Investors in People | Accreditations

We invest in people

3 or 1 Year Accreditation

Your people are your most valuable commodity. Central to the success of any organisation is the right blend of talent, motivation and leadership.

We invest in wellbeing

3 Year Accreditation

A healthy workforce is not only an ethical priority for businesses, but can also make a significant contribution through increased productivity.

We invest in apprentices

3 Year Accreditation

We will evaluate your apprenticeships approach and help you attract the best talent and get the most out of them. Furthering apprenticeship programs.

What we do

You need an organisation that is trusted in the industry to provide you with accreditation for your organisation against a framework to measure the performance.

Investors in People has developed and refined the accreditation process for almost 3 decades to help leaders, employees, and companies work together to create an effective environment.

With over 50,000 organisations from all types of industries accredited, our ‘We invest in people’ accreditation is recognised in 66 countries around the globe.

Our mission is to make work better by providing accreditation and advise on how to improve efficiency over time.

Organisations Assessed | 0

Some of our accredited organisations...

30th Anniversary

It’s 1991. The average price of a house is £55,000, Helen Sharman is the first Briton in space and Bryan Adams’ Everything I do (I do it for you) spends 16 weeks at no.1.

But more importantly, the first 28 organisations achieve Investors in People accreditation! Fast forward 30 years and we’re feeling older, wiser and excited for the next 30! So… Welcome to Investors in People’s 30th birthday bash! From now until the end of November we’re going to be sharing lots of great content every day, celebrating the achievements of our accredited organisations, as well as hosting several thought provoking events. In a bit more detail, here’s what our community can expect from us;

Thought leadership events – we’re teaming up with the Association of Apprentices, Working Families, Boardroom 2030, Better Business Act and onHand

Community stories – We’ll speak to people and organisations who have a rich history with Investors in People, who’ll share information about their journey and how we’ve helped them make work better
We’ll also be speaking to some of our newly accredited organisations on why they’ve joined our community
Hear from an Investors in People legend – Mike Peart, who was involved in creating Investors in People
Paul’s exclusives – Our CEO Paul Devoy will talk about our past, present and future and what it means for you
The Investors in People Awards 2021 – we’ll be rewarding organisations that have excelled in 2021 at our virtual event on the 23rd November

Each week in November will have a different theme, and everything we share and do that week will tie back to that week’s theme:

Week 1: Appreciation – showing everyone who has a connection to Investors in People how much we appreciate them
Week 2: Nostalgia – celebrating the rich history of Investors in People and looking back at past events
Week 3: Relevancy – talking about why Investors in People is still relevant in 2021 and getting the opinions of our clients
Week 4: Ambition – showing our future plans and ambitions, and how everyone will benefitTo make sure you receive all of this amazing content, head over to our Knowledge page to join our mailing list. Then, head on over to our Events page and register for our jam packed event schedule!

1964

In 1964, government’s publication of “The Industrial Training Act” focused attention on the need for training and skills to keep pace with a more rapidly changing world. Amongst other things, it required most employers to pay levies to, and work with Industry Training Boards for necessary skills training.

1964

1973

In 1973, the Secretary of State, James Prior, presented “The Employment and Training Act” (Chapter 50) which established “three bodies corporate” - the Manpower Services Commission with its Employment Services Agency and Training Services Agency. The Act repealed the original Employment and Training Act of 1948 and modified the 1964 Act. This shifted the emphasis in employer training from the piecemeal system of industry training boards and levies towards more centralised development of policy and strategy.

1973

1981

In 1981, the White Paper “A New Training Initiative: A Programme for Action” set national objectives for skills training and further learning to agreed standards; training or continuing education for young people; and opening up opportunities for adults to learn throughout their working lives.

1981

1984

In 1984, two major reports from the CBI and National Economic Development Office (NEDO) titled “Competence and Competition” and “Challenge to Complacency” set the scene for the promotion and policy development of employer-funded training and government’s training programmes and assistance to employers on skills development issues throughout the mid to late 1980s. The reports pointed up the nation’s relatively poor performance in workforce development and levels of qualifications in comparison with our major competitor nations at the time. The government responded through its “Training for Jobs” White Paper (Command Paper 9135), noting progress in vocational education in schools and announcing its “Adult Training Strategy”. A “national awareness campaign” was promised as part of this strategy. The paper notes “Successful training is a continuing investment in the most valuable of all our national resources – the energies and qualities of our people.”

