A BURNLEY human resources manager has been awarded the title of Employee Hero at this year’s BIBA Heroes Awards thanks to the help she’s given to over 60 local businesses during the pandemic.

Claire Thwaite, head of HR at Cube HR, was given the award thanks to the work she has done keeping track of government updates since the start of the pandemic and supporting the company’s clients.

This dovetailed well with the company’s focus, providing HR support and general for smaller businesses.

Ms Thwaite, of Clayton-le-Moors, 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.”

The BIBAs are a series of awards set up by East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce aimed at recognising the innovation, commitment and community spirit shown by Lancashire businesses.

This year has given particular attention to those who have risen to the occasion when faced with challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Thwaite efforts in this regard have included introducing Monday Mode video sessions offering tips on topics such as ‘how to do a redundancy’ via zoom, running Wednesday Wisdom sessions, answering topical HR questions from the previous week and organising webinars.

She was nominated for the award by her boss Lisa Sourbutts.

Ms Sourbutts 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.”

To find out more about the awards, visit: https://www.thebibas.co.uk/.