Our People
We employ over 300 employees from 20 different nationalities at our site in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire. The site encompasses our factory and Head Office and we’ve been at this site for over 60 years.
At Whitworths our five values guide how we behave and each quarter we reward employees who have best lived each value.
Featured below are the winners from our latest quarterly awards.
Back row: We give consumers solutions - Aimee Rudd, We are all accountable - Edd Shakespeare, Sean Cornes, Caroline Easterbrook and Chris Owen, We deliver our numbers - Trevor Smallwood and Steve Hollick.
Front row: We are innovators - Tom Migo, Charlie Gill and Alic Taylor, We develop our people - Jennifer Beevers
As part of developing ‘our people’ there is a commitment to the personal and professional development of our entire workforce.
A range of professional qualifications and courses are on offer, including:
• Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
• Chartered Institute of Personnel Development
• NVQ in Food and Drink
• Food Hygiene
Featured employee of the month
Victoria Gallear – HR Officer
I began my career in HR at Ormskirk Hospital as a Personnel Assistant and whilst there I would also help out in the Pathology Lab and in the evenings I worked in an American Restaurant. This often caused a few problems as people rang in to book a table and I was asking what type of sample they were bringing in!
I moved down to Northamptonshire in 2001 where I started working for Weetabix as an HR Assistant. Whilst there I did my degree in HR Management at Coventry University - a very long three years and lots of hard work. However it wasn’t all hard work and I was given the job of being Pudsey for the Children in Need and Ready Brek sponsorship deal. I had a brilliant day dressed as a big yellow bear and I even got invited to a teddy bears picnic at the local school.
After leaving Weetabix I moved to Uniq Prepared Foods (sandwich makers for M&S) where I gained a lot more HR experience. Uniq is a very fast-paced business and there was never a dull moment – every day was different. One thing that does stick in my mind from my time there was the Annual Family Fun Day where all employees were asked to get involved. The one stall that was always a nightmare to find volunteers for was the Dunk Tank but our MD was always game for a laugh and we would take great pleasure in dunking him as many times as we could. To this day he still holds the record for the most dunkings in one sitting.
I am looking forward to all the new challenges and experiences that I will face at Whitworths.
In my spare time I LOVE scary films, watching Wigan Rugby League and going back up north to see my family. I also hope to be taking part in Shine 2012 (a night time walk for Cancer Research).
NVQ Achievers
Whitworths has been one of the leading companies in Northamptonshire providing training at NVQ level 1 and 2. Workforce training & Development Ltd have contributed significantly to the success which has seen over 538 employees gain these awards over 5 years.