1984

1985

In 1985, The Manpower Services Commission (MSC) with David (now Lord) Young as its Director and Bryan (now Sir Bryan) Nicholson as Chairman launched its “Adult Training Campaign” as a part of the Adult Training Strategy. The campaign focused on the links between training and business performance and drew out the comparisons between Britain’s training spend and that of its principal overseas competitors at the time – the USA, West Germany and Japan. The research to support the campaign was conducted by IFF Research Ltd of London and overseen by their director, (Lord) Andrew McIntosh. The research results were presented to employer audiences for discussion at conferences around the country titled “Search for Solutions”. At the time, the MSC through its network of Area Offices was offering employers grants towards the costs of training and associated consultancy.

1985

1986

In 1986, the White Paper “Working Together - Education and Training” (Command Paper 9823) established the National Council for Vocational Qualifications. This started the movement towards competence-based qualifications to standards of competence developed by lead bodies for specific industries. Evaluation of the Adult Training Campaign suggested that a more action-oriented approach was needed to change employer attitudes and behaviour. A training planning action pack called “Business Success Through People” and a simple “Profit and People” checklist were developed by MSC and distributed to employers at events around the country. The campaign developed into a more focused national programme of events aimed at invited employer audiences under the banner of “Training for Success”. These events featured videos, inputs from sporting personality speakers (such as Freddie Trueman, Chay Blythe, J P R Williams, Rachel Heyhoe-Flint) and testimony from successful local business speakers on their training achievements. MSC became the Training Agency (TA) and its Area Office personnel followed up organisations which wanted to achieve more with their training activities. TA offices continued promoting the “Training for Success” concept through their own local events and advertising. Amongst other things, “Training for Success” encouraged collaboration between local and sectoral groups of employers to tackle common training issues in “Local Action Groups”. At about this time, the Adult Training Campaign was wound down and the “Training for Success” brand continued, albeit with localised names and types of activity. During the year, work started on a major study into the funding of training (“The Funding Study”) which concluded some time later that the nation’s employers were estimated to be investing in the region of £20 billion each year – a figure which was subsequently to be reduced substantially downwards.

1986

1987

In 1987, the National Training Awards were introduced to promote and encourage examples of exceptionally effective training by employers, training providers and producers of training media (and, latterly, individual achievement). Extensive national press advertising was used to encourage entries. This is the first real example of a national initiative which sought out examples of training execution and products which started by addressing the business objectives, went through the training design and delivery processes and finished with evaluating the results in terms of trainee satisfaction and payback to the organisation leading to further improvements – a true investment cycle. Around 80 winners were celebrated at the first awards ceremony in London at the end of the year – an event held annually ever since. Awards patrons over the years have included senior business figures and HRH The Prince of Wales. The TA’s assistance to employers during this time tended to focus on training of young and unemployed people, grants to employers for training and consultancy, and accessible training programmes in specific business skills for owners and managers of smaller businesses.

1987

1988

In 1988, the Training Agency, which was an executive agency of the Department of Employment, became the Training Commission (TC) during the summer. Brian Wolfson (soon to be knighted), Chairman of Wembley plc, was appointed as its Chairman. During the year, drafting of the White Paper “Employment for the 1990s” (Command Paper 263) was being carried out by TC and Department of Employment officials. The paper was a major influence in securing more widespread employer involvement and leadership in skills training issues. When the White Paper was launched in December by the Secretary of State, Norman Fowler, it established the employer-led National Training Task Force (NTTF) and abolished the Training Commission. Brian Wolfson was appointed as Chairman of the NTTF which had a small secretariat in London. The Training Commission became the Employment Department’s Training, Enterprise and Education Directorate (ED – TEED). Paragraph 4.16 of “Employment for the 1990s” refers to the major NTTF remits of setting up the national network of Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) and “to promote to employers the necessity of their investing in the skills of the working population” through an action programme. This latter statement was effectively the genesis of what became Investors in People. At the same time, government policy and thinking had certainly been influenced by the CBI 1988 report “Towards a Skills Revolution” which had been produced by an employer task force led by Sir Bryan Nicholson (formerly of the MSC). The CBI’s report proposed the concept of “The Investor in Training” with ten good practice principles to be achieved by a target number of medium to larger employing organisations within five years. The CBI’s thinking was absorbed into the subsequent development of Investors in People.

