What makes Britain's Best Boss?
What makes a great boss? Someone who looks after their people, thinks creatively about flexible working and is understanding about family emergencies? Or someone who’s focussed on the bottom line and will ensure you keep your job in these difficult economic times?
The work-life balance charity Working Families thinks he or she can be both those people at the same time if they are a boss who “sees the bigger picture”.
The winner of last year’s Britain’s Best Boss competition*, NatWest North Regional MD, Chris Brindley explains: “I think a great boss cares about his or her people and their immediate families – you can’t have a successful business unless you have good people. Looking after your people, listening to them, showing flexibility and helping them to be better at their job will lead to a better service for your customers and stakeholders.
“I don’t believe it’s more difficult to be a good boss in a recession – to look after your people and say ‘thank you’ doesn’t cost anything.”
Working Families, supported by BT, are now looking for Britain’s Best Boss 2009. The charity maintains we need brilliant bosses all the more in a downturn. So, it’s looking for the creative thinkers who can match the needs of their staff with the needs of their business: bosses who work effectively and flexibly and hold onto their best people as they ride out the recession. Working Families hopes people from all over the country and every type of organisation will show their appreciation of bosses who have made a real difference to their working lives, by nominating them for the competition. There has never been a better time to celebrate the unsung heroes of our workplaces!
Check out the new Britain’s Best Boss website – www.britainsbestboss.com – to see what past winners and the great British public think makes a boss who sees the bigger picture. Employees can also use a “Rate your boss” quiz to see whether their boss could be Britain’s Best and bosses can check out the Ten Top Tips for Being a Best Boss. There’s an interactive form to make nominations there, too.
Sarah Jackson, Chief Executive, Working Families, said: “We want to hear about all the unsung heroes out there – the bosses who make a real difference to people’s working lives and who prove month after month that a happy team is more likely to be effective and improve the bottom line.”
Suzi Williams, Director, Group Marketing & Brand, BT said: "We're delighted to be supporting Britain's Best Boss competition 2009. At BT, we believe in the power of communication. The best bosses are usually great communicators who build engaged and effective teams by bringing people with them. We are committed to celebrating the exceptional bosses who really make a difference to the lives and the success of their employees.”
There is no charge for entering the competition. The closing date for nominations is Wednesday, 15 July, 2009.
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Notes to Editors
*Britain’s Best Boss competition is run by the work-life balance charity Working Families and supported by BT. The 2009 competition will be launched on April 30.
For further information contact: Maggy Meade-King or Elizabeth Whitehead at Working Families on 020 7253 7243 or email bestboss@workingfamilies.org.uk. Out of hours press mobile: 07870 177096 (for urgent enquiries up to 8pm). The Britain’s Best Boss website is currently being built in time for the competition launch on 30 April, 2009. In the meantime, you can find out more at: www.workingfamilies.org.uk/asp/awards/a_bestboss2007_main.asp
About the competition
Working Families and BT are looking for individuals who run successful teams by taking practical steps to help their staff balance their work and home lives. They are creative about flexible working, understand about family emergencies and make sure no one is working long hours on a regular basis. Britain’s Best Boss competition was first launched in 2000 to celebrate the unsung local heroes who show other managers how a happy team with balanced lives makes for a ‘win-win’ situation for everyone.
Judging panel 2009:
Chris Ainslie, Managing Director, Global Partners, BT
Howard Davies, Director, LSE
Sarah Jackson, CE, Working Families
Allison Pearson, journalist and author of I Don’t Know How She Does It
Cilla Snowball, Chair and CE of Abbott Mead Vickers
Caroline Waters, Director, People and Policy, BT
Previous winners:
2007/8: Chris Brindley, Regional MD, NatWest North
2006: Bruce Draper, MD, Geotechnical Instruments
2005: Iwan Owen, Sergeant, North Wales Police
2004: Ros Micklem, Principal, Cardonald College, Glasgow
2003: Emma Brandon, Senior Charge Nurse, Hellesdon Hospital, Norwich
2002: Ian Barnard, Head of Benefits, Cogent Investment Operations Ltd
2001: Kevin Coleman, Managing Director, Swift Construction GB
2000: Lin Dickens, Managing Director, Aricot Vert Design
About Working Families
Working Families is the UK’s leading work-life balance organisation. It supports and gives a voice to working parents and carers, whilst also helping employers create workplaces which encourage work-life balance for everyone. In addition to Britain’s Best Boss competition, it runs the Top Employers for Working Families list, which recognises organisations, rather than individuals, and for which employers nominate themselves. The Working Families Free Legal Helpline (0800 013 0313) gives parents and carers legal and in-work benefits advice, as well as helping them to negotiate the flexible hours they want.
About BT
BT is one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services, operating in 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to our customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband and internet products and services and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of four lines of business: BT Global Services, Openreach, BT Retail and BT Wholesale.
In the year ended 31 March 2008, BT Group’s revenue was £20,704 million with profit before taxation and specific items of £2,506 million.
British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.
For more information, visit www.bt.com/aboutbt
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