Bidvest Noonan Ireland
Ireland's leading provider of facilities services and solutions
Bidvest Noonan has been awarded the Best Diversity, Inclusion and Equity at the Fingal Business Awards 2022, held at the Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport in Santry on Friday, the 18th of November 2022.
We are very proud to be recognised for our work in this area once again. People from all across our business have played a role in this success and especially those who are part of our EDI Council. We are proud of our achievements but we are also motivated to keep improving.
This is Darren Mitchell, Gerry Draper, and Brian Hearne, three people who are making a positive impact on the way we think about employability.
Darren is our Head of Infrastructure and Networks here at Bidvest Noonan. On a recent visit to Rehab Recycle, our IT WEEE recycling partner, Darren saw an opportunity to support Rehab Enterprises – an organisation that strives to provide employment for disabled or disadvantaged people in Ireland.
Darren wanted to support Rehab’s objective of enabling people to access the job market through training, coaching, and work experience. Darren offered some work experience at Bidvest Noonan’s IT team for a member of their programme.
This is where Gerry comes in. Gerry is an Account Manager at Rehab, and was instrumental in finding the right person looking for some experience in IT. He worked closely with Darren to find the right match, and they selected Brian Hearne.
Brian was the first person to take part in this initiative here at Bidvest Noonan and what a difference he has made! Under Darren’s mentorship, Brian got an opportunity to gain new skills and experience in his favourite topic – IT. Throughout his time at Bidvest Noonan, Brian made some positive contributions to important projects underway by the team.
Darren commented:
“I am delighted to have had the opportunity to mentor and guide Brian. He provided well needed support for the IT team and his enthusiasm and dedication to the role was exceptional. I have no doubt he has the skills and knowhow to make a difference for any employer. I look forward to meeting him again.”
As part of the initiative, Darren worked on and identified IT training programmes that will further Brian’s skills for the future.
We are delighted to announce Jim O’Hagan has been appointed as Managing Director for our business in Northern Ireland.
Jim is a highly accomplished senior executive with more than 20 years of senior leadership experience. He has a track-record of guiding high-performance teams, bringing success to many market-leading brands. He succeeds Scott Brannigan who has retired.
This appointment signals our continued commitment to the Northern Irish market and underlines our ambition for the business in the region.
Bidvest Noonan provides services ranging from cleaning and security to facilities management in Northern Ireland and supports many of the most iconic brands operating across the UK & Ireland.
Speaking on his appointment, Jim said:
“I am delighted to join Bidvest Noonan at a truly exciting time for the company. This business is hugely admired for its people-first culture and commitment to service excellence, which made my decision to join very easy.
I want to wish Scott the very best in his retirement and thank him for the work he has done to ensure my smooth transition into the role. I look forward to working with my new team to build on our success to date and continue to deliver outstanding support to customers.”
CEO for our business in Ireland, Cormac Sheils commented:
“I would like to warmly welcome Jim into the Bidvest Noonan family. Jim has a very impressive background and brings with him a wealth of experience, strong management skills, and deep expertise. I look forward to working with Jim to expand our presence in Northern Ireland. I have every confidence that Jim will be very successful at Bidvest Noonan.”
Meet Colin O’Neill. As a GMP Quality Specialist, Colin helps us support customers in the Life Sciences sector. Our customers in the sector produce important medicines and biotechnologies, many of which transform the lives of people living with serious conditions. Our customers trust us to maintain their facilities in an always audit-ready condition, ensuring their business can operate smoothly and produce products of the highest quality.
How would you define what you do at Bidvest Noonan?
As a GMP quality specialist, I support our GMP cleaning activities so that they are performed to the highest standard and maintain 100% compliance with all regulations. This involves travelling to many different sites and responding to their unique needs to help them perform at their best.
What has been your best day at Bidvest Noonan?
I’ve only been part of the business for a couple of months so I can say that every day has been my best day. Meeting great people for the first time is always a great experience and my first week was very exciting.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
If you push someone, they will push back, if you lead them, they will follow.
How do you motivate yourself?
Motivation is contagious, I try to associate myself with those that inspire me and strive not to be like them, but the best version of myself.
Who or what has inspired you the most?
My parents inspire me the most. I have three siblings and we didn’t have everything growing up but they made sure we had a fulfilling childhood and always put education first.
If you had a motto, what would it be?
Simply “keep moving forward”. No matter what through any adversity this motto helps me push through and do exactly what it says.
Bidvest Noonan, a market-leading provider of facilities services that employs over 27,000 people across the UK and Ireland, has been named the inaugural winner of the Diversity & Inclusion in Security award at the 2022 ISIA Awards. The award was introduced this year by the Irish Security Industry Association to recognise companies in the private security industry that excel in creating an inclusive culture that encourages diversity in the workplace.
The win comes at a time when the value and importance of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace is in sharp focus across many sectors. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion programmes seek to ensure that people are treated equally, valued and made to feel welcome regardless of their gender, ethnicity, faith, age, sexual orientation, or other differences.
In recent years, Bidvest Noonan has announced a number of investments and initiatives to improve its performance in the area of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. In 2021, the business launched an ED&I Council with the aim of developing a more diverse workforce and a more inclusive workplace. Since its inception the council has overseen a number of new initiatives including campaigns to encourage more women to join the security industry. This year, the company was recognised by Investors in Diversity and Diversity Mark for its work to embed Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) across the organisation.
Commenting on the win, ED&I Chairperson for Ireland, Marina Goncalves said: “I’m delighted that our work in the area of ED&I was recognised at this year’s ISIA Awards. We believe supporting equality, diversity and inclusion is a moral imperative, and we know that respecting and valuing our differences makes us a stronger and more innovative business.
We want all our people to feel welcomed, valued and able to achieve their potential at Bidvest Noonan.”
Environmental, Social and Governance Director John King added:
“We are very proud of the impact our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion programmes are having, and we continuously search for new ways to make a difference. For example, we recently began collaborating with organisations across the UK and Ireland, such as Business in the Community, to help marginalised and disadvantaged groups gain employment and access opportunities for education. This approach is bringing new talent into our business and providing people with the opportunity to have a successful and rewarding career.”
Plastic pollution has become one of the most important environmental concerns in recent years with production increasing at such a rate that it is becoming impossible to cope.
Single-use plastics account for 40 percent of the plastic produced every year and can persist in the environment for hundreds of years.
That is why we have decided to remove single-use plastics from our business. Reducing our use of premixed, ready-to-use cleaning chemicals is a key initiative to achieve this.
We estimate this change will enable us to remove 95% of our plastic chemical containers and remove c80,000 single-use plastic bottles per year. The following video explains why we are taking this important step:
