Tim Fallowfield, Sainsbury's Company Secretary and Corporate Services Director, has been awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours list.
Fallowfield joined Sainsbury’s in 2001 as Company Secretary and the Operating Board in 2004. He is the Board Sponsor for Disability and Carers and in 2016 he was appointed by the Disabilities Minister to Chair the Disability Confident Business Leaders Group.
This brings together leading figures in the business community to raise awareness of the benefits of recruiting, retaining and developing the careers of disabled colleagues. The group also supports the Department for Work and Pensions in encouraging other businesses to join the Disability Confident scheme.
Fallowfield said, “It is a great honour to be recognised in this way. There is much more to do but we are making progress in the Disability Confident Business Leaders Group and helping disabled people to realise their true potential in the workplace. I’m proud of what we’ve achieved at Sainsbury’s as a Disability Confident leader and would like to thank all our colleagues for their support.”
Over the last year Sainsbury’s has made progress through a number of initiatives, such as:
Purple Tuesday – Tim built Sainsbury’s relationship with the charity Purple, which aims to help improve the customer experience for disabled people. For the last two years, the company supported Purple Tuesday in stores, a national day to highlight the issues that disabled customers can face while shopping
Sunflower lanyards – In October, the business rolled out Sunflower Lanyards to all Sainsbury’s and Argos stores, allowing customers who may have hidden disabilities to discreetly ask for extra support
Trials of weekly quiet hours – 30 Sainsbury’s stores are aiming to support customers who find shopping challenging and noisy, including people with autism, hearing loss, dementia and some mental health conditions
Signsbury’s – During Sainsbury’s 150 Days of Community this year, colleagues supported a number of disability related initiatives, including its team at Bath where they created Signsbury’s, the UK’s first ever signing store.
There will be more to come in the New Year, including Sainsbury’s partnership with the British Paralympic Association which will see the retailer support the ParalympicsGB team on the road to competing at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic games.
Fallowfield joined Sainsbury’s from Exel plc, the global logistics company which is now part of DHL. He began his career at the international law firm Clifford Chance and is a qualified solicitor.