Our Managing Director, Matt Ballard, was kindly asked to return to the Family Business Awards – this time, as a lead judge!
Matt was part of the panel to judge the ‘Employer of the Year’ category after Ballards won this particular category in 2017 and 2019.
Ballards Removals has previously won several prestigious Family Business Awards – including ‘Employer of the Year’ in 2017 and 2019, ‘Director of the Year’ in 2018, and ‘Service Excellence Winners’ in 2016.
What makes a great family business
At Ballards, we pride ourselves on providing a great working environment for our wonderful team members. Many of our employees have been with our business for several years (or more!) – so we like to think that we know a thing or two about keeping our workers happy and ensuring they have everything they need to create a great work-life balance.
Matt said: “It was fascinating to see behind the scenes of such a great variety of family businesses – some with a handful of employees and some with several hundred – each with their own merits.
“Having won several awards in the past at this event, it felt strange to be sat on the other side of the table, reviewing all of the fantastic applications.
“The award was very hard to judge, as all of the businesses were unique and of very high quality. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and was honoured to be asked back as a lead judge.”
Meet the finalists
The Family Business Awards are kindly organised by The Wilson Organisation, based in Nottingham, who created the not-for-profit awards scheme to celebrate family-owned businesses across the Midlands.
These awards are highly valued by businesses in the area, and typically receive over 1000 nominations each year!
The companies shortlisted for ‘Employer of the Year’ include:
- Cook Recruitment Group
- CR Civil Engineering
- Flame UK
- Haywoods Contracts
- Morley Hayes
- The Midlands Training Company
“His knowledge, experience and empathy make him the perfect judge”
Charlotte Perkins, Group Managing Director of The Wilson Organisation, said:
“As co-founder of the awards, I am very proud of our judging process – ensuring each category is independently judged and fairly awarded. This is only possible thanks to the time and support we receive from our judging panel.
“Ballards have been involved with the Awards for many years with great success – winning Employer of the Year in 2017, and Matt himself took home Director of the Year in 2018.
“We were absolutely thrilled to have Matt lead the judging panel for Employer of the Year in 2023 – his knowledge, experience and empathy make him the perfect judge.”
The awards ceremony and dinner for this year’s event will be held on Thursday 29th June at Kelham Hall, located in Newark, Nottinghamshire.
We can’t wait to see who comes out on top – good luck to all applicants!