Date

27 January, 2015

Categories

Hastings Direct staff recognised at glitzy awards

Just ahead of the BAFTAs and Academy Awards, the cream of the crop from Hastings Direct was recognised this week at a glitzy black tie ceremony held at the Grand Hotel, Eastbourne.

Staff received nominations throughout the year for the difference they made to their fellow colleagues, to Hastings' 1.7 million customers, the company and for the local communities in Bexhill and Newmarket where the company has offices. Through an internal judging process the 750 nominations were whittled down to a shortlist of sixty — all of whom attended the awards ceremony to find who would be named the champion of the champions in each category:

The award for making the individual contribution to the community was shared by Michael Hinton for organising the summer of sport and Mark Winterflood for his BBC Children in Need cycling challenge. Michael inspired staff to get out from behind their desks and compete in a range of interdepartmental sports challenges which raised a whopping £8,450 for local charity Education Futures Trust: Mark challenged Hastings Direct's staff to virtually cycle from their head office in Collington Avenue to their office in Gibraltar raising £5,000 for the BBC's Children in Need appeal in the process.

Hastings resident Steve Hazelton, who joined in 2013, was recognised for his outstanding contribution to the company for going the extra mile on too many occasions to mention and praised by his colleagues for being calm, understated and patient.

Garry Jones was named as manager of the year. Gary — who has worked his way up from the call centre where he once spoke to Hastings' millionth customer — was nominated for his enthusiasm, passion and ability to make colleagues believe that no question is too daft to ask.

Gary Hoffman, CEO, Hastings: "This awards evening is a great way of recognising colleagues who have been part of the Hastings family in 2014. I am delighted that we are able to recognise colleagues who are passionate about getting it right for customers, colleagues, the company and also the community."

Other awards presented on the night included recognition for the colleagues' colleague of the year, team of the year, idea of the year and the newcomer award.

Date

27 January, 2015

Categories