Why did you enter the Investors in People 2023 Awards? 

Sustain UK operates in a challenging but rewarding sector, housing and supporting some of society’s most vulnerable people, and our employees are fundamental to our ability to deliver this support well and meet the high standards that are rightly expected of supported housing providers.  

We’ve been continually working on our performance as an employer for some years now, as we build a workplace that attracts and keeps the right people and continues to support their development.  

The Investors in People Awards are an opportunity for us to acknowledge our progress, to celebrate our achievements as a team and show future employees that Sustain UK is a professional and inspiring place to work.  

What has it meant to you, your team and your organisation to be shortlisted for an Investors in People 2023 Award?

All Sustain colleagues go above and beyond in supporting each other and delivering high quality support to our 2000-plus tenants in the West Midlands. For all of us, this shortlisting has been a fantastic endorsement of this commitment and on the work Sustain does as an employer to create the best possible working environment it can.   

What would it mean to your organisation to win an Investors in People 2023 Award?

We’re delighted to be one of the highest-ranking Investors in People employers in the UK in our category. The recognition of an Investors in People Award would cement this position and give our employees further confirmation that the work they are doing, and the way we work as an organisation, is independently validated as great. It would give everyone extra confidence that they are in an excellent workplace that is doing its best for its employees and the tenants we support. 

How important is it for your organisation to be a part of the Investors in People community and engaged in awards and events like this one?

Investors in People and its assessors have been vital to our efforts in developing Sustain UK as a rewarding work environment for employees. 

We find that the feedback our employees give to the Investors in People assessors is probably less biased as they are speaking with an external agency and so we can gain greater assurance as to how Sustain is really performing. 

We were delighted to not only be re-accredited as a Gold standard employer, but also to hear that Sustain continues to outperform the supported housing sector on all nine indicators of the Investors in People standard. 

Working with Investors in People assessors and their benchmarking survey has been instrumental in helping us understand what we’re already achieving, giving us valuable feedback and pushing us to go further in the ways we support and develop our people.