Women Striving to Change the Face of Company Culture

The UK Company Culture Awards celebrate female winners of the Business Culture Ambassador of the Year, ESG Professional of the Year and the Leadership Award.

We introduce these incredible women who are changing the face of company culture. They share with you their stories of how they are breaking taboos, driving ESG and defining the new norm.

Sam Sharwin – Skyrise

UK Company Culture Awards Business Culture Ambassador of the Year

Sam is the Culture Lead at AdTech company Skyrise. Sam joined the Skyrise team in 2020 she was attracted to their work-life balance and flexibility values.

Amongst her achievements, she says, “Becoming a menopause champion in the workplace has been a personal passion for me. It has allowed me to start conversations, raise awareness and reduce the stigma around the subject and include men who are supporting women and struggle with understanding.” Statistics from Henpicked revealed that ‘menopausal women are the fastest growing demographic in the workforce which means more champions like Sam are needed.

“Not only has menopause opened doors to that one taboo subject, it has opened the doors to many, including regular cancer testing appointments like the smear test for women and testicular check-ups for men. We champion time to test and appointments that are part of our team’s physical well-being and mental health are booked into the working day, like any other important meeting”

Sam and Skyrise believe, “open conversations about anything that is worrying, taboo or not is the secret to binding empathetic teams together and ensuring our most valuable resource, our people, are given a healthy, supportive and psychologically safe environment.”

Sam has not only been introducing mandatory guides and documentation she has been peeling back the layers of work-life balance and the impact of day-to-day life on how teams and individuals work. Sam says “You never know when events will impact a person’s ability to work and having plans in place for every eventuality is important. Open communication and understanding are key to ensuring employees offer support at every life juncture, everyone is different and to get the best out of them at work means flexibility is key.”

Connect with Sam and Starise on LinkedIn to keep updated with their latest company culture news.

Steph Harrison – Yorkshire Garden Centres

UK Company Culture Awards ESG Professional of the Year

Steph is Group People, Culture & Sustainability Manager at Yorkshire Garden Centres (YGC).

Steph is passionate about fostering a positive people centred company culture, she says “I believe that having a people centred culture is not only good for the business and its employees it is also the foundation for sustainable business success.”

Winner of the ESG Professional of the Year Steph and Yorkshire Garden Centres prioritise sustainability within their values and their daily work. “In the realm of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) creating a culture that embraces the trinity, ensures that we don’t only meet business goals, we do so with the best interest of climate and local communities.”

“At YGC we are proud to gift every member of our team a day of Climate Education. This has empowered and inspired our employees and the collective team to drive our sustainability initiative with their own ideas and suggestions.”

Steph believes that to make a meaningful impact, like they do at YGC, “is about inspiring others to get involved and make the changes needed at every level.”

This year YGC have chosen the Yorkshire Children’s Charity as their Charity of the Year, it was unanimous team decision. The team will be running a series of fund-raising events at their four sites in Tong, Tingley, Otley and Bingley and “everyone will be getting involved.”

Victoria Usher – Ginger May

UK Company Culture Awards Leadership Award

Victoria founded Ginger May to “reimagine what PR Agency culture could look like.

As a mother to young children, returning to work ,for her then employers, was not made easy! Her experience spurred her to create an agency where work life balance and employee happiness are put above ‘growth for growth’s sake.’

Victoria says she is passionate about culture “that truly values every member of the team and gives them the tools and support they need to grow and achieve.”

PR doesn’t always have the best reputation when it comes to long hours and high pressure and Ginger May is proving that the PR norm doesn’t have to be the case to achieve success.

Flexibility and individuality mean working from home, working shifts around commitments and even condensing hours into a four-day week are all benefits that Ginger May considers the norm! Victoria confirms this can be challenging; however the payoff is unbelievably loyal and hardworking team members who care for the business alongside caring for families and their own needs.

Another cornerstone of Ginger May and a core value for Victoria is sustainability. Every year they ask “How can we be greener?” and in answer they have undertaken big shifts like switching energy supplier to small daily changes like staff taking the coffee grinds home to use as plant fertiliser.

“I am incredibly proud of the team whose enthusiasm for sustainability abounds”, says Victoria. “They have led the green charge and introduced clothes swaps and voted to make 80% of the food we serve at company events vegetarian or vegan.”

Ginger May is a B Corp certified Agency and achieving this has been one of the Agency’s and Victoria’s proudest moments when it come to their culture and green credentials.

You can learn more about Victoria and Ginger May here.  

If you are interested in sharing your company culture stories and becoming award-winning, take a look at our categories open for entry this year. The entry form gives you all the details you need to understand judging criteria, how scores are allocated and the supporting documentation you can include with your entry.