MBE awarded to Fahima Khanom
In the Queen’s Birthday Honours 2021, Fahima Khanom was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to Customer Service during Covid-19 and for the charity work she does.
Fahima has greatly improved staff engagement at a site which has historically struggled to involve staff in Continuous Improvement.
She has done great work in implementing a new standard of management meeting, resulting in her team routinely making excellent suggestions for improvement.
This culture change has been incredibly positive, made work much more interesting for the staff, and greatly increased morale.
Since COVID, she’s trained over 150 staff from all areas of the business, some with very little prior knowledge of the subject. This has greatly assisted with recovering the CCA position following the temporary closure of sites.
Staffs have not only performed well but exceeded their performance targets which is a credit to her training and dedication to supporting people. The impact of her training was pivotal in being able to recover the CCA customer services.
In her spare time Fahima volunteers to support numerous charities, she manages a local madrassah, as a project manager she organises events for women and children.
One aspect of the work she finds most rewarding is helping young, vulnerable women from ethnic minority groups requiring assistance and financial support by signposting them to professional services.
Lockdown challenges didn’t stop her and she continued to support the community by raising funds for PPE for local charities and Muslim supported funeral services around Yorkshire.
Fahima:
As a British Bangladeshi Muslim woman it gives me great pride to be recognised for my achievements through the honours awards. We play a crucial role and make positive contributions to the economy and society.
“This is a great surprise to me and this award truly belongs to all those that have and continue to support me, those that have recognised my talents and encouraged me in my career journey at the Valuation Office Agency. It also belongs to all the amazing people and communities that I work with on a volunteer basis.
I want to thank everyone who has supported my journey and always guided and helped me. From my colleagues at the VOA to my family, friends and the wider community. I couldn’t have done it without you. You all helped me challenge myself. My late father Jamshid Ali Khan and my mother are both a true inspiration to me and they are the people I derive my strength from.
