Tell us a bit about your outstanding use of technology

We took the decision six years ago to put technology at the forefront of our business. We began our digital transformation journey by adopting cloud-based technology, moving across to Microsoft Office 365, and migrating all servers and files to the cloud.

The centralised listing of projects on Microsoft SharePoint forms the foundation and cornerstone of our transformation. When a new job comes on board, we register the job on the system, which then fires off workflows, starting the project’s lifecycle automation. Creating a new company intranet supplemented this, sharing best practices and improving internal communication.

We moved on to develop a bespoke in-house digital platform which automates the process of how we collect our data and allows us to significantly improve how we share that data internally and externally to our clients.

Why did you decide to enter?

We have a great transformation story to tell.

We are at the point in our digital transformation journey where notable improvements have been made across all our workstreams, allowing us to see some real, tangible benefits. We are getting great validation in terms of feedback, both internally from staff and externally from clients, which is highly encouraging and has served as motivation to enter these awards with confidence.

From gaining Investors in People Gold in 2021, some notable feedback from the staff was the success of our investment in IT and digital systems improving communications, ensuring remote working was seamless, and giving staff a sense of security of working with high-quality business tools which enabled them to provide clients with highly polished and accurate reports.

A reoccurring theme was the mention of our templates being of high quality and the accuracy, detail and consistency in how we can relay information to clients:

“One of the positive features people highlighted is the quality of the processes and practice in place, with high quality project templates to achieve consistent accurate and high-level output. The company is innovative and continues to review and improve its practice tools which empower and enable people to take ownership of their role and output. The regular meetings encourage people to engage, give their views and influence improvements; this also increases ownership of their practice.”

Investors in People Gold Report

What was the key point of exigere’s entry?

The construction industry is underserved as far as good quality modern software options go. The few platforms that do exist were built decades ago and cannot cope with our modern requirements. We required something built in the cloud, with several different processes integrated into a system, so that’s what we’ve done – independently creating an ecosystem of solutions.

Our biggest innovation has been real-time digital benchmarking. We have developed a ‘Project Insights’ app – a project stakeholder interface where all information is harvested from all our integrated apps, including our ‘Project’ app, ‘Area’ app and ‘Cost’ app. Digital benchmarking has changed the way we collate data and makes it available as a digital experience. We have automated the whole production process of generating benchmarking, rather than being manually sourced and inputted. Single projects can be compared on a stage-by-stage process in their lifecycle or can be compared to entirely different projects built over different timeframes.

We’ve come from a place where everyone produced individualised Excel workbooks, containing their own data, to now having a collective benchmarking platform where all data is centralised and harvested together, improving the consistency and accuracy of our data.

What sets you apart from the other companies in your category?

Harvesting 1,700 data points centrally and developing 25+ apps has fundamentally changed our way of working. Our platform helps us to demystify costs for our clients by delivering concise and informative reports in simple and visually understandable formats, including:

• Interactive dashboard reports
• Benchmarking reports
• Area benchmarking
• Analysis of contractors’ costs and programme
• Functional area benchmarking

In other industries, there is established software already on the market and patterns to follow, whereas we’ve created this whole ecosystem ourselves. As the business grows, the need for technological advancements increases as it becomes harder for everyone to have personal involvement in every project, so the need for dashboards and the like become evident. Having the technology already in place has helped as we’ve grown to ensure the quality of our work remains and we can provide transparency and visibility to clients and colleagues alike.

“exigere’s extensive investment in managing and displaying internal cost management data is very impressive and in my view places them many years ahead of their competition. Their approach to understanding construction cost trends gives them unique insight into the market.”

James Pellatt, Director of Workplace & Innovation, GPE – an FTSE 250 property investment and development company owning £2.5 billion of real estate in central London

What would it mean to win?

It would be a tremendous validation of all the hard work we’ve put in since starting our journey in 2018, giving a renewed vigour to continue ahead.

As a growing business, we are proud to have progressed within Investors in People, and we’d love to be validated by IIP to show our business is at the forefront of our industry to our clients, colleagues and staff, plus new recruits. As we’re recruiting, we know staff are looking for organisations with the recognition of IIP to show we are keeping up with the best standards in the industry. Having this would help us recruit the brightest, most talented people who want to come on this journey with us.

Why did you enter the awards?

At YWCA Yorkshire we believe our people are at the heart of everything we do. Our approach and commitment to health and wellbeing focusses on maintaining a healthy, motivated workforce to enable us to support the physical and emotional demands of the valuable work that they do. Therefore, when we were invited to apply for the award by our IIP account manager, choosing the Health & Wellbeing Category was an easy choice for us.

What was your key point of your entry?

As a charity, budgets are often tight and we are constantly seeking innovative ways to support health and wellbeing in collaboration with our staff. This ensures that they feel listened to and our initiatives contribute towards a targeted approach which supports their needs in the following areas:

1. Physical
2. Mental/Emotional
3. Financial
4. Social

As a women’s organisation with a predominantly female workforce, we recognised the need for flexible working and implemented a flexi-scheme which allows staff a greater work/life balance to enable them to manage the demands of work and family life. This combined with our hybrid working options implemented during the pandemic has given staff greater choice and control over their working hours.

Previous to, and during the pandemic, our well-established wellbeing plans have been used to target support to individual circumstances ensuring that we are also able to meet needs on an individual basis so that our people feel heard and able to work in way that is supportive to them and meets their needs.

100% of our staff are given the opportunity to have their own WRAP Plan (Wellness Recovery Action Plan) which focusses on resilience and looking at their own coping mechanisms for dealing with mental health issues. These are just some of the examples from our vast basket of wellbeing tools that our staff are able to access.

The highlight of our entry for us is that, within our organisation, health and wellbeing is much more than just a box to be ticked and has been for many years. It is integral to everything that we do and embedded in our ongoing culture of support. It is driven by our values and reflected in our whole ethos, including the way that we communicate and consult with our staff. It’s reflected in our policy making decisions where we strive to write and review policy with good staff in mind, rather than create punitive policies that seek to control. We regularly review our decision making and place high importance on involving our people in decisions that affect them. This collaborative approach, together with the high levels of support offered and sense of community, enables us to maintain extremely positive levels of engagement throughout the organisation.

What would it mean to you to win?

We never rest on our laurels! We recognise the importance of, and actively seek, new opportunities to develop our Health & Wellbeing Strategy, embracing change and ensuring that we remain responsive to the needs of our people. Our ongoing commitment to this means that to receive the award would be recognition of the positive culture, created by our people, for our people and we would be absolutely over the moon!

What was your key point of your entry?

The Northern Ireland Social Care Council is responsible for the regulation and registration of social workers and social care workers.  There are over 43,000 people registered with us in Northern Ireland.

We are a public sector body and all staff are contracted to work from the office.  Over the last three years we have worked hard with all staff to collectively design an agile approach to working, maximising what we learnt during remote working through COVID and re-designing the purpose of the office workplace.

We have developed our flexible working policy on an evidence-based approach – ensuring performance is of a high quality at all times, that staff are empowered and trusted to manage their time in a mature and values-based way – and that we remain connected as an organisation.  Staff plan ahead to maximise their time and collaboration in the office, and have scope to manage their 8-hour day in a 16-hour window which enables staff to deliver their business, and manage the impact of life and other commitments, including their health and wellbeing.

The office work place has become a place for collaboration, social connection, enterprise and reflection – where teams and all staff can come together to share ideas and support one another while being able to work at other times from their home or other locations.  All staff are encouraged to spend a minimum of 20% of their working week in the office, however the majority of staff opt to connect in the office workplace much more frequently.

Bringing creativity into our agile approach as a public sector organisation is not easy – the public sector’s terms and conditions remain traditional in their approach however we have built a new way forward to support staff, the organisation and our business that stands out from the rest of the public sector.  We applied for this new IIP award to demonstrate that the public sector can be creative and flexible while still delivering important public services to citizens.

What would it mean to you to win?

We would be delighted to win – to showcase how collaboration, trust, and a values-based approach can enable an organisation (even a public sector one!) to re-imagine the work place and offer real flexibility and choice to all its staff.

Why did you enter the awards?

We entered these prestigious awards as we are extremely proud of who we are and our ongoing achievements in our people management practices. Our people are our best asset and ultimately determine the success or failure of our business. 

We are delighted to be shortlisted for this award as it recognises our ongoing work which creates a great work environment for our colleagues. We know that people work on average 90,000 hours over the course of their lifetime and dedicating a large portion of their lives to achieving career aspirations and therefore it is so important to us to create a sense of belonging, ensuring that everyone’s roles have meaning. Achieving this means that every employee feels valued for their contribution and engaged in what we are trying to achieve.

Like all good organisations we know we are on a continuous improvement journey but are proud that we ensure our people are managed and treated fairly, provided with career progression, ongoing development including the opportunity to undertake apprenticeships, provided with mental health support as well as recognising the great work individual colleagues do. The impact we have created is tremendously rewarding and one we build on daily.

The Award of Employer of the Year Accredited is a great opportunity to have our people and our working practices recognised and rewarded.

What was your key point of your entry?

What sets us apart from other organisations is the diversity of our people and the positive and progressive culture we have built. We take pride in promoting trust and transparency, supporting skills development through training, constructive feedback, performance coaching and encouraging collaboration.

The commitment and dedication of our employees reflects our shared values of Service Spirit, Spirit of Progress and Team Spirit.  We bring these values to life through our behaviours.

Our ultimate aim is the impact the quality of life of everyone we serve by delivering best in class services. 

What would it mean to you to win?

We are so proud to have been awarded IIP status and to win an award for this would be the icing on the cake.  Our employees were elated to hear we had achieved IIP status, and we all celebrated together to recognise the impact every single person made in achieving this. 

Winning this award would be a real honour and amazing recognition of everything we strive to achieve every day for our colleagues. Our amazing team are the reason we are even shortlisted, and it would be an absolute validation of their hard work, commitment, and dedication.

Power to Our People – making CLI a great place to be

We change lives and help improve communities. Independent evaluations have evidenced that people who engage with CLI for over six months after being released from prison, are 75 per cent less likely to reoffend.

We can only achieve these outcomes with our values-led approach, a culture of continuous learning and an unwavering focus on supporting our people to deliver to the exacting standards and outcomes we set ourselves.

At CLI we do challenging work. Investing in our people ensures they are supported to deliver our consistently high outcomes, whilst safeguarding their wellbeing.

The journey to accreditation

That’s why CLI first started working with the IIP framework, to provide a structure and a proven approach to developing our people agenda. We have unfailingly implemented the recommendations from our IIP assessments to improve the experience of our people, help CLI mature as an organisation and support our ongoing growth.

For us IIP is not a tick box exercise; it is embedded into our organisation Our commitment to our investment in our people has helped us deliver above target outcomes for those we support, resulting in our being awarded additional funding for our peer support programme, leading to new roles and our being able to help more people with our services.

It has also resulted in our being awarded IIP Gold accreditation in 2021, a major achievement for a small and constantly growing organisation.

What was the key point of CLI’s entry?

We truly are a values-led organisation. Our values of People First, Community, Transformation, Excellence and Trust are embedded in everything we do. They were built on input from a staff working group and are at the heart of our People Performance Framework. We recruit against them and exit people who do not demonstrate them in their work practice. They matter that much to us.

Our GROW Trainee scheme reflects our ‘Transformation’ value – offering employment to people with lived experience of addiction and crime. Where others see risk, we see opportunity.

Our long-term vision is ‘to be recognised as the most impactful lived experience organisation in the UK.’  We can only do this with committed, talented people, who live our values in all they do, alongside our continued commitment to making work better for our people.

What would it mean to CLI to win?

Being shortlisted in The Award for UK Employer of the Year: Gold in our category is testament to both our people and to those we support.

