Stockport business named Good Employer of the Year at Greater Manchester Good Employment Awards

Stockport-based firm, Datesand, was named Good Employer of the Year at this year’s Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter Awards.

The awards recognise businesses across Greater Manchester that dedicated to acknowledging organisations that are committed to good employment practices, focusing on highlighting exemplary organisations providing secure and flexible work, fair pay, employee engagement, recruitment and health and wellbeing. Awards form part of the city-region’s wider efforts to improve employment conditions alongside the Good Employment Charter.

Family-run business, Datesand, is based in Bredbury, supplying products to the biotechnology sector since 1980. Winning the overall Good Employer of the Year at this years awards comes after winning in the Best for Health and Wellbeing catergory in 2023, and two shortlistings in 2024’s awards: Best for Employee Engagement (SME) and Best for Inclusion (SME). 

Greater Manchester Good Employment Awards winners were announced at Science and Industry Museum in Manchester on 12th June. Deputy Prime Minister and Greater Manchester MP, Angela Rayner, also made a surprise appearance on the evening, TheBusinessDesk.com has reported.

Addressing attendees, Rayner drew on her own experiences on a low income in Stockport to highlight the importance of upcoming changes being proposed in her Employment Rights Bill and praised how employers in the room were demonstrating how improved working conditions benefited both workers, businesses and were behind a “fair and more productive economy.”

The Deputy Prime Minister also spoke positively of Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, who launched the Greater Manchester Good Employment Charter in 2019, in advocating for the region’s region, saying:

“You’ve shown that when we back the people and the businesses of the North, they will deliver.

“As a proud northern member in the cabinet, believe me when I say the days of the North being ignored are over.”