Introduction This note gives an update on the external review of Investors in People led by The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. It emphasises the continuing importance of Investors in People in driving business improvement. Publication The importance of defining how Investors in People (IIP) can best contribute to increased UK productivity was a key recommendation of the recent HM Treasury sponsored Leitch review. This has led our sponsor, The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) to formally announce plans for an external review. In October 2007, DIUS commissioned the independent study which sought to gather opinion on the IIP proposition from customers and key stakeholders such as CBI, TUC, and the Devolved Administrations. This will inform Ministers in their plans for on-going development of the Government Skills Strategy. Presently around 8 million employees work for IIP organisations. The review’s initial findings confirm that Investors in People continues to enjoy widespread support across a diverse range of organisations, covering different sectors and employee size groups. IIPUK welcome the review as it provides an opportunity to demonstrate how we are adding value to organisations of all sizes, and sectors, whether they are public, private, or voluntary sector. The review will enable IIPUK to measure the effectiveness of the steps that we have already undertaken over the last year to improve our customer proposition ensuring it remains adaptable to the changing needs of our customers, and supporting Government across a range of different agendas – not least productivity, skills, and improved customer care.
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Investors in People Champion, Thomson Directories Limited (TDL), warmly invites you to attend their open day for a unique opportunity to visit their Farnborough site. Thomson will be sharing best practice on the ‘Reward and Recognition’ policies which has helped secure them as the leading local directory publisher in the UK. Today, TDL produces 173 editions of the Thomson Local, distributing 22 million copies throughout the UK. They will also be talking about their journey to Investors in People and prestigious Champion status. The open day will be held on 4th March 2008 at Farnborough. The day will run from 10.00am to 12.00pm with buffet lunch provided and promises to be an exhilarating insight into why each week Thomson Local directories are used by 6 million people and generate 15 million business referrals. If you would like to attend this event please contact us. Places will be allocated on a first come first served bases. Please book early to ensure a place, at what is sure to be a very popular event.
Nine new Investors in People ‘Champions’ announced 30/11/2007 Introduction Investors in People today announced that nine organisations have been awarded Investors in People Champion status 2007. In addition, a further 10 organisations, who were named as Champions back in 2004, have also successfully retained their status for another three years Publication Investors in People today announced that nine organisations have been awarded Investors in People Champion status 2007. In addition, a further 10 organisations, who were named as Champions back in 2004, have also successfully retained their status for another three years. The Investors in People Champions programme recognises employers that have boosted the productivity of their organisation through the way they manage and develop their employees. Each has demonstrated consistent commitment to people development as a way of delivering its organisation's goals. The Investors in People Standard benefits organisations of all sizes and sectors, and this year’s new Champions reflect this diversity, including West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive - Metro, Salford Council (Community, Health and Social Care Directorate) and Business Advisers, Cooper Parry. They will join the other 27 Champions which include TNT UK Ltd, Nationwide Building Society and Yell. The Champions will work with Investors in People UK to help other employers by sharing their experience and success in the area of people development. The best practice sharing activities will include mentoring and site visits to Champion organisations. David Lammy, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Skills, commented; "If we want our economy to compare with the best in the world, we need skills that compare with the best in the world. The UK’s employers play a crucial role in delivering this vision, ensuring their employees are motivated, equipped with the right skills and able to fulfil their potential. “The Investors in People Champions have demonstrated real commitment to the development of their people and clearly recognise the link between properly skilled employees and benefits to their bottom-line and overall organisational performance. I congratulate them on their achievements.” Presenting the awards at a celebratory dinner last night, Simon Jones, Acting Chief Executive, Investors in People said: “When we launched the programme back in 2004, we wanted to recognise and celebrate those employers that have placed the Investors in People Standard at the heart of their organisations and as a result, have reaped the benefits of effective people development. Four years on, we have a diverse range of Champions spanning sectors including health, education, finance and logistics, employing ten people up to 15,000 people.” “In the last four years, our Champions have shared their expertise with employers across the UK, highlighting the business benefits of effective people development including increased employee motivation, higher retention rates and improved productivity. I am delighted to award another nine organisations Champion status – I’m sure they will bring huge benefits to the programme. Congratulations also to the ten organisations who have retained their Champion status and have helped make the programme as successful as it is today.” This year’s successful Champions are: Central Scotland Forest Trust, Shotts, Lanarkshire, Scotland Salford Council (Community, Health and Social Care Directorate), Salford, North West Cooper Parry, Nottingham, East Midlands Taylor’s, Stockport, North West The Cedar Foundation, Belfast, Northern Ireland West Yorkshire Passenger Transit Executive, Yorkshire and Humberside Hilbre High School, Wirral, North West Northern Council Housing Association, Blackburn, North West Redbridge Community School, Southampton, Hants The Champions which have retained their status are: Barnfield College, Luton, South East Chelmsford College, Chelmsford, Essex ClinPhone Group Ltd, Nottingham, East Midlands Nationwide Building Society, Swindon, South West Old School House Day Nursery, Newmarket, Suffolk South Farnham School, Farnham, Surrey Springfarm Architectural Moldings, Antrim, Northern Ireland St Mary’s Girls College, Londonderry, Northern Ireland Swiss Cottage School, London TNT UK Ltd, Warwickshire, West Midlands Champion status is awarded on an annual basis to organisations which apply and is judged on a set of criteria. Champion status lasts for three years, after which time current Champions are invited to reapply for the status, should they wish to do so. Businesses wishing to contact any of the Champions or requiring further information should email champions@iipuk.co.uk
Investors in People Champion, Merseytravel, Merseyside`s Passenger Transport Authority and Executive, has joined more than 150 leading employers from across England to make a public and voluntary commitment to the “Skills Pledge". This is a pledge to train all its staff and continue to support them to develop basic skills, including numeracy, literacy and also work towards relevant, valuable qualifications to at least Level 2. As part of its commitment in investing in skills and sharing best practice Merseytravel are holding a joint event with Investors in People UK, Unionlearn and the LSC to showcase the approach Merseytravel has taken in relation to Investors in People and the benefits they have seen from using the Standard and working in partnership with other organisations such as UnionLearn and the LSC. The event will take place on 6th March 2008 in Liverpool. The day will run from 9.30am to 4.00pm and will be a mixture of keynote speeches and interactive workshops, including a demonstration of the Investors in People on-line assessment tool, IIP Interactive. Keynote speakers will include Neil Scales, Chief Executive and Director General at Merseytravel, Frances Graham, Head of Skills Investors in People UK, Liz Smith, Director of Unionlearn and Paul Holme, Regional Skills Director for the North West. The event is open to representatives of businesses from across the regions. If you are interested in this event please book early as places are limited and filling up fast.
Investors in People Champion and leading manufacturer of MDF architectural moulding in Europe , Springfarm Architectural Mouldings, will be hosting an Open Day at their site in Northern Ireland on 16th January 2008. The day will be themed on 'How we built the winningteam'. It promises to be an interactive and informative day with a factory tour, presentations, questions and answer sessions where they will share the experiences and strategies that has secured them an award winning team placing them firmly on the cutting edge of business. If you are interested in attending this event please book early as places are limited. (time to be confirmed)
Investors in People Champion and winner of Business of the Year award 2007 (Midlands & East of England Region) and Wellbeing award 2007, Clinphone will be hosting an Open Day at their head office in Nottingham(Date to be confirmed). Clinphone is recognised for its continued growth, commitment to the community, investment in employees, and overall business excellence. And as part of its commitment to sharing best practice with others it will be opening its doors to all to share its experiences on `Health and Wellbeing in the work’ place and how its approach has made positives impact on its people and business. The day provides an excellent opportunity to see some of the Health and Wellbeing initiatives that Clinphone have launched and hear about some of the challenges it has faced as a company, as it moved these initiatives from initial concept to launch. The workshop will be an interactive experience with plenty of opportunities for discussion and networking. Clinphone will also be inviting one of its Health and Wellbeing partners to talk about how they have worked together to establish some of its Health and Wellbeing benefits. The day will run from 09:30 to 15:00. Places available on a first come first serve basis. Please watch this space for date confirmation.
A fantastic opportunity to visit Yell, a Dow Jones sustainability World and Dow Jones STOXX Sustainability Index included Investors in People Champion organisation. This puts Yell in the top 10% on sustainability of some 2,500 companies in the world. They have also been included in the Global 100 List of the world’s most sustainable businesses. Yell have achieved much on CSR and as part of their commitment to sharing their approach they will be opening their doors to all to visit them at their site on 17 October 2007. This is a unique opportunity to see and hear how Yell have achieved their CSR successes to the benefit of all their stakeholders, investors, people, the communities in which they operate and also their involvement with Investors in People. The day starts at 09:30 to 16:00 hosting a variety of Yell and community project speakers. This promises to be an exciting, stimulating and insightful event where Yell will share their CSR experiences and first class practical advice to get any organisation on their own journey to CSR excellence. There are limted places available please book early to secure a place.
This is a fantastic opportunity for all types of organisations to learn about Swiss Cottage School’s steps towards its success. The event will be hosted by the Head of Swiss Cottage School, Kay Bedford. Kay will speak about how Swiss Cottage incorporated an Investors in People culture within its workplace to achieve high levels of effectiveness. For example when the school amalgamated in 1995, the Standard was one of the reasons behind this successful transition. It has also rated very highly on previous Ofsted Inspections which has included comments such as ‘extremely successful,’ ‘achieving excellence’ and it was included in the HM Chief Inspector’s ‘Most Successful Schools’ list. Kay will focus on Swiss Cottage’s areas of expertise which are Mentoring and Coaching, Leadership and Management and People Development. Attendees will also have the opportunity to take a tour around the school, view staff in action and talk to the staff on a one-to-one basis. This will be an informative and useful event which will start at 10am and finish at 3pm on the 19th April 2007. There are a limited number of places available so if you are interested then please book soon to ensure your place at the event.
On the 13th February Gary Mathews, Director of Client Relations and Devolved Governments from Investors in People UK presented Scottish Provident International Life Assurance with their Champion plaque at their office in Douglas, the Isle of Man. It was quite an occasion as the Minister for Trade and Industry, David Cretney was present and said a few words. Also present were David Reid an Assessor from CAR NW, Roger Chapman from CAR NW, Nadine Taylor, a representative from Resolution (to whom Scottish Provident are a subsidiary of) and other selected Isle of Man organisations. This presentation will revolve around a week’s worth of activity where there will also be a re-run of the ‘winning’ Champions presentation to the rest of the Scottish Provident staff and a chance to see a portfolio of evidence that Scottish Provident maintain to support their annual Investors in People accreditation. This all culminates in a staff party at the end of the week! This shows that the concept of being a Champion is internalised throughout the organisation and that all staff members understand the benefits of being an Investor in People.
Merseytravel were presented with their Champion plaque on the 6th February by June Williams, Director of Quality and Delivery Partners from Investors in People UK. In attendance from Merseytravel were Neil Scales, Chief Executive, Jim Barclay, Director, Alan Stelwell, Director and Liz Chandler, Learning and Development Officer along with other Merseytravel staff. Steve Burrows and Colin Jones from the Centre for Assessment and Recognition in the North-west, Della Barnett, an Investors in People advisor were present along with local councillors and representatives from Union Learn.
Metro were presented with their Champion plaque on the 6th February by Nicola Clark, Director of Marketing from Investors in People UK. Andra King, Director of Client Services from CQL and Lara Ashworth, Director of Talent and Culture, Metro were also present for this occasion.
Fujitsu Services were presented with their Champion plaque on the 2nd February 2007 by Investors in People UK's Director of Development, Kirsty Baker. The presentation took place at Fujitsu's London offices where Ian Williams, Head of Organisation and People Development from Fujitsu, David Courtley, CEO from Fujitsu, Roger Leek, Group HR Director, from Fujitsu and Trish Fraser CEO from Fujitsu were present.
