Partner Article

Investors in People ? Means Business

Investors in People, the UK’s leading business performance tool recently celebrated its 20th birthday at WorldSkills 2011 in London, where it showcased its impact on small business, releasing new case studies which demonstrate how working with Investors in People achieves recession-beating growth. The new case studies can be found at www.investorsinpeople.co.uk/growth

With a key focus on encouraging small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) to use Investors in People to support their plans for growth, the event was streamed live to hundreds of delegates from across the UK and as far afield as Europe and Asia.

Small businesses in the North East have been identified as having strong entrepreneurial spirit and are keen to drive the economy forward. SMEs are the lifeblood of the region; therefore the new approach from Investors in People fits in perfectly with this demographic. The framework is backed by the government with John Hayes MP, Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, commenting:

“The government is committed to doing all it can to help small businesses build the skills for growth. It’s right that Investors in People is working with us to help small firms get the best from their people, helping build more successful companies, stronger local communities and a more diverse and resilient economy.”

Since it was launched in October 1991, Investors in People has been adopted by employers who represent over 40% of the UK workforce, benefitting more than 10 million UK employees. Investors in People “means business”; it’s all about business improvement, providing business advice and assessment in over 75 countries worldwide. More than 6,000 organisations have worked with the Standard continuously for ten years or more.

North East based vehicle manufacturer Nissan, and mining and construction equipment manufacturer Komatsu UK Ltd, attended the celebratory event representing some of the first employers to achieve Investors in People two decades ago and are still working with the framework today.

Steve Pallas, Training and Development Manager at Nissan’s Sunderland Plant said:

“Our people play a vital role in how our business operates and are key to its continuing success.

“Over the last 20 years Investors in People has provided a practical and solid framework with which we can develop our people, and the continued success of the plant has demonstrated that it works.”

For Komatsu UK Ltd, Investors in People has supported the organisation through recession, providing the manufacturing firm with a business framework for excellence in people management. This has translated into the retention of high calibre employees over the past few years, which is now a key factor in steering Komatsu towards growth.

Tracey Wilson, Human Resources Manager at Komatsu said

“We have just gone through our re-assessment process, and it was particularly pleasing to receive some positive comments from the Assessor about the strength of our communications strategy, and the openness of our management culture, areas which we have further developed since our previous assessment. We strongly believe that working with Investors in People helps us to improve our business on an ongoing basis, and enables us to attract and retain high calibre employees.”

To find out more about Investors in People and how it can help your organisation to improve, develop and grow, please get in touch with idg, the official partner for Investors in People in the North of England – www.i-dg.co.uk – tel: 0844 4068008.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tara Bilton .