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Developed in 1990 by a partnership of leading businesses and national organisations, the Investors in People Standard is a business improvement tool designed to advance an organisation’s performance through its people. Since it was developed the Standard has been reviewed every three years to ensure that it remains relevant, accessible and attractive to all. The most recent review was completed in November 2004.
The Investors in People Standard is promoted and developed by Investors in People UK - a non-departmental public body whose main stakeholder is the Department for Education and Skills. Investors in People UK was established in 1993 to provide national ownership of the Investors in People Standard and is responsible for its promotion and branding, quality assurance and development. The Investors in People Standard is delivered by a partner network, which works closely with Investors in People UK.
Ruth Spellman has been CEO of Investors in People since 1998. With a work background starting at the sharp end of human resources (HR) at the National Coal Board, and progressing to private consultancy, she gained many insights into managing change. “You get to know clients when you are working with them to improve their performance and it sharpened up my thinking that HR and performance ought to be marching much more closely together,” she began. “My experience as a consultant made me link those areas in my mind.” After moving from consultancy to working in the charity sector for six years, Ruth moved to Investors in People “because it was such a fascinating role, a big success and I had ideas on how to take it further.”
Ruth emphasised that although the IiP Standard brings many benefits to an organisation, it also has a wider impact. “We ensure that training is linked to the business plan so every bit of HR investment has got an objective. The IiP process has raised awareness of this issue and that has made a difference, plus our ‘plan, do, review’ technique provides a rigour and to me this was something that I felt has been missing from HR in the past. I think that is where IiP has really been a success, it is putting numbers on something that has always been regarded as a bit pink and fluffy.”
Alongside helping companies that realise that on some level they aren’t making the best use of their people, the Standard is recognised as an international measure of quality and success. “For many companies the brand of Investors is now an intrinsic part of what they do,” commented Ruth.
To maintain the credibility of the Standard, IiP UK reviews it every three years, and to gain use of recognition, companies have to go through a process of learning and development, supported by an IiP-trained consultant. It may sound daunting but Ruth believes that many companies get a pleasant surprise after their initial audit. “The issue with any journey is that you have to know how long it is going to take, and we believe this should be learned up front – so we do an audit which indicates how long the process should take and how much it is going to cost, as this information is necessary before any business can make an intelligent decision.
“Typically the companies that approach us know that they are some of the way there, but they have an uneasy feeling that they aren’t really doing it properly and what they want is guidance and steerage which is absolutely tailored to their needs and that is what we endeavour to deliver.”
Ruth continued to explain the IiP process. “When you get your audit you can work out exactly what needs to be done with the Advisor, who will help you draw up an action plan, help you to plan how to communicate that to all of the people who will be involved in the implementation and explain what the purpose of it is. It isn’t about Draconian measures, it is managing a process to improve people management. The Advisor works alongside the client and when he thinks they’re ready, they are recommended for assessment, independently assessed, a report is written, and then that goes to a panel of employers who make the final judgement.
“We don’t want it to be so easy that no-one values it, but we want people to be aware that they won’t be judged in the early stages, they will only be judged when the Advisor thinks they are a good and ready and the worst that can happen is that they will learn something which can improve their business.” Once awarded, the company can claim IiP status for three years, but then has to be re-assessed.
The most recent Investors in People review in 2004 introduced some changes both to the Standard and to its sister business improvement tool, ‘Profile’. Profile is
a framework of good practice that provides further stretch for organisations by going beyond the current scope of the Standard into broader areas of people management and development. Ruth explained: “We have adapted our existing Profile programme, so that in a sense the IiP Standard is level one of Profile, and Profile goes into
levels two, three or four. Level four companies are really some of the best employers in the world, like Nationwide Building Society.
“Of course every organisation wants to be the best and that competitive urge is healthy and we felt that it was appropriate for us as IiP to encourage that.”
Alongside Profile, if an organisation has specific requirements, IiP offers three Models (Recruitment and Selection, Leadership and Management, and Work-Life balance) that can help.
Ruth explained: “Recruitment and selection is always a problem and I don’t think anyone does it perfectly. The process starts with the advertisement and getting good recruitment practice into your organisation and then working on improving and reviewing it. You would be surprised how many companies have difficulty with it, especially smaller businesses.
“The Leadership and Management Model again recognises that companies know they have leadership and management issues, but don’t know what to do, and we stress that you have a lot of leaders and managers in your midst, but you don’t necessarily know it. It is about identifying people who could move into those roles and then developing it in your organisation, communicating this to the staff and seeing the business benefits.
“The third Model is Work-Life balance, which lots of people are frightened of. We say that organisations should look at their working patterns and see if they are suitable for flexible working. The balance between full time/part time, male and female also helps provide good diversity practice. What we offer is a corporate framework that identifies the issues organisations have experienced so others can learn from it.”
Investors in People UK also launched Investors in People Corporate Solutions in November 2004. Aimed at organisations employing more than 1000 people, with their head office in England, Investors in People Corporate Solutions provides assistance to those seeking first-time accreditation, as well as offering advice, assessment and post-recognition support to large organisations already working with Investors in People.
“Human capital management is a huge issue now,” said Ruth, “and the OFR [Operating Financial Review] is going to require companies with more than 1000 employees to report on human capital for the first time. We think IiP is a brilliant vehicle for doing this.”
However, a business can be of any size to attain IiP, and in fact Ruth stated that small businesses have the most to gain in some ways. “IiP is something they can do to make themselves world class, the help is there and it is empowering for them. It isn’t technologically complex and a very good way of compensating for not having an HR director,” she said.
In this current atmosphere of cutting costs and being as efficient as possible, companies of all sizes will be looking for solid, calculable returns on their investment. “We can demonstrate the ROI,” confirmed Ruth. “We did a study looking at the impact of IiP where we looked at the added value per employee, which is a typical measure for productivity. We found it is twice the value per employee in an IiP company. We have been doing research on this since 1995 and the question is always ‘is it statistically valid’ and as more and more organisations come on board, we have more business evidence, so though we can’t prove cause and effect, we can say is there is a strong positive correlation.”
Alongside helping the bottom line, being an Investor in People also offers other benefits. IiP companies tend not to throw new staff in at the deep end with a weak induction and no further help, which helps retain staff and also reduces their stress levels. “Talking to them and having a structured induction are good first steps,” confirmed Ruth, “but a really good employer might make sure that someone has lunch with a new starter. All this is a good investment decision. The old myth was always that if you train people they leave, but we have found the opposite to be true - if you train them they stay.
“Working for an IiP company also means that you are being invested in, and although that is no guarantee of a job for life, it gives you a good chance of continuing to be employable. An employer can play a big role in motivating employees to learn and adapt, and provide them with support.”
Ruth has personally made more than 5000 IiP awards but when pressed to identify one company she really admires, she nominated logistics and mail services providers, TNT. “This is very hard nosed and commercial company,” she said, “but they have such an excellent internal approach to recruitment that many ex-lorry drivers run the business, and they are very dedicated to quality. Their training and professionalism is what differentiates them from the competition in a very cut-throat industry, and they have increased profits by around 30 per cent year on year. Using their people properly is the difference.”
In conclusion, I asked Ruth if she is always on the lookout for companies that could use a bit of help. “When I go out shopping and see someone on the till on a phone, or filing their nails and ignoring a big queue of customers, I always think ‘I have a choice and can go somewhere else’. I think all companies should bear this in mind when dealing with customers – we all have a choice and you need to make sure we choose you.”
VTR
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