Karen Jones is the dream boss who goes above and beyond to help her staff and her community.

That is according to the entire staff of Home to Work, Cleator Moor, who have nominated their managing director as person of the week.

Karen oversees the social enterprise Works4You offering property maintenance and gardening services in Cumbria.

She is also the driving force behind Skills4You which offers skills courses, such as woodwork, personal social development and therapeutic sessions, for Copeland people out of work.

She recognised the massive impactthe pandemic would have on her staff and the community. Karen approached the team with the ide of could run Skills@home – targeting isolated and lonely members of the community along with people suffering with their mental health and well- being. No-one was turned away for help. This was an immediate success

Skills@home was an immediate success and activity packs were distributed around Copeland. A social media support group was set up on What’s App with tremendous support for everyone. Linking up people who were struggling, offering support and advice and making new friends. Skills@home is still running with great feedback from everyone involved.

Karen gained special recognition from the High Sheriff for all of her efforts during this time. She set up and administrated the Covid helpline, meeting with other charities and support groups, especially in the Cleator Moor area to identify individuals and families in need. They delivered food and collected prescriptions, making sure the community wase safe and well.

Going above and beyond her normal duties Karen has thrown everything into keeping all her staff employed, creating new job opportunities in the community during the most challenging of times. She works tirelessly – often checking in at 10pm or over the weekend.

Her employees say Karen has a wonderful family and a grandson she adores, like others she is feeling the tug of being apart from them.

“She is an amazing lady who shies away from nothing – she was spotted spreading salt and gri toutside sheltered housing during the Christmas holidays. She also helped with packing food deliveries on Christmas Eve alongside other volunteers and staff from PEC.

“The team at Home to Work love working alongside Karen. She developed a flexi way of working so her staff with children can home-school. Every member of staff gets a weekly check in. and she encourages the team to chat and share ideas.

“ She is a brilliant lady and her care and consideration of the well-being of the community is second to none.”