As Pete Atherton our CEO said, “This is an awesome achievement for CLI, and we should all be proud of this moment.  It truly reflects the dedication and hard work the whole team has invested in our values, our people strategy and proactively supporting each other to deliver to the exacting standards and outcomes we set ourselves”.

Why did you enter the Awards?

At Beech Tree Childcare we have always been great promoters of professionalizing the childcare Industry, an Industry that historically has been overlooked by many as a career, because of some of the stigmas attached to a job many people view as little more than ‘Playing with Children’

Through fantastic guidance and mentoring by IIP we have managed to raise the profile of our business and are starting to see traction across the industry as more conversations are being had about Early Years as a career that crosses ages, genders, and heavily promotes further education and self-betterment through apprentice schemes and Higher Education opportunities.

Our Entry Candidate

Why Cameron when we have such a formidable team of educators, practitioners, managers, leaders, and last but most significantly, apprentices?

It was a close decision to enter the category with such a strong and able team, but we felt that Cameron stood out as he breaks the glass ceiling on a number of levels, primarily being a man in Early Years Education (Around 1% of the work force), secondly is his path through apprenticeship to a University Degree in Education and finally, with guidance, his forte into management and leadership proving opportunities still do exist in the sector – a true Golden Unicorn!

What Winning would mean to us.

There is an adage that winning isn’t everything, but it’s the only thing, not something we feel is true in this case. Here at Beech Tree Childcare, we are already feeling like winners having one of the team representing not only the business but the industry sector as a Top 10 shortlisted finalist.

‘Investors in People’ is a title that encapsulates the whole ethos of our business and the team that make us so successful – you cannot escape the consequences of one’s actions, and Cameron truly represents the effort put in by the business and the reward of recognition for not only Cameron but for Early Years Education.

How are you making work better?

At Intercity, we are passionate about creating an environment where our people are engaged and more likely to flourish. By listening to our colleagues, we have adopted a people-focused strategy that allows us to continuously improve the way we work based on their feedback and what matters most to them. Knowing that training and development is a key driver of engagement amongst our workforce, we are committed to giving our teams opportunities to refine their skills and enhance their knowledge through mentoring and training, as well as opportunities to advance within their careers at Intercity. Where possible, we promote from within, and we have an apprenticeship program that allows us to bring fresh talent through the Intercity doors, which we are committed to nurturing and investing in. We’re extremely proud to be able to say that 8% of our workforce is made up of apprentices and graduates.

Colleague wellbeing is also hugely important to us – and there are several ways we are leading the charge on this. Team building plays a very important part, and we regularly participate in team building challenges, which have many benefits, including improved communication, a boost in morale, and increased collaboration across the business. 

In addition to our annual pay reviews and bonus scheme, we’ve also put together a package of support for our team as they navigate the cost of living, this includes interest-free loans, a company-wide £250 cost of living support bonus and financial wellbeing workshop, all of which will help to alleviate colleague stress at a challenging time.

Throughout the year, there are opportunities for our teams to engage in charity work, which allows them to build connections with the local community and to give back to society, which we know is important to them. So far this year, our workforce has raised £6,000 for the local Birmingham charity, St Basils, and we’ve sponsored Childline for a day.

Why did you enter The Investors in People Awards 2022?

We recognise that creating the right environment for people to thrive has enabled the business to achieve growth and allowed our business performance to return to pre-pandemic levels. We entered because we thought it would be fantastic recognition for our colleagues’ achievements, who have created our company culture and support each other in achieving great things. 

Ultimately, our vision is to be the best tech partner to work for and with, and we are committed to cultivating our colleague engagement and satisfaction. Investors in People is a prestigious award that recognizes a business’s commitment to its people – and we’re putting ourselves up against the very best to understand how we’re progressing towards achieving our vision.

Are there any goals or challenges you hope an award will help you solve?

This award for us is a great way of demonstrating our commitment to our people and how we champion workplace engagement, which will not only help with recruiting top talent but also shows our customers that we value how we treat our colleagues. 

