NMBS has gained independent recognition of its progressive employment practices. Following an external audit conducted by third party assessors, the buying society for independent builders’, plumbing and heating, timber, and hardware merchants has secured Investors in People Gold certification.
Second only to Investors in People Platinum status and surpassing the standards demanded by Accredited and Silver statuses, Investors in People Gold is held by only a select number of employers in the UK.
It places NMBS amongst some of the nation’s leading organisations when it comes to people management excellence.
In order to achieve Investors in People Gold, the business was assessed in a number of areas and using a variety of assessment methods – including employee interviews and observations of the NMBS team at work.
The assessors were keen to explore existing working practices and their subsequent outcomes in relation to three key goals – leading, supporting and improving.
In particular, they were looking for evidence of an approach to people management that met nine different criteria: leading and inspiring people; living an organisation’s values; empowering and involving people; managing performance; recognising and rewarding high performance; structuring work; building capability; delivering continuous improvement; and creating sustainable success.
NMBS secured Investors in People Gold by being able to demonstrate established and developed practices in all of these nine areas and advanced practices in at least seven of them.
The gold accreditation reflects NMBS’ longstanding recognition of the value of its team and builds on the buying society’s previous Investors in People Accredited status which it has held since 1995.
Commenting, Chris Hayward, Managing Director at NMBS, said: “The entire team at NMBS is absolutely delighted that we have achieved the high standards demanded by Investors in People Gold status.
“As a business, our people and our wider culture set us apart and are instrumental in our success. So much of what we do is about the team we employ, their knowledge and their commitment to quality as well as their ability to build strong relationships with both our members and suppliers alike.
“The accreditation reflects our genuine appreciation of our workforce and our dedication to their on-going career satisfaction, well-being and continued professional development.”