1988

1989

In 1989, and very much based on the evaluation of programme and promotional work done hitherto, a new employer programme – Business Growth Training (BGT) was designed and developed to bring together ED – TEED’s employer training programmes (other than youth training and training for unemployed) into a coherent package. BGT was launched on 11 April by the Secretary of State, Norman Fowler, and the launch at the Telecom Tower, London was followed up by extensive national press advertising and a prize-winning direct marketing campaign. BGT had five “options” aimed at employers in organisations employing up to 500 people. The five options were: #1 “Your Business Success” toolkits and workshops to enable smaller firms in three sizebands to link effectively their business planning with training planning; #2 “Business Skills Seminars” - short accessible courses with support material on specific topics for owners and managers; #3 “Managing Business Change” projects which facilitated change in companies supported by skills development with process consultancy support; #4 “Joint Action on Skills” which gave funding for employers’ joint collaborative action and networking to tackle skills issues; and #5 “Innovative Training Solutions” - a programme of grants for companies to introduce and use new training technologies to meet specific business needs. To support BGT, a detailed good practice checklist “People, Performance and Profits” was widely distributed to employers to stimulate relevant training action, together with “Signposts for Success” which listed a wide range of help agencies.

1989

Also during 1989 the development work to establish the network of TECs began in earnest. The ED - TEED Regional and Area Offices worked with local businesspeople to fund and develop business plans for the new TECs to cover specific areas and reflect more closely local economic and travel-to-work patterns. (The 55 TEED Area Offices ultimately became 82 TECs in England and Wales and 22 LECs in Scotland.) Alongside these developments, the ED – TEED Director of Strategy, was asked to commission work on what was then called “The NTTF Action Programme” to help the Task Force to discharge its second “investing in skills” remit. The TEED Marketing Policy and Brand Manager for BGT was asked in July to start work on the development and research the background of current business issues and customers’ perceptions of support requirements against which the action programme would need to operate. This was the first piece of development work towards the Standard. Research took the form of discussion groups with employers (often CBI members) which were held throughout the country. The results of this work and the implications were reported to the NTTF at their meeting on 25 October. NTTF discussed the findings and agreed to write to the Secretary of State to ask for funding and seek the go-ahead for the Action Programme, and for this to be agreed by the end of November. This was achieved. At an early stage, research into company best practice in investment in people was commissioned from Coopers & Lybrand to build on a limited range of earlier case studies.

