Council retains Gold standard in people management
St Albans City and District Council has retained its highly-prized Gold Investors in People (IIP) award for the way it leads, supports and manages staff.
The IIP process assesses how organisations manage, develop and lead their people giving staff the opportunity to express their views and shape their workplace along the way.
Accreditation against the IIP Standard is intended to be “the sign of a great employer, an outperforming place to work and a clear commitment to sustained success”.
The Council first achieved the IIP’s Gold award in 2016, a year after achieving a Silver award.
This time around, the IIP put the Council through a more rigorous assessment against its latest Sixth Generation framework. This required a much higher level of staff participation and positive feedback than previous evaluation frameworks.
An IIP Practitioner assessed performance over six months, using various activities involving staff. These included:
- a questionnaire completed by staff;
- discussions with Heads of Service and senior managers about team management and career progression opportunities;
- interviews with 20 members of staff about their experiences working for the Council; and,
- observations of departmental and team meetings.
The IIP Practitioner concluded:
The Council is a progressive organisation that has a well-embedded …culture of continuous learning and improvement, [and is] always striving to do more to improve local services.
The IIP Gold accreditation will last until January 2021, with annual reviews on progress scheduled for 2019 and 2020.
Amanda Foley, Chief Executive of St Albans City and District Council, said:
Achieving the Investors in People Gold Standard for a second time demonstrates the Council’s commitment to creating a workplace where staff feel valued and supported. In recent years, we have made great strides in improving staff development, providing opportunities for career progression and for people to learn new skills. By investing in our people, performance levels improve, helping us to provide better services for the community.
We will now use the feedback from the assessment to look at ways of improving even further.
Investors in People is a Community Interest Company, its international Standard defining what it takes to lead, support and manage people well for sustainable results. IIP works with thousands of businesses across the country. For more information see: www.investorsinpeople.com .
Contact for the media:
Amanda Wilkinson, Senior Communications Officer, St Albans City and District Council
Tel: 01727 819317, E-mail: amanda.wilkinson@stalbans.gov.uk
Photos:
Above: Amanda Foley, Chief Executive of St Albans City and District Council speaking at the annual Staff Awards presentation
Staff at St Albans City and District Council