A big-hearted animal bedding company from Wrexham who gave all its staff a \u00a31,000 Covid bonus is vying for the title of the UK\u2019s best family firm.<\/p>\n
Fast-growing Platts Agriculture will be flying the flag for Wales at the Federation of Small Businesses Awards when it will also be in the running for the environment award.<\/p>\n
Platts qualified for the UK final after scooping both awards at the Wales heats.<\/p>\n
The prestigious Oscars-style ceremony will be held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow on May 19.<\/p>\n
Next year the company, based on Llay Industrial Estate, will be celebrating its 50th<\/sup> anniversary.<\/p>\n It was founded in 1973 by now retired Robert Platt and his wife, Christine, and it\u2019s now being run by their daughter, Caroline Platt, the managing director.<\/p>\n Her son, Christopher Whittaker, is a third generation member of the management team.<\/p>\n He has set up a new haulage company, Platts Transport, running alongside another new sister company, Platts Commercial Services, an authorised testing centre for HGVs.<\/p>\n Despite the pandemic, the firm achieved a 6.5 per cent increase in turnover with the number of staff rising from 54 to 62.<\/p>\n At the same time, it implemented a raft of green initiatives to make the operation even more environmentally friendly and championed the mental health and well-being of the workforce.<\/p>\n Loyal members of staff say they are treated by Platts like members of the \u201cextended family\u201d.<\/p>\n Among them are sales executive Dawn Williams, her husband, factory supervisor John Williams, and her stepson, shift supervisor Ryan Williams.<\/p>\n The couple met at Platts 16 years ago and love blossomed when they consoled each other after splitting up from their respective partners.<\/p>\n Dawn said: \u201cIt\u2019s absolutely fabulous to be part of an amazing company that\u2019s now winning awards. I\u2019m really happy and proud to work here.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned, Platts is already the best family firm in the UK but it would be lovely to have official confirmation of that.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a really friendly place to work and we just get on as a team.\u00a0 We get on immensely well with Caroline – she\u2019s a wonderful boss and Chris is absolutely tremendous.<\/p>\n \u201cYou always feel valued, you\u2019re always thanked and the \u00a31,000 bonus was a beautiful gesture which was greatly appreciated by all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n It was a sentiment endorsed by husband John who has worked at Platts for 20 years.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cIt\u2019s a really family-oriented company and they have helped me through the bad times when I lost my mum and dad. They were there when I needed them.<\/p>\n \u201cFinding Dawn was a big bonus. It was one of those things that happened and 16 years down the line we\u2019re still together and very happy. We\u2019re like a family within a family.\u201d<\/p>\n John\u2019s son, Ryan, started out as a cleaner five years ago and worked his way up the ranks.<\/p>\n Ryan said: \u201cI\u2019ve got a good job as a shift supervisor and the people here are great as well. It\u2019s a very special place to work.\u201d<\/p>\n Brian Evans and shift supervisor Alan Evans are another father and son duo who both work at Platts.<\/p>\n Former driver Brian retired last year but returned to work as an odd job man after managing director Caroline asked him to come back.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cIt\u2019s a proper family firm and everybody clicks together. They really do look after their workers and they get a lot of loyalty in return.\u201d<\/p>\n Caroline Platt said: \u201cWe are blessed to have such a fantastic workforce and the \u00a31,000 bonus was a way of showing our appreciation after they went above and beyond the call of duty when things got tough because of the pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were thrilled to win the two categories at the FSB\u2019s Wales awards and a great deal of the credit must go to our staff.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever the outcome in Glasgow, we are immensely proud of what we have achieved.<\/p>\n \u201cBut we are not resting on our laurels because our journey on the road to even more success continues. Watch this space.\u201d<\/p>\n