NORTHUMBERLAND headquartered soft furnishings specialist Bazaar Group has been awarded the prestigious Investors in People Accreditation for demonstrating excellence in people management.
The highly sought-after standard is shared by only five other manufacturers of equal size in all of Northern England.
Employing 50 people across design, marketing, customer care, production and operational departments, Bazaar Group was praised for engaging and motivating staff with its corporate values and a clear organisational purpose.
Bazaar Group managing director Mark Dolder said: “At Bazaar Group we work tirelessly to achieve our commercial objectives in line with our corporate values. As one of only a handful of accredited companies in the North, we are very proud that this approach has helped put our company on the map as a notable employer for the region.
“I am immensely proud of our team; from staff drawing on our corporate values in everyday decision making, to the commitment of our senior management team in delivering outstanding people management initiatives.
“Our head of HR, Toni Madine has created a best of breed human resource programme, positively impacting our commercial success. With our unique appraisal framework we can highlight skills gaps in individual learning plans. These gaps are opportunities for development and can be addressed with on-site peer-to-peer workshops, which has also improved our cross-department working.
“To other SME businesses I would say that although the IIP standard is a challenge to achieve, it provides an excellent structure for companies committed to developing their HR function and has provided us with a baseline to continue to grow from. We have internal focus groups arranged for the new year to action areas for improvement so that we put everything we have learnt from the process into practice. We also hope our accreditation will further assist in attracting and retaining talented people in the North East.”
Head of Investors In People Paul Devoy said: “We’d like to congratulate Bazaar Group on achieving Investors in People Accreditation. Achieving this accolade is the sign of great people management practices. It demonstrates a strong investment in staff development and shows an organisation committed to being the very best it can be. Bazaar Group should be extremely proud of its achievement.”
Investors in People is a national quality standard, which defines good practice for improving a company’s performance through its people. According to Investors in People it is the sign of ‘a great employer, an outperforming place to work and of a clear commitment to sustainability.’
The Bazaar Group is a family-run soft furnishings designer, manufacturer and retail business, which launched in 2005 and has experienced over 20% growth, consistently year on year, without outside investment.