Awards season

It cannot have escaped your notice that we are well and truly in the midst of awards season with not a day going by without an organisation or awards ceremony being highlighted on social media platforms or in the sector press.

Competition within the care sector is well known – you only have to look at the quality-of-care homes being offered these days compared to that which was available 20 years ago to see the positive impact that competition has had in driving up standards and quality. Indeed, every business needs competition in order to drive progress and improvement.

But what does competition mean for care home companies and indeed the staff involved in them?

As we know, there are a large number of awards competitions available often inviting 10 finalists to the ultimate evening awards ceremony. These awards, although welcomed across the sector, are often very big and, dare I say, impersonal.

October 12th 2023 saw the annual Dormy Awards take place – undoubtedly my favourite day of the year – which gives us the opportunity to recognize the huge efforts our own staff and teams put into their work on a daily basis.

Being a relatively small company of only 4 homes (small but beautiful I should add!), I have long recognised the importance of rewarding our staff in a number of ways throughout the year be that in the form of an Easter egg or a gift for Carers Day or Nurses’ Day. However, the launching of the annual Dormy Awards is always awaited with eagerness and a degree of trepidation for some.

Staff nominate their colleagues in one of 9 categories explaining why they deserve to receive an award. The sentiments are always heartfelt and often cite individual examples of why they should be honoured.

Judging is always difficult – how can you decide amongst all of the nominations who is more deserving than the other? And this often involves judging staff whom I know and have worked with personally over the years. But judge we do and the three finalists in each category are then invited to come to the awards event itself in order to receive their award.

We always ensure that nobody attending goes away empty handed. Everyone will get either a bronze, silver of gold award which reduces any disappointment.

What always strikes me is the enormous amount of excitement, pride and nerves that the finalists bring with them on the day. Everyone dresses up in what they want to – the only rule as far as dress code goes is ‘no jeans’ which again hopefully reduces the stress of having to buy something new which some may struggle to afford.

We always invite our supplier partners to sponsor the awards and also join us for the event itself. This gives them the opportunity to meet with the real people who make Dormy Care Communities the company that it is. Sharing stories and spending time with them really opens their eyes to what really goes on inside our homes.

And we always use the opportunity to showcase many of the activities and events that take place in our homes throughout the year – often an eye opener to suppliers who may only know us through contact to place an order or provide a service.

I am always touched by the many lovely emails I receive after the event saying how much they enjoyed meeting our staff and how personal and touching the day has been.

But what does it mean for the finalists themselves? Here are just a few examples from the 2023 awards:

Foxhunters Activity Coordinator Donna Dyson, who won the award for Community Engagement, said: “It was really emotional when my name was read out. It’s lovely to know that people think so highly of what I do.”

Brockington House Nurse Dawn Terrett, who won the award for Changing Lives, said: “I feel very humbled to have won this award.”

And what about the impact that it has on the homes as a whole?

Helen Lacey, Home Director of Pine Martin Grange captured it beautifully in saying: “I am privileged to have been able to share this moment with my team; I am proud of every single one of them.”

And what about the impact on the company as a whole?

Well without doubt, it is a feat of organsiation by many members of our small senior team to arrange the event. Co-ordinating the hotel booking, meal choices, decoration, sound and lighting etc. takes many weeks of planning and execution and indeed has a cost attached to it. But that pales into insignificance when I see the faces of the winners and the pride they have by being a finalist and a winner in the competition. This excitement goes back into the homes and is shared with their colleagues, those who live in the homes, the relatives and their own families – some living in other countries and rarely see their loved ones.

That for me is worth every bit of effort and is what drives us to continue to arrange this year on year.

So as the curtain closes on another year of our Dormy Awards, I look forward to organising them again next year and would urge all companies, however small you may be, to arrange your own awards and celebrate the success of your own staff teams in the most personal way