Neil Plant, Head of Sustainability for Mitie’s technical facilities management business, has won Employee Volunteer of the Year 2016 at BITC’s Responsible Business West Midlands Awards.
The awards – held last month in Birmingham – recognise individuals who have created a significant and sustainable impact in their local community through their exceptional commitment to volunteering.
Neil, who’s into his second decade of volunteering across the West Midlands, has made an impressive contribution to Mitie’s volunteering programme, helping to grow it into a national scheme that reaches over 6,000 students and young people across the UK.
Committed to improving students’ employability skills and raising career aspirations, Neil organises and runs events and activities in schools – including careers talks, mentoring, CV sessions and skill workshops. In the past year alone he has dedicated over 200 hours of his time to helping young people.
In particular, Neil has helped to set up “Business and You”, an initiative which aims to create better links between business and education, as well as promote science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects in schools.
Commenting on his win, Neil said, “I am delighted and proud to have received this award. Special thanks to all of my colleagues, and also the schools and students I have the pleasure to work with; they are as much a part of this journey as I am and they inspire me every day.
The award is a great representation of the fantastic work that Mitie undertakes by linking business to education.”
Stephen Barthorpe, Head of Community Engagement at Mitie added,
“Employee volunteering provides invaluable benefits to society. Mitie’s focus on supporting education, employability and enterprise programmes helps thousands of pupils and a number of unemployed people including those from disadvantaged sections of society, increase their aspirations and career prospects.
“Neil has made an outstanding contribution, utilising his professional skills for the benefit of society, demonstrating Mitie as a responsible business and a force for good. This award is justly deserved.”
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For further information, contact:
Lauren Hepburn, Investor and Public Relations Manager, Mitie Group plc
T:+44 20 3123 8720 E:lauren.hepburn@mitie.com
John Telling, Corporate Affairs Director, Mitie Group plc
T:+44 20 3123 8673 E: john.telling@mitie.com
