Announcing our company trailblazers

Going far beyond the call of duty, doing more than others expect. This is what excellence is all about. It comes from striving, maintaining the highest standards, looking after the smallest detail, and going beyond the extra mile.

Last week we recognised just some of our extraordinary team members in our Company Awards (online) ceremony. These exceptional people exemplify all that we strive to achieve as a company – best practice, excellence, dedication, enthusiasm and sheer hard graft.  

OUR TRAILBLAZERS IN 2020 ARE:

Team of the Year: The Ocado Account Management Team (Kerry Gevaux, Mike Beard, Gemma Purps, Andreea Munteanu, Vicky Collyer, Liam Poolman, Nathan Humphreys, Andy Griffiths)

The winners of this years’ Team of the Year is a team that just carried on doing what they do best, serving a demanding client in increasingly demanding circumstances. In a year where this client exploded into the country’s consciousness, being the one retailer that everyone could buy from without mixing with the public (if you could secure a delivery slot), this team were daily rising to the significant challenge of providing ever increasing numbers of drivers to cope with a seemingly limitless demand. 

Employee of the Year: Mike Beard (Ocado Account Management Team)

The winner of this prestigious award is someone who has generated the most positive feedback from Customers (internal and external), demonstrated a performance of exceptional quality across the whole year and was voted for by all employees. Our very deserving winner has dedicated their body (a considerable sacrifice), mind (less so) and soul to the company for many years. Dealing expertly and skilfully with co-workers, transport managers, clients and drivers, this person has seen it, done it and worn the tee shirt (very tightly). 

Significant Improvement Award: Matt Neville (Consultant, Stevenage)

The award goes to the Employee showing the greatest improvement in performance over the year and is voted for by the team managers. The winner of this category comes from the Stevenage team, a team-player, seen sometimes as a support player. This person has kept going through the year, listening whenever advice was given, working on continually exceeding his personal performance and helping out whenever others needed help. Never flustered, always ready to be On-Call, level-headed and resilient, Matt is our very deserving winner of this award.

Special Recognition Award: Maxine Dobbin (Payroll & Accounts)

The winner of this category is seen as a constant and consistently high performer, carrying out the work, day in day out without fail, without a fall in standards and, generally keeping the company values to the fore. Turning up every day, even through the lock-down periods, showing a drive to keep the company on the rails, making those awkward calls to keep the money coming in, on time, in full and keeping an eye on the small details that could, and sometimes do, trip up the unwary. At the forefront of our supreme credit control, treating the company money as if it were her own, Maxine thoroughly deserves this year’s Special Recognition award.

Company Award: Hugo Dawson (Branch Manager, Stevenage)

For the individual who consistently makes a difference “behind the scenes”. Hugo took over a branch that had lost all its major customers and immediately went into COVID-19 lockdown. With this being his first role as a Branch Manager and despite these formidable challenges, Hugo reorganised the team, regathered the troops, put together a credible plan of action and pursued this relentlessly to achieve an impressive “come back”. From July, the Stevenage branch consistently made a positive financial contribution and finished the year with a respectable net total contribution to the business. His challenge now is to keep this momentum going and make 2021 an even greater success!