Their commitment to excellence and building an inclusive people-first culture that supports, develops and empowers Ciphr’s employees to do their best work, has earned them three nominations at the 2025 Rewards and Incentive Awards, including best ‘In-house Team’.
Ciphr’s HR chief Claire Hawes, who was recently included in the CIPD’s top HR30 list for her exceptional HR leadership, has also received two award nods for ‘Outstanding leader in HR’ and ‘Woman of the year’.
Over the past year or so, Ciphr has transformed its people strategy, prioritising wellbeing, inclusion, employee experience, engagement and purpose-led performance. Highlights include the launch of:
- Ciphr DNA – a new values-led behaviour and reward framework, which embeds culture into everyday actions and recognition
- Catalyst – a new management development programme, which combines self-paced eLearning with a live, in-person consolidation day
- VIP – a new ‘immersive’ virtual (and in-person) onboarding experience for new employees
- Pulse – a new intranet to simplify comms and amplify employee voice in one central hub
- A new ‘Amplifying Performance’ framework based on the V2MOM model (99% of employees now have measurable goals linked to company strategy)
Claire Hawes, chief people and operations officer at Ciphr, says: “I’m incredibly proud that our team has been recognised with a nomination for the best In-House Team Award at The Rewards. It’s a true reflection of their hard work, commitment, and the values they go above and beyond to deliver every day.
“For myself, I’m really honoured to be shortlisted for both ‘Outstanding Leader in HR’ and ‘Woman of the Year’. It’s a real privilege to be recognised alongside such impressive peers, and I’m especially proud of the visibility this brings for female leadership.
“Representation really matters to me – not just for today, but for the next generation of women in our industry. And awards like these help challenge norms, close gender gaps at the top management level, and show aspiring leaders what’s possible.”
Karen Lough, director of people, adds: “We’ve delivered a bold transformation across Ciphr’s people function – landing a number of strategic initiatives that have fundamentally reshaped our employee experience over the past 18 months. I’m incredibly proud of the team’s impact and the recognition we’re receiving for it.”
Ciphr’s other recent award nominations include ‘Best Intranet’ (for Ciphr Pulse) at Gallagher’s 2025 Communications & Digital Employee Experience Awards and ‘Rising Star of the Year’ – for Ciphr’s Zoë Bloomfield – at the 2026 Learning Awards.
Zoë Bloomfield, learning & development business partner at Ciphr, says: “Being shortlisted for this Rising Star Award is an incredible honour. I’m deeply passionate about creating learning experiences that shape our culture, empower our people and contributes to the success of our business.
“To be recognised by a global professional body like the LPI (Learning and Performance Institute) for my work on our onboarding programme and new management development programme is a huge milestone in my career, and a testament to the impact of the work we’re doing here at Ciphr.”
The winners of the 2025 Rewards and Incentive Awards and Gallagher’s 2025 Communications & Digital Employee Experience Awards will be announced in November. The Learning Awards ceremony will take place next year, in February 2026.
Ciphr has already won two trophies this year: Software Product of the Year at the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP) Annual Excellence Awards, for Ciphr Payroll, and Tech Employer of the Year at the Thames Valley Tech and Innovation Awards.
Earlier this month, Lauren Scott-Jackson, digital design lead at Ciphr, who helped create Ciphr Pulse, was also awarded a commendation in the 'You don't have to work in comms to be a commsHERO' category at the 2025 commsHERO Awards.
