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Papworth Trust was crowned Employer of the Year at the Cambridge Independent Business Awards 2025 ceremony last night (25 September 2025). The award, sponsored by Pure Recruitment, recognises a business or organisation showing great commitment to its people and the community.
Here’s our story… 2022 became a turning point when the Trust identified a high staff turnover. It proved challenging on our ability to deliver high quality services particularly in areas where our customer needs are complex; it proved costly with cycles of recruitment and training; and staff morale was low. We knew something had to change.
We developed a People and Culture Plan, which focused on improving recruitment outcomes, retention, diversity, health and wellbeing and staff satisfaction by:
establishing colleague groups which elevated our colleague voice, holding us to account by ensuring our actions were meaningful and made a difference to them.
improving the benefits we offer and setting in place recognition and reward schemes to recognise teams as well as individuals.
putting health and wellbeing at the heart of 121 conversations.
introducing a personal development fund, where up to 10% of our staff have access to a development “pot” for them to choose what they would like to develop skills in – it may be a qualification, or a skill, may be work related or not.
These are just a few of the measures we have taken to ensure staff are recognised and feel valued for the tireless work they do.
Sarah Miller, Chief Executive, said: “I am so incredibly proud of Papworth Trust and the work we do. I have an amazing team of colleagues who are dedicated to delivering great services and making a positive impact for disabled people.
It is both an honour and privilege to be recognised in this way.”
Sarah Harvey, Director of People and Culture, said: “We are committed to continually listening and learning from our staff to further develop our employer offer. A culture of kindness and support is so important to us, as is diversity and inclusion, and we continue to challenge ourselves to ensure our recruitment and retention practices are inclusive. I’d also like to congratulate all last night’s nominees and winners and thank them for their warmth and genuine delight at our award, it was so appreciated.”
