A SWINDON-BASED vehicle hire company has been recognised for the work it does to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of its staff.

Fleet News picked Arval UK as the winner of the industry's first Wellbeing Award. The award was launched by the title in honour of Cox Automotive customer insight director James Davis, who died in July.

Arval UK’s managing director Lakshmi Moorthy went to the awards ceremony in London to receive the trophy.

She said: “You could feel the emotion in the room last night and I was humbled as I listened both on James’ contribution to, and on this award’s importance for our industry.

“Ensuring we take care of our people on an ongoing basis is a matter which is close to my heart, and also those in our HR, CSR, exec team and all of our managers, who nurture our culture and demonstrate daily that Arval cares for our colleagues.

"That care translates direct to our customers.

"I’d like to thank Fleet News for creating such an important award for our industry, which has been under pressure from multiple factors in the last 18 months.”

Fleet News editor-in-chief Stephen Briers explained why his company picked Arval as the winning business.

He said: “Arval was a fitting winner of the inaugural award. It has a comprehensive and structured approach to staff wellbeing that incorporates a vast array of initiatives and programmes.

"The feedback from its employees told us everything we needed to know about the extra lengths the business goes to in order to look after the mental health and wellbeing of its people.”

During the same ceremony, Arval UK secured an FN50 Individual Award win for sales account manager Samantha Seaton while senior account manager Kieron Hollis was Highly Commended as a Rising Star in the Industry.

The award ceremony is linked to the FN50, which reveals the UK’s top 50 fleet companies every year. Within the table, Arval UK retained third position in the country with 179,022 vehicles on its UK fleet.

For more information on the awards and the FN50 visit fleetnews.co.uk/news/latest-fleet-news/fn50-insight-and-analysis