Investors In People

The Investors in People Standard provides us with a continuous improvement framework that will help us to improve performance and realise our objectives through the effective management and development of our people. For Berco to succeed everyone has to perform well and to achieve this, our teams need the right knowledge, skills and motivation to work efficiently.

The benefits of working towards and achieving the Standard are many, including:

Improved earnings, productivity and profitability - skilled and motivated people work harder and better, improving productivity.
Customer satisfaction - IiP is central to helping our employees become customer focused, enabling us to effectively meet customer needs.
Improved motivation - through greater employee involvement, personal development and recognition of their achievements. This leads to higher morale, improved retention rates, reduced absenteeism, readier acceptance of change and identification with the organisations goals beyond the confines of the job.
Reduced costs and wastage - skilled and motivated people constantly examine their work to contribute towards reducing costs and wastage.
Enhanced quality - investing in people improves the results of quality programmes such as our ISO 9000 initiative.
Competitive advantage through improved performance - research indicates that IiP organisations develop a competitive edge.
Public recognition - IiP status brings public recognition for real achievements measured against a rigorous National Standard. Being an IiP helps to attract the best quality job applicants and it may also provide a reason for customers to choose specific goods and services.

In March 2009 we were measured against the Standard and exceeded it on numerous areas with the external assessor commenting highly on the information he had received from our staff. He noted that our most significant achievements were:

"The sense of loyalty shown by all personnel to the business and the loyalty of management to their people- shown in particular by how many stayed with the company after its move to Spennymoor even though this involved considerable increase in travel to work time and distance.
The continued focus on learning and development even through the economic climate that existed at the time of the assessment.
The shared vision for the business from all personnel and the shared determination to make it succeed.
The recognition of the need to have an effective management team and the effort put into their development, both as a team and as individuals".

In a concluding statement, the assessor summed up something that was a key driver in commencing our Investors in People journey:

"It is very clear that whatever else may happen in the future the workforce will always make a full contribution to ensuring that the business continues to be successful."

We see this successful accreditation as not the end of the journey, simply the catalyst to improve and develop both our staff and Berco UK in the future.