Claire named employee hero

A Burnley businesswoman has been awarded the title of Employee Hero for the important role she has played during the pandemic.

Claire Thwaite, Head of HR at CUBE HR, won the accolade in The Biba’s Heroes awards.

The award was handed out at a virtual awards ceremony after the usual awards’ annual prize-giving was cancelled due to the pandemic.

The company provides HR support for businesses that aren’t large enough to have their own HR department or just need additional support. 

Claire, of Clayton-le-Moors, was nominated for the award by her boss, Lisa Sourbutts, for providing first class support to CUBE HR’s clients during unsettling times.

Right from the outset, when Government updates were coming fast, furious and sometimes conflicting, Claire would be sat, laptop on knee, ready to take notes. 

As well as supporting its clients, CUBE HR has helped over 60 local businesses free of charge during the pandemic.

Lisa said: “Having captured the necessary information, she would then put it in a format that was easy to understand, together with any actions needed and get this out to all of our clients the same day.  

“Every time there were updates as to social distancing, shielding, furlough and the CJRS she did the same. No one asked her to do this; she just took it upon herself to ensure our clients were well informed as quickly as possible. 

“We have received amazing feedback from our clients about this, saying that they could not believe how quickly we were updating them.”

Claire’s proactive approach didn’t stop there. She introduced Monday Mode video sessions offering tips on topics such as ‘how to do a redundancy’ via zoom, ran Wednesday Wisdom sessions, answering topical HR questions from the previous week and organised webinars.

Now, as the effects of the pandemic rumble on, Claire continues to work relentlessly to ensure CUBE HR’s clients have the most up-to-date and accurate information possible.  

Claire said: “I’m so thrilled to have won this award; there was so much mis-information and confusion flying around, I did what I thought was the right thing for so many businesspeople feeling the effects of the pandemic and will continue to support them and anyone else needing support during this difficult time. I’m very grateful for Lisa’s nomination and thankful to The Biba’s for the recognition.”