South West College one of thirty five Northern Ireland businesses to receive Investors in People awards

Thirty five businesses from across Northern Ireland were today awarded with the prestigious Investors in People (IiP) recognition.

Speaking at a celebration event held in Hillsborough Castle, Nuala Kerr, Director of the Department for Employment and Learning’s Skills and Industry Division, congratulated the 35 businesses that received the prestigious business award.

Mrs Kerr said: “I am enthused to see such a diverse group of businesses gaining the tried and tested Investors in People accreditation.  This group represents a cross section of Northern Ireland businesses.  Today we see organisations from all sectors, areas and sizes, including a voluntary playgroup in Newry with 4 employees; Northern Ireland’s first IiP chip shop, The Frying Squad, with ten employees in Bangor; South West College with 760 employees across campuses in Omagh, Cookstown, Dungannon and Enniskillen; and a Derry call centre employing 1950 people."

The Director added: “The continuing uptake of IiP in Northern Ireland is an encouraging sign for the local economy, and should serve as an example to other employers not yet capitalising on the bottom-line business benefits of IiP.  We tend to forget that businesses are, in essence, people, and the importance of local businesses investing in their people is particularly relevant during this difficult economic time.”

Investors in People has long been acknowledged as the most successful framework for business improvement through people.  It helps organisations of every size, sector and location to compete and succeed through improved people performance.  The approach to its delivery has recently changed, becoming more tailored to individual business needs, as well as the framework being extended to provide stretch for all businesses, who can now work towards achieving the core Standard or the recently added Bronze, Silver and Gold levels.

One of the 35 businesses, Triangle Housing Association has held IiP status for 5 years and was today being awarded for becoming the first organisation in Northern Ireland to achieve Investors in People’s new Health & Wellbeing Award, which focuses on encouraging organisational improvement through employee wellbeing, rather than just minimising sickness and injury.