The benefits of choosing a family-led business
The company was founded in the late 1980s by Mary Lee. Fast-forward 30 years, and Mary’s sons – Tim and Ben Lee – are still involved with Helping Hands Home Care and continuing their mother’s good work.
Helping Hands has grown from strength to strength, now providing much-needed home support for thousands of families throughout England and Wales. Today, we cover the full range of home care services, from companionship, home help and personal care right through to nursing care for complex needs.
We are also proud to be the only care company recognised in the UK’s Best Places to Work 2018, in the Top 20 UK Companies with the best workplace culture and leadership, and incredibly honoured to have the award for 32nd best CEO in the UK for our former CEO and now Chairman, Tim Lee, with a 92% approval rating (from Glassdoor and independent employee reviews).
About Mary’s background
Mary’s profession as a teacher of children with learning disabilities brought her into contact with many social services departments around the Midlands.
Mary began to realise that local authorities were seeking partnerships with outside agencies to provide quality care for people in their own home. With this in mind Mary formed Helping Hands in 1989.
Mary’s eldest son Tim, an undergraduate at Cardiff University, would help the family business by visiting customers and answering phone enquiries when he returned home between term times. His younger brother Ben, still at school at the time, would assist the payroll of Mary’s growing collection of carers, while revising for his GCSEs and A-Levels.
Tim and Ben – taking the business forward
Mary left the business in 2007 after 18 years for her well-earned retirement. Tim is now Chairman and has presided over a period of growth for the organisation, which now employs over 5,000 carers across England and Wales.
Despite the success of the business, the central philosophy of Helping Hands is the same today as it always has been – a desire to provide the best care possible to people in a way which promotes independence, ensures dignity and aids emotional well-being.
This will always be the Helping Hands way.
Meet our senior managersTim recognised as a UK top 50 CEO
For the second year running, former CEO Tim – now Chairman – received an impressive 92% approval rating based on anonymous and voluntary reviews shared by Helping Hands’ employees. More than 700,000 UK companies were reviewed in all with an average approval rating of 67%.
“My family’s original vision and values still underpin everything that we strive so hard to achieve,” Tim shared, “therefore focussing on our people and listening to and understanding their concerns has to be my top priority.”
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