Property and mining firm the Banks Group has become one of just a handful of North East businesses to gain a gold level accreditation from Investors In People for its performance in people management.
The County Durham-headquartered firm has held an IIP accreditation for more than two decades, achieving silver accreditation in 2018 and maintaining it in a further assessment three years later.
Having increased its investment in learning, development, leadership resources and managing and rewarding performance over the last three years, the family-owned firm has now achieved its best ever IIP assessment result.
Feedback from the IIP assessors noted the “convincing case that Banks Group had progressed to the Gold Award,” the company’s “strategic thinking in the development of people development and management practice” and its “leadership’s ambition to improve and seek different ways of working.”
The assessors’ report also highlighted “good management relationships based on respect” and the feeling that “people are generally enthused and excited about the future.”
Harry Banks, chairman and chief executive at the Banks Group, says: “This much sought after Gold Standard Investors In People accreditation is a credit to our whole team, and I am delighted by the recognition it provides of the high standards of the training, management development systems and corporate values which have been central to the success of the Group over many years.”
The Investors In People accreditation process measures businesses’ performance across nine core competencies – leadership, living the values and behaviours, empowering people, managing and rewarding performance, structuring work, building capability, delivering improvement, creating sustainable success and leading and inspiring people.
As part of the process, IIP assessors visited Banks’ Meadowfield headquarters and other premises to interview a range of randomly-chosen members of staff who represented a cross-section of ages, length of service, roles and seniority.
In addition, an anonymous online survey covering every aspect of the business’s performance across the IIP assessment areas was completed by dozens of employees, with the overall scores recorded being significantly above the IIP average.
Nick Hobdey, group HR director at the Banks Group, adds: “Our people are our greatest asset and achieving the gold award recognises our commitment to supporting their wellbeing and development.
“The assessment was a great opportunity to hear more from our people and to understand what makes the Banks Group such a great place to work. I’m looking forward to working with our teams to now build on this success.”
Daniel Matthews, group learning and development manager at the Banks Group, says: “Attracting, developing and retaining high calibre staff, equipping them with the right range of skills and properly rewarding high performance is a huge part of the culture at Banks Group.
“This accreditation demonstrates the understanding that our employees have about where the business is going, their confidence that their ideas and opinions will be listened to and acted upon, and the importance they place on the development opportunities available to them.”