Employer of the Year Award
(10-49 employees)

Barrie Stephen Hair is a Leicester-based hairdressing salon group employing 39 staff, nine of whom are apprentices.

Barrie Hedley, the proprietor, believes that the company’s investment in training improves all aspects of the company’s performance. In an industry facing high staff turnover, Barrie Stephen Hair can boast high retention rates.

The company has doubled its profits in the last three years as well as developing three talented studio managers. Barrie Stephen Hair is fully aware of the benefits of entering and winning competitions, and has scooped several prestigious industry awards. The company has been named as one of six finalists in the British Hairdressing Awards and named Eastern Hairdresser of the Year category for the past two years.

Together with training provider, Heart of England, Barrie Stephens Hair set individual programmes for their apprentices, which are monitored to ensure they achieve their full potential. It encompasses both hairdressing skills and personal development. This is extended regularly with external courses to motivate them further and expand the apprentices’ abilities.

As the apprentices within the company grow and develop, they in turn enter and win top industry accolades and awards. This helps to increase the company‘s prestige, as well as to provide invaluable promotional material and generate positive press coverage. In this way, both the salon and the individual reap the benefits of Barrie Stephen Hair’s continued commitment to training.

This commitment has been recognised and commended by the EMQC ‘Investors in People’ award, the first salon in Leicester to do so. Plans are underway to open a third salon in July 2006 and a further two are planned within the next three years.

Barrie Hedley commented: “This success is directly due to our commitment to investing in the skills of all our people. From the youngest apprentice upwards, we ensure that everyone understands the business side of the salons, so they know what they can contribute to, both the success of the business and to their own career.”

Barrie Stephen Hair is a finalist in the Small Employer category in the national Apprenticeship Awards 2006.