Celebrating Forces Families Awards Finalists 2023: Exemplar Forces Family Friendly Employer of the Year
Join the Celebrating Forces Families (CFF) Awards Team in congratulating its five amazing finalists for the Exemplar Forces Family Friendly Employer of the Year Award. The winner will be announced at a celebrity-presented Awards evening in London on 28th April.
This Award is for the employer who has signed the Armed Forces Covenant, uses Forces Families Jobs and is actively seeking and supporting the employment of partners of those who serve in the Armed Forces.
The finalists are:
Amazon UK
SSGC
Compass Group
Canny Comms
Mott MacDonald
Amazon UK
Amazon provides portable, flexible careers for military spouses and veterans, including a Military Workforce Development program, apprenticeships, and training opportunities. Amazon actively encourages applications from military spouses and supports charities that benefit the Armed Forces community.
Amazon Military Program Manager, Emma Morgan says:
“Amazon is delighted to be a finalist at the CCF 2023 awards and to be recognised for our efforts in supporting the Forces community. We are excited for the awards evening and to meeting all the other finalists.”
Watch Amazon’s short 34 second video clip recorded by Emma Morgan.
SSGC
SSGC is committed to providing employment opportunities for Service leavers, their families, and veterans. SSGC has a Gold award for the MOD Employment Recognition Scheme and is a government-preferred supplier of security to the government.
Watch SSGC’s short 30 second video clip recorded by Major (Retd) Pat Ralph.
Compass Group
Last year Compass Group launched a new policy to support Serving military spouses and partners in their business, recognising the challenges they face managing family life and careers during frequent postings and deployments.
Camilla Howard, Chair of the Armed Forces Committee, Compass Group UK & Ireland adds:
“To be recognised for the work that we do for Armed Forces families via our Spouses Policy and Military Dependants’ Days, on top of the work that we do for Reservists, Veterans and Cadet Force Volunteers, is really special. Armed Forces families play such an important part in our business - we have many spouses in our business, and we know that they have to juggle a lot with deployments, but we believe their skills sets are critical to our business and really proud to support them. These awards are one of a kind, as they are purely about spouses and families - really shining a much needed spotlight on everything that they do to support the Armed Forces and wider Armed Forces community!“
Canny Comms
Canny Comms is a unique PR and communications company specializing in Defence and security, founded by Lindsay, a military spouse with a background in the Defence world. The company has a team of military spouses, veterans, and reservists and holds a Silver award for the MOD Employment Recognition Scheme.
Lindsay from Canny Comms says:
“Canny was set up by a proud military spouse who wanted to find a way to keep a fulfilling career while also supporting her husband to pursue his. From the start, it's therefore been in our nature to want to offer careers that are flexible and rewarding, allowing for the chaos of military life, parenthood, the challenges of leaving service, or trying to balance being a reservist with a 'day job'.“
Mott MacDonald
Mott MacDonald were awarded the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme Gold status for their commitment to the entire Forces community. They have a dedicated internal military family network and are corporate supporters of SSAFA, which means that their military family employees can access specialised support.
Liz Baldwin, Managing Director, Highways and Intelligent Transport Systems Division (and Mott MacDonald’s Armed Forces champion) adds:
“We are really delighted once again to be a finalist in the CFF2023 Awards. With around 4,500 UK-based personnel, we have worked really hard to achieve Gold DERS status and we continuously strive to improve our offering to military family members. Being a finalist in these awards is testament to our employees' hard work in ensuring the military community is well represented and looked after in our business.“
Sponsor of the Exemplar Forces Family Friendly Employer Award, Forces Employment Charity recognise the unique challenges facing Armed Forces families and their Chief Executive, Alistair Halliday says:
“We are delighted to sponsor the Exemplar Forces Friendly Employer of the Year Award. We recognise the value of working with employers to increase and enhance employment outcomes for families and expand our ability to support spouses and partners in new and innovative ways.”
The Awards evening
Friday 28th April 2023 will see a formal dinner and awards ceremony held at the Victory Services Club, London. The Awards are supported by the Ministry of Defence through its Partner Employment Working Group.
Actor and SSAFA Ambassador, Antony Cotton is returning as guest presenter at the Awards.
Watch on livestream
The BFBS Live Events Team will be livestreaming the Awards. If you aren’t able to be at the Awards, you can still join virtually for free! Simply register online and then make sure you have the date in your diary to plan your evening however you wish to celebrate with everyone.
Follow the CFF Team as the 2023 events unfold:
· Twitter: @CFFAwards
· Facebook: @CelebratingForcesFamilies
· Insta: @celebratingforcesfamilies