Impamark are honoured to have won the ACL Essex Employer of the Year Award for 2019 and there is no better way to round off celebrations in their 50th Anniversary year as a family business.

Managing Director, Nicky Crisp said “We have been working with ACL for several years and we have now partnered with them to train two apprentices. Last year our apprentice Holly was awarded Apprentice of the Year whilst studying for her level 2 NVQ in Business and Administration, and this year she has been awarded Highly Commended for her level 3 NVQ.

Impamark are immensely proud of her achievements, both with ACL and her other professional qualifications which she has passed in the 2 years she has been working for us, including her TPM (Trained in Promotional Merchandise) qualification. We have striven to give Holly not only a positive training experience, but have offered her a wide range of additional learning opportunities which she has fully embraced. Being part of a small team she has had the flexibility and opportunity to experience a vast range of different job roles and disciplines”.

Currently located at Dammerwick Farm in Burnham on Crouch, this award winning promotional merchandise company moved their operations to the town in 1975, and have since been providing personalised products to a wide range of prestigious clients including top Universities, schools, businesses, sporting events and clubs.

Now operating from two bases, the first being in Essex, and for the past 12 years the second being in Spain, Nicky said “Winning this award is even more special as operating with two sites and at a distance is not always easy. It is important that all staff feel part of one team and we have regular video conference meetings as well as group chat and speaking over the phone on a daily basis”.

The staff all met in Spain in June for their 50th Anniversary celebrations and this is continuing with a further Christmas get together in Spain in December where the team will be attempting to extract themselves from the ‘Sherlock Holmes versus Moriarty’ escape room!”

Impamark has found the apprenticeship programme with ACL to be enormously beneficial. Nicky added:“We can only encourage other small businesses to do the same as us. If you can offer a school leaver a job opportunity with a supported and structured training programme, and can incentivise them and keep them motivated and focused, you will create a mature and self assured team member with a vast range of skill sets who will be an asset to any business.

It is wonderful that a small company that employs only 6 people has won this award. We are not one of the big boys. We are just a small family business who struggles like everyone else with all the day to day issues, and we are truly amazed that we have been recognised for something that we consider is just a normal role for an employer to undertake”.