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Employer of the Month revealed
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They have brought in lots of staff benefits including an extra days holiday for your birthday, a medical cashback scheme, sick pay and have even shortened our working day with no affect to our pay.
Lauren Mcloughlin
Gem Security Systems Ltd takes home our award for February Employer of the Month.
Each month we celebrate a brilliant B&NES based employer, and for February Gem Security Systems has been awarded our Employer of the Month title.
Gem Security Systems is a specialist security supplier and installer. It works with schools, social housing, commercial and domestic customers in both B&NES and Bristol.
The five owners of the business were previous employees who bought out the old company when it went into administration, saving all the employees’ jobs.
This is just one of the reasons why Lauren Mcloughlin, who is accounts administrator, nominated the company.
She said: “I nominated Gemsec because they care about the happiness and welfare of the staff. From day one of taking over the business they’ve always tried to create a happy work environment and a good work and home life balance for us.
“They have brought in lots of staff benefits including an extra days holiday for your birthday, a medical cashback scheme, sick pay and have even shortened our working day with no affect to our pay.
“You aren’t just a number here, you are a person, with a family, a home life and problems that sometimes cross over in to your work life, which I’ve found they have been nothing but supportive of.
“They have done a lot for me personally too, I suffer with Crohn’s disease and over the seven years I have worked for them they have been nothing but understanding and supportive.
“They’ve let me reduce my hours when I’ve struggled, always given me time off for hospital appointments, and have never made me feel guilt or worry for having time off sick.
“I was thrilled when I found out Gemsec had won, they deserve it! It’s nice to be able to show my appreciation and give them they recognition they deserve.”
Since taking over ownership the managers have brought in an inhouse HR department as well as liaising with an external HR company.
They have brought in pay rises, performance related pay bonuses, regular 1-2-1s, opportunities to progress, regular training, sick pay, and have been contributing more than required to pensions.
Neil Winterson is the operations director at Gem Security System. He said: “We‘re making changes to the company from a HR point of view and we’ve made some positive changes such as flexible working and improved benefits and it’s gone down well.
“We’re a small business and we can’t always compete with bigger businesses so it’s nice to know we are getting something right. Hopefully they all feel valued by the business as they are our greatest asset.”