Celebrating Our Amazing Team: MWS Employee Appreciation Day

Last week, we did something a bit special at MWS. We brought all 28 of our team members together for our first Employee Appreciation Day. It’s not often that everyone is in the same place at the same time (especially with our northern office and service engineers constantly out on the road), so having the whole gang together felt pretty incredible from the get-go. 

The day was all about recognising the hard work our team puts in day after day, sharing our vision for the future, and most importantly, just spending quality time together as the MWS crew.

Kicking off with connection

We started the morning at 10am with a welcome speech in our meeting room, setting the tone for what turned out to be a brilliant day. The energy was fantastic. You could tell everyone was excited to be together and curious about what we had planned.

From there, we moved into some social mixing time, complete with professional headshots for everyone. It was lovely watching colleagues who don’t usually cross paths chatting away, and the photographer did an amazing job capturing everyone’s personalities. We followed this up with group photos, and I have to say, getting 28 people to look at the camera at the same time is quite the achievement!

Vision, values, and the road ahead

Just before lunch, our MD Andrew Clarke took the stage to share something really important: our company values, vision, and our exciting 5-year plan. It’s one thing to work towards goals, but it’s another thing entirely to have everyone understand where we’re headed and why. The room was engaged, questions were flowing, and you could feel the collective excitement about MWS’s future.

These moments remind me why we do what we do. When everyone understands the bigger picture, it transforms daily work into something meaningful.

A proper feast

By noon, we were all ready for lunch, and did we deliver! Wolf & Bear Kitchen rolled up in their food truck and parked right in our office car park. The smell of their homemade burgers and hand cut chips had everyone’s attention immediately. There’s something special about eating together. Conversations flow more easily, barriers come down, and you really get to know your colleagues as people, not just the person you email about quarterly reports.

The weather was absolutely perfect for an outdoor lunch, which was certainly an added bonus.

Recognising years of dedication

After lunch came one of the most meaningful parts of the day: our long service awards. We started with our 5-year service awards, presenting certificates and an extra holiday day per year to those who’ve been with us through thick and thin for half a decade.

But the real surprise came with our 10-year awards. Ian Farnsworth and Jerome Agu (who actually started with us as an apprentice… how’s that for a journey!) both reached this incredible milestone. Along with their certificates and two additional days off per year, we surprised them with beautifully engraved timepieces from Christopher Ward, a renowned UK watch brand. The look on their faces was absolutely priceless.

What made this moment even more special was the speech from Daniel Brown, our Service Supervisor. Daniel spoke from the heart about our amazing team, how supportive everyone is of each other, and shared his own journey with the company. It was one of those genuine moments that reminds you why workplace culture matters so much.

Wrapping up on a high

We ended the day early, giving everyone the option to take the rest of the afternoon off. Some people headed home, others stayed to chat, and a few took advantage of the beautiful weather to enjoy the outdoors.

Looking around at everyone smiling, laughing, and genuinely enjoying each other’s company, I felt incredibly proud of what we’ve built at MWS. Yes, we’re a business, and yes, we have targets to hit and customers to serve. But at the end of the day, we’re a group of people who genuinely care about each other and the work we do.

Days like this don’t happen by accident. They happen because we believe that appreciating our team isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s essential to who we are as a company. Our people are our greatest asset, and taking time to celebrate that felt absolutely right.

Here’s to our incredible team, and to many more Employee Appreciation Days to come!