• Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

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Isos makes the gold standard as an Investor in People

Screen Shot 2016-01-29 at 13.21.15Affordable housing provider Isos Housing is celebrating being accepted into the exclusive club of ‘gold’ Investors in People employers nationwide.

The award puts Isos in the top 7% of accredited organisations across the UK who have committed to realising the potential of their people.

Isos, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, owns and manages more than 12,500 homes across the North East region and employs more than 400 staff.

The gold award for Isos is an especially significant achievement, as it means the landlord now holds the same accreditation as its subsidiary Cestria Community Housing, which ‘went gold’ in October.

The two landlords together manage nearly 17,000 homes and employ over 500 staff.

Investors in People is the UK’s leading accreditation for business improvement through people management, and provides a wealth of resources for businesses to innovate, improve and grow, with a focus on ‘good people making great business.’

Around 50 Isos staff were interviewed by an Investors in People assessor over the course of a week, looking at a wide range of subjects, including:

  • communication and knowledge transfer
  • training and staff development
  • leadership
  • coaching
  • employee engagement

Paul Devoy, Head of Investors in People, said: “We’d like to congratulate Isos on their Gold standard. Such a high level of accreditation is the sign of great people management practice, and demonstrates a commitment to staff development and shows an organisation committed to being the very best it can be. Everyone at Isos should be extremely proud of their achievement.”

Steve Burrows, Managing Director of Investors in People North of England said:
“This is a fantastic achievement for Isos and I would like to congratulate the team on their success. We believe that good people make a great business and as a proven organisational development framework, Investors in People is designed to help organisations and their people to realise potential, enhance performance and meet goals. With their Gold accreditation, Isos is certainly working to realise their people potential.”

Commenting on the award, Jennifer Flint, assistant director people at Isos said: “Being a good employer is not just desirable – it’s a crucial part of how we run our business. We know that Isos succeeds when our people succeed, so it’s down to us to create the right environment to let them thrive, to encourage best practice, and to set challenging goals.
“Achieving gold accreditation represents the best possible start to 2016, and we’re now motivated to build on this achievement, and reach our goals.”

Isos was told that that the measures which had impressed the IIP assessor included:

A strong approach to Corporate Social Responsibility, with clear evidence of “a vast array of community investment work”, alongside a range of charitable activities and environmental initiatives
LEAN methodology being adopted across the organisation, with front line staff able to put forward their ideas to improve services for the benefit of customers
The creation of the Stepping Into Management career development programme which encourages staff to develop their skills, and prepare them for a managerial position in the future.
Roll out of ‘Performance Through People’, a development programme to ensure all managers understand and adopt a consistent approach to people management and implementing people policies and procedures
Opportunities for coaching and mentoring have been extended across the business, with in-house resource, as well as accessing a national mentoring scheme

The gold IiP award is the latest endorsement for Isos as an employer in what has been a year of impressive achievements.

The business has recently heard that it has again been listed as a one star organisation in the Best Companies to Work For assessment.

In September, Isos was proud to be listed in sixth place on the inaugural Inside Housing ‘Innovation Index’, which calculates if an employer’s working environment is conducive to creativity and new ideas.

And finally, Isos is currently being re-assessed to renew its ServiceMark accreditation with the Institute of Customer Service.

For more information about Investors in People please visit www.investorsinpeople.co.uk

By admin