Newmarket based corporate insurance brokers The Davis Group have been awarded 32nd place in The Sunday Times Best Small Companies to Work for 2007. This is the fourth year running that the local firm has been listed, climbing the ranks by twelve places since last year despite the fact that thirty two percent more companies were surveyed this time around.

This year, the Group took it’s longest serving members of staff to the glittering awards ceremony. Stetchworth based employee Alyson O’Kane was particularly pleased to see her own name in The Sunday Times supplement that accompanies the awards. In fact, she also saw her daughter’s name & her two sons’. The Davis Group really is a family company – Aly and her three children have all worked for the Group!

The Group was given special recognition for their efforts to ‘give something back’. Jonathon Austin, Best Companies CEO, spoke about the impressive charity work that employees take part in. At The Davis Group, giving back is part of the culture. Staff are actively encouraged to get involved and are given plenty of opportunities to do so!

One of the many fundraising events the company has put on was a Staff Charity Day. It was held to raise money for The Davis Charitable Trust, which works to give financial and practical support to young people in the local community. Un-tucked shirts, stripy ties and hair in bunches were all in order as the staff dressed up to hold a school-style event with a barbeque, quiz night and even their own ‘sports day’. This event alone raised £1168 – a tribute to the enthusiasm of the staff who were involved.

Henrietta Flynn, Group HR & Marketing Director, said of the result “This is a big achievement for us and one that everyone is part of. We are particularly proud to be recognised for the charity work we have made part of our daily working life”.

In coming months, several employees will be undertaking personal challenges for charity. Kate Thornton, Paul Brown and Andy Hancock are training to hike and cycle across the Sahara Desert to raise money for The Prince’s Trust. Later this year, Katie Bradshaw, Holly Shewring and Jane Francis will be spending a month in African orphanages helping children who suffer from or have lost parents to AIDS, abandonment or abuse. No doubt the keen Davis Group staff will rally together once more to help raise the funds to make these projects happen!