{"id":32005,"date":"2026-07-07T15:44:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T14:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/?p=32005"},"modified":"2026-07-07T14:59:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:59:53","slug":"extra-helps-director-of-operations-wins-ewif-employee-of-the-year-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/extra-helps-director-of-operations-wins-ewif-employee-of-the-year-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Extra Help\u2019s Director of Operations Wins EWiF Employee of the Year 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

We\u2019re absolutely delighted to share the wonderful news that Sarah Sanders, <\/span>Extra Help<\/span>\u2019s outstanding Director of Operations and owner of <\/span>Extra Help South Hams,<\/span> Torbay, West Devon and Bude<\/span>,<\/span> has been announced as<\/span> the winner of the 2026 Encouraging Women into Franchising (EWiF) Employee of the Year Award<\/b>!<\/span><\/p>\n

This is an incredible achievement and a well-deserved recognition of Sarah\u2019s dedication to strengthening our franchise network and supporting franchisees to build their own home-help businesses within their local communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Celebrating excellence in the franchising world<\/b><\/p>\n

The <\/span>EWiF Awards<\/span> champion women who are making a meaningful impact in the franchising sector, and Sarah embodies the values of leadership, compassion and innovation that EWiF seeks to highlight. Her work at <\/span>Extra Help<\/span> plays a vital role in ensuring our home-help services remain reliable, consistent and community-focused across the UK.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Director of Operations, Sarah oversees the onboarding, training and mentoring of new franchisees. Her supportive, hands-on approach helps each franchisee to build a sustainable, client-centric home-help business that truly makes a difference to many different types of people, from the elderly and vulnerable to busy families.<\/span><\/p>\n

A well-deserved win for an exceptional leader<\/b><\/p>\n

Sarah\u2019s award comes at a time of significant growth for <\/span>Extra Help<\/span>. Under her expert guidance:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • 13 new franchisees<\/b> have joined the network in the past two years<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Extra Help has expanded to <\/span>over 30 franchise territories<\/b><\/li>\n
  • Client numbers increased by <\/span>22% in 2025<\/b>, up from 10% the previous year<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Hours of support delivered locally rose by <\/span>57%<\/b><\/li>\n
  • Our teams of home-helpers grew by <\/span>62% nationally<\/b><\/li>\n
  • Franchisees achieved an average <\/span>32% profit margin<\/b><\/li>\n
  • Head Office profitability increased from <\/span>12% in 2023 to 18% in 2025<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Sarah has also led the rollout of improved digital systems, including our partnership with <\/span>Birdie care management software<\/span>, and introduced weekly Zoom support sessions and one-to-one coaching. These initiatives have helped franchisees to streamline their operations, increase efficiencies, improve client care and grow their home-help franchises with confidence.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Her commitment to raising standards and empowering others has visibly served to strengthen the entire Extra Help community.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Sarah\u2019s reaction to the win<\/b><\/p>\n

    Speaking after the ceremony, Sarah shared her delight:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cIt was amazing and completely unexpected to be announced the winner of Employee of the Year. I\u2019m so grateful to have been a finalist, and absolutely delighted to win. It feels like a wonderful testament to the hard work I\u2019ve put in over the past few years, and to the positivity, drive and ambition behind making Extra Help the best it can be.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

    Reflecting on the wider event, she added:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cAfter an inspiring day at the <\/span>British Franchise Association Empowering Women In Business (EWIB) Conference<\/span>, this really was the cherry on the cake. Supporting franchisees to build their own teams and make a difference in their communities is a privilege, and I\u2019m thrilled that the work we\u2019re doing has been recognised.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    A proud moment for the Extra Help family<\/b><\/p>\n

    Everyone at <\/span>Extra Help<\/span> is incredibly proud of Sarah\u2019s achievement. Her leadership, energy and unwavering commitment to helping others succeed are at the heart of what makes our home-help franchise network so special and unique.<\/span><\/p>\n

    This award not only celebrates Sarah\u2019s individual contribution but also highlights the strength of the entire Extra Help community \u2013 our franchisees, home-helpers and the clients we support every day.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Looking ahead<\/b><\/p>\n

    With Sarah continuing to drive innovation, training and support across the network, we\u2019re incredibly excited for what the future holds. Her win reinforces our mission to deliver compassionate, reliable, high-quality home-help services nationwide, while empowering franchisees to build successful, community-focused home-help businesses.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We\u2019re absolutely delighted to share the wonderful news that Sarah Sanders, Extra Help\u2019s outstanding Director of Operations and owner of Extra Help South Hams, Torbay, West Devon and Bude, has been announced as the winner of the 2026 Encouraging Women into Franchising (EWiF) Employee of the Year Award! This is an incredible achievement and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":32006,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-extra-help","category-consultancy-franchises"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Sarah-Sanders-Ewif-Awards-980x1225-1-768x960-1.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32005"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32031,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32005\/revisions\/32031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.franchiselocal.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}