New Directions Awarded Investors in People (IIP) Gold Status

New Directions, a leading Welsh recruitment firm, has been awarded gold accreditation against the Investors in People Standard, joining the top seven per cent of accredited organisations across the UK and becoming the first Welsh recruitment agency to do so.

This accolade demonstrates their commitment to high performance through good people management.

New Directions has 12 offices across the UK with nine being based across Wales. The group employs in excess of 150 staff and has been in operation since 1994. The company offers a number of services to the education, social care, domiciliary care, pharmaceutical and commercial sectors, as well as providing a training and online criminal records checking service (onlinedbs.co.uk)

2016 has been an outstanding year for the business to date. The education division was named ‘managed service provider’ to the Welsh education community for a second successive term and the social care arm became the appointed preferred supplier to care giants Gwalia. The business was also named ‘Supplier of the Year’ at the Welsh National Procurement Awards for a second year and at last week’s inaugural ‘Go Wales’ awards the team was the only private sector company to be shortlisted before being highly commended for ‘Best Service’.

Investors in People is the international standard for people management, defining what it takes to lead, support and manage people effectively to achieve sustainable results. Underpinning the Standard is the Investors in People framework, reflecting the latest workplace trends, essential skills and effective structures required to outperform in any industry. Investors in People enables organisations to benchmark against the best in the business on an international scale.

Paul Devoy, Head of Investors in People, said:

We’d like to congratulate New Directions, Investors in People accreditation is the sign of a great employer, an outperforming place to work and a clear commitment to success. New Directions should be extremely proud of their achievement.

Commenting on the award, Sophie Cecil, Group HR Director, said:

The journey to this day has not always been easy. Our HR Support Centre and Employee Forum have both been instrumental in ensuring that everyone in our organisation has a voice and that voice has changed a culture, provided everyone with opportunities to learn and advance through development should they wish to. It has been instrumental in changing behaviours throughout the business, delivering efficiencies in the way we work, enhancing communications across, up and down the organisation and enriching the reward and recognition schemes for the work done well. It has also enabled significant growth in the Group of businesses.