It’s also fantastic recognition for our amazing colleagues and will give them a great positivity boost.

What sets you apart from other companies in your category?

We are delighted to be shortlisted amongst other brilliant businesses, who we are sure are all worthy winners. Although we may be somewhat biased, we truly believe we have the best workforce, with unparalleled levels of team spirit, who help make Intercity a fantastic workplace. From our strong company culture to our colleague engagement, we strongly believe in our People Power and how this sets us apart. Our commitment to our colleagues is what sets us apart as a world-class company, demonstrated by our recent 3 star Best Companies result.

What does being shortlisted mean to you and what would it mean to win?

Like most companies, the pandemic had a real impact on us, and our colleagues have worked tirelessly to get our performance back to pre-pandemic levels. Our colleagues have worked incredibly hard to achieve this and to create a fantastic workplace – and this award would be a testament to their efforts. We’re delighted to be shortlisted for such a prestigious award, and to win would mean the world to us after such a challenging time and give us a real platform to make further improvements moving forwards.

How does being shortlisted benefit your customers/staff?

Being shortlisted for the Investors In People Awards gives our colleagues the recognition they deserve and will make them feel proud to work for a company that focuses on colleague engagement. Engaged teams mean better service to our customers, and our world-class transactional NPS score of +75 is evidence of this.

How would you use being the recipient of this award to influence others?

We would use this award as a platform to share our approach to workplace engagement with other businesses, such as through our work with the Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce.

What can we expect to see from your organisation in the next 12 months?

We are committed to continuous improvement, and we have used the feedback from our Investors in People certification to make more improvements in our workplace. Already in the pipeline is a new cohort of apprentices and graduates, a new cohort on our Management Academy, and a new HR Information System. The hope is that by fulfilling the feedback on our silver Investors in People award, we will move up to a gold award during our recertification process which we are currently undertaking.

What advice would you give to anyone applying for the Investors in People Awards 2023?

For anyone applying for the Investors in People awards 2023, my advice would be to let your passion for people shine through and reflect on what you do well and what the positive impacts are for your team.

Why did you enter the Awards?

It’s simple – we entered these awards because we’re proud of who we are. As an independent, charitable organisation, St Petrocs unites colleagues around a clear purpose and a shared set of values that are firmly embedded into the fabric of the organisation. It is a place where people feel safe to be their truest selves, and somewhere that a broad diversity of thought, identity, and lived experience is welcomed and celebrated. Our employees are treated fairly, compensated generously, developed continuously, and trusted whole-heartedly – and we are privileged to have a group of inspirational leaders who genuinely prize the happiness and wellbeing of their staff. 

Being shortlisted for The Award for Third Sector Employer of the Year is a wonderful opportunity to have our culture and working practices recognised by Investors in People and the wider community.

What was the key point of your entry?

St Petrocs always has been – and always will be – about people. We believe everyone should be treated as an individual and that their unique identity is vital in providing the support that they need. Everyone we work with has a story to tell. 

Our employees are people too – and if we’re going to end homelessness in Cornwall, they need to be well-trained, well-supported, and well-rewarded. That’s why we’re continually thinking creatively about ways to make St Petrocs the best possible place to work for everybody, whoever they are. 

“Over the course of the last few years, we have taken the time to review our employment proposition and sought to understand the experiences of our people, to ensure we know what is important to them and that our practices are aligned with our ideals,” says Henry Meacock, Chief Executive. “We were delighted that our efforts were recognised at our last assessment by achieving the Gold standard.”

What would it mean to you to win?

“The Investors in People accreditation means a lot to us at St Petrocs,” he continues. “We are proud to be an organisation that is fair and equitable in respect of our service delivery. It makes sense that this is built on a firm foundation of employees who are truly invested in their work. Being nominated for the Third Sector Employer of the Year award is a huge achievement in itself – but winning would be a tremendous recognition of the efforts of our staff, volunteers, and supporters, who work tirelessly each and every day in support of our client group. It would be an award for all of us.”