1989

1990

In 1990, a sub-group of NTTF was set up to oversee the development of the National Standard. The group took in the findings of the research projects and concluded that what employers needed most was a rigorous benchmark standard against which to compare their training practices. The group represented a wide range of interests – Confederation of British Industry, Trades Union Congress, Association of British Chambers of Commerce, Institute of Personnel Management, Institute of Training and Development, National Council of Industry Training Organisations, the Industrial Society and Scottish and Welsh interests. Research into the best ways of delivering and ratifying the Standard continued through consultancy work in live situations. Findings were discussed with the Head Office team, representatives of TEED Area Offices and “TECs in development” (which would ultimately be responsible for local delivery) at workshops held in Sheffield on 9 April, 16 July and 9 October. Guest speaker at the first workshop was Toby Blackwell, Chairman of Heart of England TEC and of the academic publishers of the same name. During April, the CEGOS Makrotest research was commissioned to develop a name for the initiative. Qualitative discussion groups in various locations backed up by quantitative telephone surveys concluded that “Investors in People” was the term preferred by employers, and this name was agreed. With the name agreed, work was commissioned from designers, Meda Ltd, to develop a logo for the initiative. Four designs were submitted to NTTF who agreed on the garland device which has been associated with the Standard ever since. The Action Programme had its first outing at the inaugural TEC Conference at the Wembley Conference Centre in May. The concept of a Standard and supporting “toolkit” materials were exhibited and visited by the new Secretary of State, Michael Howard. During the summer, the rationale for Investors in People was fully developed and written up in a briefing pack for TECs and LECs. The pack together with the Investors in People name and image were launched by Sir Brian Wolfson (Wembley plc and Chairman of NTTF), David Gwyther (Showerings Ltd and Chairman of Somerset TEC) and Sir Christopher Hogg (Chief Executive of Courtaulds plc) at the TEC Conference in Brighton on 18 October: this was intended to secure the informed support of the new TEC movement in delivering the Standard nationally as there was no formal requirement from government for them to do so. Pilot work to deliver the Standard started in the autumn of this year. Around 12 embryonic TECs volunteered to pilot delivery of the Standard with their selected local organisations – many of these had previously been involved with BGT and were felt to be growing businesses which made best use of good practices. A significant point is that the experience of Training for Success, National Training Awards and Business Growth Training had developed a network of practitioners and process consultants who were becoming increasingly experienced at dealing with good human resources practice and quality standards with business customers in credible ways. The new “National Standard for Effective Investment in People” was agreed by the Task Force in time to be formally launched by the Secretary of State, Michael Howard, in his speech to the CBI Conference in Glasgow on 5 November. The Standard and supporting literature were exhibited at this event and the launch secured the first real national press coverage of this new initiative.

1990

1991

In 1991, the pilot work, briefing of TECs and their teams as they came on stream, delivery policy and development of materials continued with increasing intensity. Consultancies such as KPMG, Dent Lee Witte and Coopers & Lybrand were all involved in testing the rigour of the Standard and assessment processes in real company situations. Price Waterhouse and Quadrangle Consulting worked on the development of the principal piece of support material – a seven-part “toolkit” for end-user organisations. At the same time, the test-bed TECs and Scottish Enterprise were working with consultants in 30 companies to secure the first actual recognitions against the Standard. This work was completed during end-September and early October, and 28 companies were found to have achieved the Standard. These first 28 “Investor in People” organisations were celebrated at a formal launch of Investors in People and exhibition held at the QEII Conference Centre, London on 16 October. Secretary of State, Michael Howard, and David Hunt, Secretary of State for Wales, announced the names of the organisations, presented plaques and celebrated the first 500 organisations which had made commitments to achieve the Standard, including all of the 104-strong TEC and LEC network. At this event, Sir Allen (now Lord) Sheppard, Chairman and Chief Executive of Grand Metropolitan plc and Chairman of the NTTF Sub-Group responsible for the Standard launched the Investors in People toolkit (subsequently known as the “grey box”).

1991

1992

In 1992, the progress of recognitions and commitments to the Standard continued to grow as the new delivery network took shape and became established to deliver meaningful services to employers. Investors in People was advertised in the national press through a campaign developed around business champions by advertising agency Gold Greenlees Trott. A wide range of sales, promotional and support material was developed, including a toolkit for small businesses (subsequently known as the “black box”). The National Training Task Force was formally wound up on 31 December having discharged its remits. The new National Advisory Council for Education and Training Targets (NACETT) was established in its place to lead the national effort towards achieving new targets for educational achievement and workplace (lifetime) learning. NACETT developed the first national target for achievement of Investors in People by organisations with 200 or more employees.

1992

1993

In 1993, the formation of a new non-departmental public body, Investors in People UK, was announced in May. This company was established to give business leadership of the Standard. The company, limited by guarantee, commenced operations on 1 October 1993 with transitional staff drawn from ED – TEED. Sir Brian Wolfson was appointed as Chairman along with a board of directors representing a wide range of business, government, employee, HR professional and territorial interests. Mary Chapman was appointed Chief Executive and took up post in December.

1993

1994

In 1994, Investors in People UK was formally launched at a press event at the St James’s Court Hotel, London on 25 January in the presence of David Hunt, Secretary of State. Work on the first corporate plan for the new company continued throughout that month. During the first half of the year, the company made its own appointments for the new team to be based in London. The move to temporary offices in Steel House, Westminster, London took place in March to be followed by the move to permanent accommodation in Chandos Street during the summer.

1994