As proud co-sponsors of the Best Employer category at the Suffolk Business Awards, we’d like to share our congratulations with the overall winners IPRS Health and all three of the extremely worthy finalists.

This year, it proved harder than ever to pick the winner in this category, which is a fantastic testament to the many stand-out businesses in our region committed to developing innovative employee engagement strategies with a long-term growth vision in mind. IPRS Health were extremely deserved winners but finalists StrategiQ Marketing, Christies Care and Breheny Civil Engineering also inspired us with their commitment to creating an attractive workplace culture and environment for their employees.

Jodie Woodrow, Senior Manager at Pure and one of the judges alongside Catherine Johnson from co-sponsors Birketts LLP and Alison Rich from Archant, said: “All four businesses really stood out and shone as inspiring examples of organisations which are achieving success by putting people first. It was a relatively easy decision to select our four finalists, but an extremely tough decision to choose between them to decide the winner. We are always proud to sponsor the Best Employer Award as it celebrates the fantastic employers and places to work in our region. Pure was established to support the region’s businesses in sourcing, developing and retaining top talent, which in turn supports our local economic growth. This award recognises the organisations which are doing exactly that; developing, supporting and attracting talent to achieve business success and organisational growth.”

As part of the judging process, Jodie Woodrow and fellow judges interviewed IPRS Health’s Managing Director Marc Holl, Clinical Operations Manager, Joe Head, and HR Manager Sophie Hughes.

Jodie added: “For me personally, IPRS really stood out at the interview stages. There was so much energy between them and you could see how tight they were as a leadership team. It was a real joy to sit with them and to hear about their business and what they were doing to engage and retain their talented employees. It was clear that they were over the moon to have won the award on the night and you could see it meant a lot to them.”

Marc Holl, Managing Director at IPRS Health said: “I must admit when I saw the list of organisations we were up against, some much larger than ourselves, I was quite nervous of how we could match them. But when the judges gave their feedback to us as an employer, it was clear we are a Best Employer with the best employees and this should be celebrated!”

The Best Employer Award was presented to IPRS Health at the black-tie event which is now recognised as one of the biggest events in the Suffolk business calendar. The private clinical company, specialising in the rehabilitation of mental health and musculoskeletal conditions, was described by the judges as an organisation where ‘employees are recognised as the heart and soul of the business’. Here are just some of the reasons why:

Giving staff a voice

As well as completing the Best Employers Eastern Region employee engagement survey, the organisation has also run its own annual employee engagement survey for the past three years. The leadership team were able to provide clear evidence of how they had listened to staff feedback and made changes, introducing initiatives to enhance the engagement, wellbeing, development and retention of its staff.

Maintaining engagement across a remote workforce

Established in 1995, IPRS Health has grown considerably and not only employs 80 people at its head office in Little Blakenham, it also has over 90 more employees treating patients across its national network. To be able to achieve such high levels of employee engagement across a predominately remote workforce, and during a long-term period of growth is extremely impressive.

Company-wide communication

The vision and values of IPRS Health are clearly and consistently communicated to staff and despite having employees located across the county, IPRS Health is committed to bringing everyone together at least twice a year. This includes a Christmas social and its annual two-day staff conference where the leadership team not only communicates business strategy and results but also engages all employees in fun team building games.

Focus on wellbeing

The company has an extremely proactive approach to employee wellbeing, particularly mental health wellbeing. All staff can use a dedicated wellbeing portal to access counselling, advice and tips. Plus, every team leader and member of the leadership team has completed mental health awareness training.

Recognition and progression

IPRS Health has put together a great benefits package to reward its employees. Staff are recognised and praised for their hard work at an annual in-house award ceremony, where employees can vote for their peers in categories including ‘Employee of the Year’ and ‘Team of the Year’. Continual learning and progression is also encouraged, with staff able to access formal training and e-learning programmes.

For more information about the Suffolk Business Awards and all the winners and finalists see Wednesday’s dedicated award supplement in the East Anglian Daily Times.