It’s easy to feel somewhat dejected in this uncertain financial climate. Jobs are still being cut and organisations of all types and sizes are reducing their costs. Plus, the retraction of the met office’s ‘barbeque summer’ as the rain poured down has only further dampened the spirits of staff around offices.
Although the flood (to continue the water analogy) of unemployment is set to steadily surge for some time, there are proactive measures that can be taken to ensure productivity and staff morale (key to a happy successful working environment) remains buoyant. It is clear to us that business success is linked to competent and conscientious people at all levels and improved performance is a result of the training and development provided.
About Investors in People
We, at Investors in People London, aim to focus on identifying organisational priorities and applying the framework towards meeting specific objectives through strong, happy work forces. Achieving the Investors in People standard is seen to be an opportunity to reflect companies’ achievements and more importantly a commitment to their people[1].
Over a third of the UK’s workforce now work for some 35,000 recognised Investor in People organisations. Since launching in 1991, the standard is now recognised and internationally respected as the only quality standard focusing on people. It is viewed increasingly favourably by captains of industry with a 5% rise in advocacy levels between 2006 and 2007.
Case study – McDonalds’s
One company that has recently implemented the Investors in People Standard is McDonald’s. Having deployed Investors in People’s new approach to levels of credit – Bronze, Silver and Gold, as well their new form of recognition for long-term holders of Investors in People accreditation, McDonald’s new Gold status enabled them to make improvements for the benefit of the company and more importantly their staff. Organisations who achieve Investors in People Bronze, Silver and Gold status represent the top 1% of recognised Investors in People organisations.
McDonalds did their Investors In People consultation in 2008 and wanted to push the boundaries and measure all aspects of the business. They were determined to get the most out of the review to ensure their practices were to the highest standard, looking specifically at:
- Comparisons with other profile users.
- People’s perceptions.
- Areas of strength.
- Potential areas for development.
During the Investors in People assessment, it was essential to interview a good cross-section of employees at all levels, from shop floor to management. Because of the size of the organisation it was imperative that the right people were targeted to extract the key information. The face-to-face assessments were thorough and efficient and what was striking was the commitment by staff who even volunteered to come in on days off to do the one-to-one sessions. This demonstrated that staff would sacrifice their short-term work/life balance for a long-term positive gain.
The Investors in People review allowed them to gain the most stretching information by using the most challenging questions. This would help gather in-depth knowledge about the company. McDonald’s had a very honest, open view and therefore wanted to face the results – good or bad. Once they had reviewed the information, their aim was to take action with improvements relevant to the organisation and to the issues highlighted by their staff.
The results they attained from this exceptional accomplishment has only enhanced McDonald’s reputation and give them an even bigger edge in this current economic climate. Steve Easterbrook, McDonald’s UK’s CEO and president observes:
‘If you get the people right the rest will follow and after the results delivered by Investors in People I can say that it’s apparent we are certainly getting it right. I have never underestimated the challenge of staff retention and contentment which are absolutely fundamental to a successful business. Achieving Investors in People recognition just highlights how we strive to achieve high standards; it has helped us to refine the good practice we already have in place.’
There were many areas of notable strength, but one of the most outstanding was engaging with people across a vast cross–section of employees. There were also very strong results demonstrating that staff had the best coaching available and felt their managers were strong and inspiring leaders. Wellbeing was also a significant factor for staff and at McDonald’s they felt that working there gave them a good work/life balance.
Key findings of the analysis included:
- 78% of staff are proud to work for McDonald’s.
- 82% of staff feel their training is directly linked to the business objective.
- 80% of new recruits believe they get the training they need.
- 80% of staff understand and believe that they are being trained well and helped with their career paths.
- 100% of employees feel that any feedback they have given has been listened to and used to make improvements within the company.
How to go about an Investors in People assessment application
If you are thinking about receiving an assessment or review from Investors in People in your organisation, then the process can be broken down into the following stages:
- Submitting an application form.
- Appointing an assessor.
- First communications with your assessor.
- Preparing for the planning meeting.
- The planning meeting itself.
- Agreeing the design of the assessment and what will be covered.
- The agreement of an assessment plan and costs.
- Agreeing the assessment ’sample’.
- Exploring evidence and the on-site visit.
- The assessment decision/s.
- Initial, headline feedback.
- The written report.
- The recognition process (and panel).
- The improvement planning meeting.
- A customer satisfaction questionnaire (CSQ).
- Annual contact with your assessor.
It is important to strike the right balance of investing in and motivating staff. The standard can open up learning and development creating a better working environment and ultimately content staff. For businesses that genuinely care about their people and try to produce positive results from assessing their business in times of recession, the Investors in People standard can only be a constructive and rewarding avenue to achieve this.
[1] Further information on Investors in People along with some free diagnostic tools can be found at: www.investorsinpeople.co.uk