Investors in People recognition

Jungheinrich UK Ltd has been accredited as an Investor in People (IiP). At a recent ceremony at the companys UK headquarters in Milton Keynes, Councilor Jan Lloyd, the Mayor of Milton Keynes, unveiled a plaque to mark the achievement.

Investors in People is a national standard which defines best practice for all aspects of developing a companys employees.

In 2006 following a series of company restructuring programmes, Jungheinrichs management recognised that the business lacked a cohesive, defined culture. We used the Investors in People programme as a vehicle for restoring our culture, explains Gavin Kibble, Jungheinrichs Finance Director.

Gavin Kibble continues: At the heart of liP is the performance development and appraisal system. This gives our staff regular opportunities to discuss their development with their line mangers. Areas for training are identified against required competencies for the job they are performing

As a result a number of new training programmes, incentive schemes and individual reward and recognition schemes based on performance criteria established during the appraisal process have been introduced. Internal communications have also been improved thanks to the launch of internal monthly magazines and regular team briefings.

In collaboration with Milton Keynes Chambers of Commerce and as part of the Governments Skills Pledge, Jungheinrich has also introduced a company-wide range of NVQ courses aimed at developing their employees commercial awareness. Management courses have also been established to ensure that all managers attain a standard managerial skills set.

The appraisal system showed us that there was an enormous demand for different types of training. For instance, several employees felt they needed a better understanding of finance, says Gavin Kibble. Finance was regarded with fear and misunderstanding by many, so we implemented a course which has demystified finance and made it accessible and understandable..

Jungheinrichs staff have responded enthusiastically to the IiP programme as Gavin Kibble explains: The culture of the organization is now one where we have confident, productive people. There is a buzz about the organization, people are both happy and proud to work here and this has been evidenced by a significant fall in staff churn over the last two years.

Gavin Kibble concludes: We can already see the effects that the IiP programme has had in our companys bottom line result and we believe that investing in our people, especially through training, will create a world-class organization ready to take market share when the economy emerges from the current economic downturn.