Mitie has announced the winners of its Mitie Stars Awards 2023. The annual awards recognise and reward Mitie colleagues for their exceptional performance and dedication to going the extra mile.
The Mitie Stars scheme is the company’s flagship employee recognition programme, with colleagues recognised for going above and beyond to deliver Mitie’s values. Employees can be nominated year-round for a Mitie Star by either fellow colleagues or Mitie customers and will then be considered for that month’s prize. At its annual awards, all of these monthly winners are shortlisted, with the top three entrants named the overall Mitie Stars of the Year.
The winners were awarded with cash prizes, with first place taking home £10,000, second place £5,000 and third place £2,500. They were officially presented at an award ceremony at Mitie’s London HQ in The Shard, hosted by Phil Bentley, Mitie’s CEO.
During 2022, Mitie received 18,000 Star nominations for its colleagues in recognition of their hard work and dedication, with nominations for everything from delivering excellent work, showing great customer service, going above and beyond their regular duties, supporting other teams, responding to critical events, and even acts of bravery.
This year’s winners are as follows:
First Place – Mitie British Embassy team, Poland
The Mitie team at the British Embassy in Poland recently found themselves heavily impacted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With the Polish team based only 500 miles from the UK’s Ukrainian Embassy in Kiev, the Embassy is a key location for Ukrainians trying to get out of the country safely. Following the relocation of the British Embassy in Kiev to Warsaw, the Mitie team has stepped up to also support this second client team, as the number of people working on site doubled.
With responsibility for delivering reception services at the Embassy, the team has been taking calls from people in Ukraine as well as from concerned friends and families trying to help get their loved ones out of the country safely. The Mitie reception team is also acting as the first point of contact for the vast number of people coming to the Embassy for support in person. All of this has been managed with compassion and sensitivity, while still delivering normal duties to a high standard, and even going the extra mile to collect food and other donations, taking them to distribution centres to be sent to those in need.
Second Place – John Bowman, Janitor, Shortlees Primary School, East Ayrshire Schools PFI contract
John was awarded second place as a result of his outstanding response in the face of an emergency. In December 2022, just two days before Christmas, a bomb alert was raised in East Ayrshire, with Shortlees Primary School, where Mitie provides facilities management and cleaning services, being named as a refuge centre for families evacuated from the area. John, a Mitie Janitor at the school, played a key role in managing the site, liaising with the Local Authority and emergency services to ensure the school was open and available during the evacuation period. After John had completed his shift, he continued to remain on site until 4am the following morning to ensure everyone was safe and secure at the school. He has received thanks from across the community for his hard support in the emergency response.
Third Place – Hayden Paffet, Kelly Lofthouse, and Nathan Manley, Security, Inland Border Facilities contract
Hayden, Kelly, and Nathan were awarded third place due to their prompt and professional manner when a colleague suffered a medical emergency on site. Suspecting a heart attack or stroke, the team responded quickly, providing crucial first aid, and subsequently taking the colleague to hospital themselves when learning an ambulance would take too long to arrive. Kelly accompanied the colleague to A&E and stayed with them until they were discharged. The team went beyond their duties, acting as first responders in an emergency situation with their prompt action helping prevent a more serious outcome.
Jasmine Hudson, Chief People Officer, Mitie, said:
“The annual Mitie Stars Awards are an excellent opportunity for us to recognise and celebrate our colleagues who embody what it means to be Mitie by going the extra mile. We are a business full of exceptional people, and this year’s winners have all shown great levels of courage, bravery, and commitment to go above and beyond their duties. They should all be incredibly proud of themselves, as we are to call them our colleagues.”
Notes to editors
About Mitie
Founded in 1987, Mitie's job is to look after places where Britain works and it is the leading facilities management company in the UK. We offer a range of services to the public sector through our Central Government & Defence and Communities (Healthcare, Education and Campus & Critical) divisions. Our Technical Services (Engineering Services, Energy, Water and Real Estate Services) and Business Services (Security, Cleaning and Office Services) divisions serve private sector customers in Telecoms, Financial & Professional Services, Transport and Industrials and increasingly the public sector. Finally, our Specialist Services (Care & Custody, Landscapes, Waste Management and Spain) division serves both the public and private sectors.
Mitie employs 64,000 people. We are the champion of the 'Frontline Heroes' who kept Britain working during the pandemic. We take care of our customers' people and buildings, through the 'Science of Service', and we are transforming facilities to be more flexible, safe, sustainable, and attractive to all. Mitie continues to execute its technology-led strategy and in the past twelve months has received multiple awards and validation for its ambitious near and long-term science-based emissions reduction targets from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Find out more at www.mitie.com.
Find out more at www.mitie.com.
