Sodexo wins Corporate Citizen award

16th June 2009, 10:30am

Sodexo’s partnership with Lochend Community High School (Lochend) has been rewarded with the Corporate Citizen Award at this year’s Scottish Awards for Business Excellence.

Quality Scotland's annual Scottish Awards for Business Excellence was held last month at the prestigious Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

The Scottish Awards for Business Excellence allow organisations to assess how well they are doing and to benchmark their achievements against other companies.

The Corporate Citizen Award, sponsored by Scottish Business in the Community (SBC) was awarded to Sodexo for its World of Work programme at Lochend.

The programme sees students from Lochend undertake a week-long work placement at Glasgow Sheriff Court - where Sodexo also manages the food services - to gain real-life experience of applying for a job, having an interview and holding work related responsibility.

To apply for the programme, now in its fourth year, students must first respond complete an application form, undergo a competency-based interview and take a food hygiene exam. If successful, a member of Sodexo staff is assigned as their 'buddy' for the week, to guide them through a range of activities.

During the placement, students prepare food, serve customers, wait tables, and operate the till across a variety of restaurants at the Glasgow Sheriff Court including the Sheriffs' dining room, the jury room, public restaurant, and the prisoner meal service. They also watch a live court session, see police cells and prisoners, and meet a court officer, before evaluating their performance with a Sodexo manager, who communicates this feedback to their teachers.

Judges said the programme demonstrated the company's commitment to making a significant contribution in local communities and gain real business benefits from solid relationships that are being built with employees, suppliers and customers.

Denise Coulter, Sodexo Scotland Learning and Development Executive said: "We are thrilled to have received this award, we are very proud of our work with Lochend and there is no doubt that our managers, chefs and food service assistants benefit greatly on a personal level through the training they provide to the pupils. Their training skills are improved as they have to consider the skill and knowledge level of young people, they become more engaged with our company and its values, and they find it personally rewarding too."

Related Articles:

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• 18 Oct 2011 - Sodexo’s fundraising dinner raises £100,000 for STOP Hunger campaign
• 10 Aug 2011 - Sodexo secures new catering contract with Cheshire girls school
• 02 Aug 2011 - Sodexo employee takes health and safety to next level
• 20 Jul 2011 - Sodexo wins information security certification
• 01 Jul 2011 - Sodexo gives away thousands of apples to local schools
• 13 Jun 2011 - Sodexo appoints new chief financial controller
• 09 Jun 2011 - Sodexo achieves gold in corporate responsibility index
• 12 May 2011 - Sodexo voted as one of world's best outsourcing companies
• 09 May 2011 - Sodexo feeds Royal Wedding troops
• 06 May 2011 - Sodexo team complete 930-mile challenge for charity
• 22 Mar 2011 - Sodexo named Business Superbrand for third year
• 15 Mar 2011 - Sodexo secures catering contract with sportscotland
• 07 Feb 2011 - Young unemployed people take part in two-week hospitality programme
• 07 Aug 2009 - Sodexo wins gold for healthy menus at Shrewsbury Hospital
• 03 Jul 2009 - FutureChef runner up wins behind the scenes at Royal Ascot
• 30 Jun 2009 - Sodexo flying high with Virgin Atlantic
• 23 Jun 2009 - Sodexo expands its Aspretto offer
• 23 Jun 2009 - Sodexo rewarded for investing in its people

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