Council retains Investors in People Gold accreditation

17 September 2018

Aberdeen City Council has retained its Investors in People Gold accreditation in People and Organisation, an industry mark of excellence.

Investors in People (IIP) is a nationally recognised framework, which helps organisations, through assessment and action plans, to improve performance and realise objectives through the effective management and development of employees.

The Council’s former Human Resources (HR) Service attained the IIP Gold accreditation in 2015, having formally held the Silver award. An assessment against the standard is undertaken every three years to evaluate whether it has been met, with interim assessments held at the end of the first two years.

Assessments include one-to-one and group interviews with employees from the People and Organisation service.

There are nine standard indicators used to measure organisations for the Gold award over the three-year review cycle. These are:

leading and inspiring people; living the organisation’s values and behaviours; empowering and involving people; managing performance; recognising and rewarding high performance; structuring work; building capacity; delivering continuous improvement; creating sustainable success.

The business benefits of the accreditation can include:

developing a common understanding of the organisation’s purpose and individual roles in achieving this; connecting people more directly with the organisation’s business strategy, particularly in times of change; encouraging flexibility and resilience through trust and openness; creating energy and building commitment, which supports innovation and creativity; positively influencing staff morale, improving productivity and the quality of customer service; better sharing of knowledge and good practice within the organisation; creating a more collaborative and supportive environment which people feel part of and do not want to leave.

Councillor Yvonne Allan, convener of Staff Governance Committee, Aberdeen City Council said: “It is testament to the commitment of this Council, and the enthusiasm and dedication of our staff that we have retained this nationally recognised gold quality standard.

“By creating the right environment for staff to excel, we can positively influence morale, and by doing so continue to improve good practice and productivity, which ensures we provide the best quality of service to the citizens of Aberdeen.”

The Council will continue to assess the content of the feedback report from Investors in People to ensure it continues to make further improvements.