Covid has deprived us of lots this year, but celebrating our Annual Staff Awards was not going to be one of them! Although our awards may have looked very different this year, the premise remained the same – a chance for us all to come together and celebrate the incredible efforts and contribution across the group.

This year the theme was ‘With Love’. It’s no secret that 2020 has been challenging for so many reasons, but we have powered through it together as a team and most importantly, doing what we love. During the awards, we included videos from team members supporting each nomination and although the awards were hosted virtually, they were certainly made with love!

Without further ado, here are the categories, finalists and winners…

Best New Signing Award

This award is aimed towards an individual who from day one has embraced the Verve way of working, as well as enthusiastically working towards our collective mission and proved themselves to be instrumental to their team (and company overall), despite only being with us for less than 12 months.

And the winner is… Amy Alderson!

Since joining Amy has made a huge impact on the whole team, with many wondering how we ever got by without her. Amy fully embodies each of our company values and always has a smile on her face. Eager to help and lend a hand wherever she can, we couldn’t think of a better person to win this award. Well done Amy!

Players’ Player Award

This award is the only one voted for by the team. It is aimed towards someone who is consistently a pillar of support to their peers and who always goes the extra mile to make the lives of their colleagues that bit easier – whether it be to support them in their day to day challenges, offers personal support and generally is key at keeping up team morale.

And the winner is… Alanis Daniel!

We were inundated with votes for this award but there could only be one winner! Alanis received a number of votes from her peers and was a well-deserved winner. Described by the team as ‘one in a million’, this year Alanis has thrived under the pressure of a new challenge. Reliable, supportive and a true players’ player – that’s Alanis!

‘Innovation’ Award

This one is awarded to the individual who is no stranger to creating new solutions/services that benefit us or our clients and loves nothing more than developing our businesses further and giving us the competitive edge over our competitors.

And the winner is… Christian Markwick!

Christian is the king of innovation and since joining us, has well and truly adapted to the ‘Verve way’. He has been instrumental in the creation of many new services during lockdown – in particular, our DNA service which is proving to be a huge hit with clients! Well done Christian!

‘World Class Quality’ Award

Next up was the ‘World Class Quality’ award, given to someone who lives and breathes this company value, who is thorough and methodical (and equally as efficient and productive) and consistently delivers high-quality output.

And the winner is… Lindsey Duggan!

Working on her own, Lindsey and her work, can often fall under the radar – not by us though! Finance tasks, HR duties and studying for her own exams, she does it all excellently! Financial accuracy has been even more key in this year than any other – she knows every penny and loves nothing more than a complex spreadsheet. A true winner in our eyes!

‘Got Your Back’ Award

Another award based on our company values – this one is awarded to someone who always has the needs of their colleagues, clients and wider business at the heart of all that they do. Someone who is the ultimate team player – picking up extra work, taking on new challenges, late nights, early mornings – and does it all with a smile on their face!

And the winner is… Lee Hastie.

It has been a year of personal growth for Lee. He has always been the ultimate team player but this year especially, he has stepped up and lept out of his comfort zone for the good of the group. Taking on more responsibility than ever, and always being on hand to support and develop his peers, Lee lives and breathes our Got Your Back value.

Highly commended… Ellen Wood

This was the only category where it was such a close call, we just had to have a highly commended as well as a winner! Ellen is adored by her team for her generous and caring personality. She will always help wherever she can and genuinely has everyone’s back. A true team player and a very hard worker – very well deserved Ellen!

The Verve Award

The most prestigious award of the evening – The Verve Award. There is no shortlist for this one – it is voted for by our Senior Leadership Team and is awarded to someone who has had a standout year, has been constant in their efforts, consistently champions company values and simply deserved the recognition of being amazing.

This year it went to our lovely Holly Johnson.

Holly has the most amazing year. She truly embodies all of our company values and has had a year of personal growth. During lockdown back in March, she showed outstanding innovation when creating the interactive suitability reports for Para-Sols, as part of #Project2030 – often working way beyond the usual office times.

Not only that, but this year saw Holly take the leap from Paraplanning at Para-Sols, to becoming Training Lead at The Art of Finance. This was a huge step out of her comfort zone but she has embraced it and is absolutely flying. Described as a delight to work with and known for putting 1000% into everything she does, we are all super proud of Holly for achieving this award!