One of the reasons that Investors in People has been so successful is the benefit that can be gained from assessment or from ongoing review if you are already an Investors in People organisation.
We have a very simple and highly effective approach towards how we conduct assessments. Your Assessor will agree the focus of your assessment to best match your business priorities. Assessment is based on first hand evidence from staff interviews and you don’t need to provide a single piece of paper, policy or strategy (although you may want to, and it might help the Assessor if such things are available). Your Assessor will then provide you with a concise feedback report providing you with valuable guidance on development areas for the future.
We know that our assessments, reviews and the feedback reports are very well received by our customers because we track client satisfaction through client feedback questionnaires, covering every aspect of every experience.
Assessments are the gateway to Investors in People recognition, so if you successfully achieve the Investors in People Standard you can display our logo on your letterhead and recruitment advertisements and also display the Investors in People plaque. More importantly, the assessment allows us to provide you with feedback about how your people practices are currently enabling you to achieve your goals, and how future development of those practices can help you reach your goals more .
If in addition to the core 39 evidence requirements you achieve another 26 evidence requirements from the wider framework, you will be awarded Investors in People Bronze Standard, and to achieve Investors in People Silver or Gold you need to score an additional 76 or 126 additional evidence requirements respectively. These additional levels of recognition are designed to allow the most advanced organisations to celebrate and publicise their exceptional performance in terms of people management, leadership and development.
So what are the stages of Assessment?
The assessment or review process can be broken down into the following stages:
1. Submitting an application form
2. Appointing an Assessor
3. First communications with your Assessor
4. Preparing for the planning meeting
5. The planning meeting itself
6. Agreeing the design of the assessment and what will be covered
7. The agreement of an assessment plan and costs
8. Agreeing the assessment 'sample'
9. Exploring evidence and the on-site visit
10. The assessment decision/s
11. Initial, headline feedback
12. The written report
13. The Recognition Process (and Panel)
14. The Improvement Planning Meeting
15. A Customer Feedback Questionnaire (CFQ)
16. Annual contact with your Assessor
