THE Henderson Group has been named ‘Employer of the Year’ and honoured with two other best places to work awards.
The family-owned company, owners of the Spar, Eurospar, Vivo and Vivoxtra franchises in Northern Ireland, is proving it is leading the pack in terms of its commitment to nurturing and developing staff plus creating local jobs.
The Henderson Group employs 2,600 people across its network. It offers employee care initiatives and schemes like Tomorrow Matters and Roots to Wings — a scheme that helps the long-term unemployed get back to work.
At the UTV Business Eye Awards, the judges said the company, one of the biggest employers in Northern Ireland, “has shown it has a leading edge when it comes to employee care initiatives”. Referring to the Tomorrow Matters scheme, the judges felt it clearly highlighted the importance placed by the Group on reinvesting in its business, staff and local community.
The Group’s communication and marketing team was also recognised by two prestigious Public Relations awards — PR Week Best Places to Work 2012 and the CIPR PRide Awards 2012.
The In-house team also picked up the Silver Award for Outstanding In-house Public Relations Team at the Northern Ireland CIPR PRide Awards.
Human resource director Sam Davidson said: “To be honoured with three recognitions is phenomenal. It is reassuring to know our peers see the power of our activities and that we are on the right track.
“To effectively manage our continued growth, it is key we manage inclusivity and have a clear vision that all our employees can embrace and benefit from. Our strength is in our people – whether through staff in stores or head office, or our customers in the community.
“We will continue with our employee schemes, continually review our strategies and continue to get the unemployed back on their feet. Our PR team will also continue its dedication to communicating the Group’s good news message throughout the country.”