REC honours 2024 award winners at glittering ceremony

This year’s REC Awards recognised the success of efforts by recruiters to help young offenders turn around their lives and encourage women to navigate male-dominated industries - as well as hand out the first Sustainability Impact of the Year award.

The annual REC Awards highlight the best in the UK’s recruitment and staffing industry, from start-ups to multinationals, for an industry that is bigger than law and accountancy. The awards ceremony was held at Royal Lancaster London, last evening (Thurs).

 Neil Carberry, REC Chief Executive, said:

“Recruitment, staffing and talent firms help businesses to grow and open up opportunities for workers from every sector and background. In an uncertain year, their work helps keep the wheels of our economy turning, and the great examples set by our winners make that clear.

“The entries this year were of exceptional quality, and every shortlisted nominee deserves congratulations. The judges had to make some very tough decisions, reflecting the high standard of submissions. Every nominee should feel immense pride in their achievement, and the winners have much to celebrate.

“Our sector can look ahead with some optimism and people challenges are at the heart of growing our economy. We must embrace innovation and new ways of serving clients and candidates, but we’re entrepreneurial. Our awards ceremony shows the difference we can make as specialists in talent.”

Lifetime achievement

Among the awards was for Lifetime Achievement for Chief Executive of Nash Squared, Bev White (photographed above). After a degree in Computer Science, she began her career in technology, holding CIO and IT leadership positions at Schlumberger and NTL (which became Virgin Media). Since 2002, Bev has combined a passion for technology with a career in recruitment and talent, with various leadership roles, including Penna, and before joining Nash Squared, as UK and Ireland CEO for GI Group. Bev believes deeply in the power of people and creating a sustainable culture where people can thrive.

Neil Carberry said:

“Bev White combines deep specialism with the humanity that is at the heart of our profession. Bev has built an outstanding career as one of the leading women in technology in the UK. She has paved the way for many who followed and led businesses in three very different parts of our industry. She is a leader who lifts people up and her advice and guidance, which is always considered, is deeply valued by so many.”

 Some of the big winners

The winner of the Recruitment Team of the Year award was VHR. VHR beat off stiff competition from Class People, Eurobase People, Kenect Recruitment, people2people recruitment, Spencer Clarke Group, STR Group, VGC Group and West Midlands Employers.   

Neil Carberry said:

“The judges were impressed by VHR’s innovative approach to both the content and delivery model of training and upskilling programmes. VHR has had success with the international recruitment side of its business and its big focus on additional support to workers, such as relocation support marked them out.”

The Start Up of the Year award went to Supply Hive in recognition of its positive impact on the market itself, with other agencies following their model regarding pay.  And the People Development Business Award went to Tile Hill. On the individual accolade side, the Agency Star of the Year was Richard Shorrock of Spencer Clarke Group and Business Leader of the Year was Tom Johnson of Hernshead Group.

Other notable award winners

Hays won the Community Impact of the Year for its suite of volunteer work. This includes its ‘Helping for your tomorrow’ initiative which provides 16 hours of paid corporate volunteering time to support local good causes such as beach clean ups to skill-sharing sessions in prisons to help young offenders. Its other work includes Sea to Summit Challenge 2024 which saw nearly 50 Hays employees raise more than £50,000 for charity EveryYouth’s Employability Fund which helps young people facing homelessness. And the recruitment company’s Project Flourish which it has said is a first of kind pro bono consultancy service in partnership with EveryYouth to place disadvantaged young people into meaningful employment. Among its other work is teaming up with Band of Builders which helps with the mental health of those working in the construction industry.

REC believes that Gattaca winning the new Sustainability Impact of the Year award will inspire other recruitment firms to follow that company’s lead. Its efforts include: offsetting direct business emissions through Gold Standard/Verified Carbon Standard projects chosen via a colleague vote. It has reduced paper waste through moving 90% of contractors to online timesheets; included a tree planting employee benefit where staff make monthly contributions to tree planting; a green cars scheme for eligible employees; sustainable commuting advice within contractor packs; and a children’s Christmas competition where entrants upcycle waste into decorations, with two trees planted for every entry.

And Oyster Partnership won Diversity Initiative of the Year for among other initiatives, its Leading from the Front (LFTF) mentoring programme. This is a group of women who share experiences and help others reach personal and professional goals. Oyster host quarterly LFTF events to discuss topics such as re-entering the workforce and navigating male dominated industries. The firm also hosted the women’s networking event Make Cannes Colourful at MIPIM 2024, the world’s largest and most prestigious real estate conference. And in 2023, the company hosted a fashion show to raise funds for Dress for Success, a charity dedicated to helping disadvantaged women enter the workforce.

A full list of winners is available at www.rec.uk.com/winners

Notes to editors 

• The REC Awards were judged by a panel of individuals from across different businesses.
• The Recruiter of the Year 2024 is James Boyce from VHR. 
  Neil Carberry said: “James is an exceptional individual in the eyes of the judges and someone who can inspire others. He has demonstrated real drive for high standards and best practice which are the characteristics you need to succeed in recruitment.”
• The event was held on Thursday 21 November 2024, at Nine Kings Suite, Royal Lancaster London, Lancaster Terrace, London W2 2TY.
• The awards are exclusively for Recruitment & Employment Confederation members, and its 19 categories recognise both individual achievement and company-wide success.
• There was a charity collection for the Trussell at the event.
• Full list of award winners at REC Awards 2024:

1. Best Newcomer in Recruitment: Jake Beechey, Stonehouse Recruitment Group
2. Temporary Recruiter of the Year: Richard Shorrock, Spencer Clarke Group.2
3. Permanent Recruiter of the Year: James Boyce, VHR.
4. Agency Star of the Year: Richard Shorrock, Spencer Clarke Group.
5. Candidate Experience of the Year: Jodie Rafferty, Rafferty Resourcing.
6. Business Leader of the Year: Tom Johnson, Hernshead Group.
7. Recruitment Team of the Year: VHR.
8. Shared Services Team of the Year: people2people recruitment.
9. Impact on a Client's Business Award: VHR.
10. Demonstrating High Standards in Recruitment Award: Eden Brown Synergy.
11. Community Impact of the Year: Hays
12. Sustainability Impact of the Year: Gattaca plc.
13. Diversity Initiative of the Year: Oyster Partnership.
14. People Development Business Award: Tile Hill.
15. Start Up of the Year: Supply Hive.
16. Best Company to work for (up to 20 employees): Tiro Associates.
17. Best Company to work for (up to 50 employees): Tile Hill
18. Best Company to work for (up to 100 employees): Dovetail and Slate.
19. Best Company to work for (over 100 employees): Adecco.
20. Lifetime Achievement: Bev White.
21. Recruiter of the Year: James Boyce.

• Britain’s temporary labour market is working well for people, firms and the modern economy – with about 1 million temps working every day. Its success at bringing and retaining people in the labour force is vital to the new government’s central mission of driving growth. We're proud to share the voices of temporary workers - showing first-hand the impact temporary work has on the lives of individuals. These stories emphasise how important it is that employment regulation protects workers but doesn't stop people from accessing flexible work. The 'Voice of the worker' campaign is underpinned by our survey of 520 temp agency workers in Britain in June 2024, where we asked why agency work matters to them.

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The REC is the voice of the recruitment industry, speaking up for great recruiters. We drive standards and empower recruitment businesses to build better futures for great candidates and themselves. We are champions of an industry which is fundamental to the strength of the UK economy.

Find out more about the Recruitment & Employment Confederation at www.rec.uk.com.