Investors in People UK are hosting a Profile Training event specially for Champions on the 17th January 2007. The training will be hosted by Jon Walden from Capital Quality Ltd and the event is designed to introduce them to Profile.
Morley High School were presented their plaque on the 4th January 2007 by acting Cheif Executive of Investors in People UK, Simon Jones. The presentation was in conjunction with a prize day where pupils received all sorts of rewards. Also in attendance were high profile members of the local community such as the local board of Governers, the Mayor of Leeds and the local MP. Phil Hardy, Deputy Head of Morley High School said the event was a resounding success and commented, "with Simon present it felt our partnership with Investors in People UK had gone up a level."
After a extremely tough and long process Investors in People UK are delighted to announce the selection of its 2006 Champion Organisations. Congratulations to you all. Fujitsu Services – Berkshire GS Contracts – Essex Merseytravel – Liverpool Metro – London Morley High School – Yorkshire NCP – Manchester Northbrook Technology Northern Ireland (NTNI) – Co Antrim Scottish Provident International Life Assurance (SPILA) – Isle of Man Sweyne Park School – Essex An extremely sucessful awards dinner was held at the Shakesphere Underglobe and our guest speaker Brian Blessed presented each organisation with their Champion Certificates. Well done to all!
Prudential has postponed their site visit from the 12th Sept to 18th Oct. It will now be taking place in Reading and will no longer occur in Craigforth, Sterling. I apologise for the inconvenience.
On 10th November, Nationwide will be hosting a site visit on evaluation. They will cover how Nationwide evaluates the impact on the performance of the organisation. More details will be posted shortly in the best practice sharing section.
Date: Tuesday 12th September Location: Craigforth, Stirling Time: 09:30am - 13:00pm AND Date: Wednesday 4th October Location: Reading, Berkshire Time: 09:30am - 13:00pm. Topic: Working for today, learning for tomorrow. An opportunity for you to learn more about Prudential's e-enabled learning and development approach and how it is supported by the Investors in People standard.
Please note that the closing date for applications to the 2006 Champions programme is Friday 19th May. If you still have an application form to submit, please contact Lora Bolton as soon as possible on 020 7467 1909. Thank you and good luck to everyone who has applied.
Some people have had problems with the 2006 application form. Some of the text boxes do not expand. If you have this problem (usually with section 3), please put the answer into a word document and send it to lorab@iipuk.co.uk with the application form. We have extended the application deadline to Friday 19th May because of this problem. If you have any queries, please contact Lora on 020 7467 7909 or 07778 575822. Good luck!
On 26th September, Yell will be hosting a site visit in Reading, Berkshire on Strategic Communication. Topic will be Strategic Communication. Engaging people - 3,800 people to drive an organisation forward, has proved a powerful and frequently irresistible force for Yell. With people increasingly recognised as the key knowledge resource in organisations and the Investors in People Profile standard highlighting the crucial role of strategy, communication and consultation with your workforce, this site visit is your opportunity to hear about Yell’s approach to internal communication, alignment of objectives and how effective communication not only fuels company growth, but also supports teamwork and motivation. Knowing where we fit: Communicating Group Objectives Keeping the message alive: Yell’s approach to Internal Communications Helping our customers get the right message - through our people: Communication in a customer service area Q&A with the panel of speakers
From 3 April - 12 May, we will be accepting applications to the programme. Please see the tab "How to become a Champion" to find out more and to download the application form.
Thomson Directories will be hosting another site visit in May. If you are interested in applying, see the best practice sharing section on this website.
On 10th October the National Awards Panel selected Eight new Champion Organisations. Café Spice Namaste, Carpentry Management Contracting (CMC) Ltd, Friends Road Medical Practice, Lyness Group, Prudential UK, Rivington and Blackrod High School, Thomson Directories Limited, Yell
