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Steelite International Employees in spotlight for 30th Anniversary Celebrations
18 March 2013
Stoke-on-Trent success story Steelite International shone the spotlight on the people who have made it one of the nation’s best brands – its employees – in a glittering awards ceremony.
The Middleport-based company held its second ‘Stepping Up To The Plate Awards’, at Stoke-on-Trent’s Best Western Moat House Hotel to recognise outstanding achievements by employees worldwide.
And the event also marked a major milestone for the company as it kicked off celebrations for its 30thanniversary since becoming independent in 1983.
The evening saw 74 members of staff applauded and rewarded for long service – from 10 years through to an astounding 49 years with the company. A lifetime achievement award went to longest-serving employee Paul Hackney who has spent his entire working life with the company.
Paul was presented with his award by the next Steelite generation, the company’s first Apprentice of the Year Award winner Dan Stone, who joined the Steelite International apprenticeship programme last year and has already secured full-time employment as a result of his enterprising spirit and diligence.
Awards were also given to mark outstanding achievements in the company’s nine values of Commitment (kilns department) , Teamwork (the team responsible for establishing the company’s first retail outlet Perfect Setting) , Respect (security guard, Lee Murphy), Creativity(Chantal Feliu in European Customer Service), Passion (a team who presented to the North Staffs CIPD group), Responsibility (Adrian Smith), Honesty (David Bayley), Leadership (Mark Moreton) and Success (Steelite International’s United States arm, who also took the overall value award for bringing in an astounding $63million of sales.)
In addition, awards were made to the company’s top Employee Champion (Tom Ingle), Learner of the Year (April Molloy-Barker), as well as a Community Spirit Award (Three Peaks Challenge Team) and Health and Safety Award (Paul Page).
Commenting on the awards, Steelite International Chief Executive Kevin Oakes said: “This awards evening is one of the highlights of the year for Steelite International, it celebrates all that is great about our company, our worldwide success, our commitment to Stoke-on-Trent and our pride in our fantastic employees.
“The evening saw us pay tribute to the long service of dozens of great people and celebrate the next generation of outstanding ceramicists - our young apprentices.”
