Midlands Funeral Director Achieves IIP Accreditation
Picture
Caption:
Front row left to right: Geoff Caldwell, Service Quality Manager
and Internal IIP Reviewer; Lorraine Parsons-Portas, Funeral Director
from North Region based in Chesterfield; Janice Hankins, Senior Administrator
from South Region based in Corby and Kay Bruce, Funeral Trainer.
Middle row left to right: Keith Baker, Funeral Director from East
Region based in Coalville; Ron Percy, Funeral Director from West
Region based in Stirchley and Helen McMahon, Funeral Director from
West Region based in Great Barr Birmingham. Back row: Neil Durrant,
Funeral Director from North Region based in Swadlincote. Not pictured
but representing Masonry is Alison Smith.
Midlands Co-op Funeral Services is celebrating being the first funeral business in the Midlands to achieve the newley-revised Investors in People (IIP) standard.
IIP is a national standard highlighting good practice in respect of staff training and development and is aimed at helping to improve the overall performance of an organisation.
People are an organisation’s greatest asset and for an organisation to succeed everyone has to perform well. To achieve this, people need the right knowledge, skills and motivation to work efficiently. The IIP standard gives the framework to achieve this, irrespective of the size or type of organisation.
Midlands Co-op Funeral Services has established an internal IIP project team to drive the standard forward in its own service area to ensure that it scores highly against the ten exacting criteria measured which include Planning, Performance, Development, Decision Making and Assessment of results.
Alison Hodgens, Training and Development Manager for Midlands Co-op, said: “With training and development being core elements of the process, traditionally, it has been the role of the training and personnel teams. However, the internal funeral IIP project group has embraced the process and is dedicated to driving IIP forward to ensure that their colleagues are aware of the important role they play and make recommendations for improvements. The challenge now is to build on the good work that has made us successful and gained us national recognition.”
Paul Webb, Head of Midlands Co-op Funeral Services, commented: “I’m extremely proud of the commitment and hard work that everyone puts in to helping bereaved families all year round. Gaining recognition from an outside organisation that focuses on looking at best practice procedures is a bonus. We don’t just aspire to wear the IIP badge, we live these standards through everything we do.
“The IIP award demonstrates our commitment to constant improvement in our service including our vehicles, premises and our people. It’s a benchmark by which improvements can be judged and it is a process that will see assessment against the standard on a regular basis in the future.”
For further information please contact:
Alison Cooper
Midlands Co-op
T:01543-414140
