staff. We signed a workplace pledge in January 2022 to commit to becoming a menopause friendly organisation and a comprehensive training programme was delivered to all managers to help them feel able to have conversations about the menopause.

“Winning this award is just another testament to all of this hard work of which we are so very proud. Many thanks to everyone who has been involved along the way,” Sarah added.

The College’s dedicated effort in this area of work has also been recognised when it won best Health and Wellbeing Initiative at the national CIPD awards in 2023 and stood as a finalist at the Wales CIPD Awards for best Wellbeing Initiative. In June, it is also up for best Women’s Health Initiative at the Inside Out Awards.

Last month, Sarah King was invited to attend a roundtable event at Number 10 Downing Street on Menopause in the Workplace, hosted by Minister Mims Davies.

The British HR Awards 2024 judges included:

•    Louise Benford, Chief People Officer, The AA
•    Sharon Benson, HR Director, Lloyds Pharmacy Clinical Homecare
•    Kath Ennis, Chief People Officer, WPP Specialist Communications
•    Mary Foulkes OBE FCIPD, Director of Equity, Inclusion and Culture, Shelter
•    Maria Hawley, Director of People, Fisher German
•    Dr Tracey Leghorn, Chief Business Services Officer, SUEZ recycling and recovery UK
•    Vilma Nikolaidou, Director of People and Culture, British Film Institute (BFI)
•    Melanie Punch, COO – People and Organisation, Investec
•    Janet Roberts, Chief People & Culture Officer, Cycas Hospitality
•    Perry Timms, Chief Energy Officer, People and Transformational HR
•    Helen Tindle, HR Director, Iceland Foods
•    Lucy Tobin, People Director (Europe), Frontier Economics
•    Nate Harwood, Founder, New Possible

“The British HR Awards celebrate the talented, dedicated and passionate teams and individuals who are fuelling thriving workplaces across the UK and beyond – I’d like to extend my congratulations to all the winners and finalists,” says Nate Harwood.