Robert Watts, the family estate agents in Bradford, has launched an employee of the year award in memory of its late colleague.
The Vic Southerington Award, which was voted for by employees at all levels of the business, was presented by his wife Margaret to Nicola Astley.
Nicola is Office Manager at the Highfield Road sales branch and has worked for the company for over 15 years. She works tirelessly for the company and has remained fully committed and professional throughout difficult times without complaint and her efforts haven’t gone unappreciated by her colleagues.
Vic Southerington, who sadly passed away in April this year of Covid, started working for Robert Watts in the early 1980s as a Valuer in its first office on Bolton Road. The Chartered Surveyor went on to work for the Yorkshire Building Society for 20 years, before returning to Robert Watts in 2002.
Director James Watts then went on to work in partnership with Vic to successfully expand into surveying, working with organisations such as Halifax Bank of Scotland and Northern Rock. Despite the 2008 recession, Vic remained committed to Robert Watts and retrained as a Residential and Commercial Energy Performance Certificate Assessor, which he continued in a freelance capacity until earlier this year.
James commented: “Vic was a great guy, always selfless and would put himself out for anyone who needed help regardless of how busy he was. He would work all hours and always had time for a cup of tea and a chat – his legendary opening line of ‘have you got 5 minutes?’ meant you better clear the diary for the next hour!
“He made lots of friends in the industry throughout his career and was genuinely liked by everyone and will be sadly missed by all of us who met him.”
Traditionally the employee of the year award would have been awarded to someone from the most profitable branch. However, the Watts family did not feel this fit with the ethos of Vic.
Therefore, it was decided that the award would go to an individual who displayed the highest level of tenacity, gone above and beyond in the pursuit of excellent customer service, whilst remaining completely selfless throughout.
