North East University leads the UK with Investors in People award
The University of Sunderland is leading the way in the UK with
an award for valuing and developing its staff.
With 1,500 employees looking after more than 17,000 students the
University was awarded its initial Investors in People
accreditation in 1996. Now, it has become only the second
university in the UK - and the second organisation in the North
East - to be awarded IIP status specifically for work-life balance
and recruitment and selection.
"We have a first class team working here and they are absolutely
vital to our future success," said Alan Hardie, Head of
Organisation and Staff Development. "The University has four
Faculties in Business and Law; Arts, Design and Media; Applied
Sciences and Education and Society plus seven services covering
areas such as student recruitment, business partnerships and
facilities. So the range of jobs covered here is extremely wide
from professors to maintenance staff.
"It is easy for individuals to feel insignificant in such a
large organisation and the IIP framework helps us to improve
communication, encourages a culture of openness and makes sure all
our staff feel valued.
"Our initial IIP accreditation gave us an independent benchmark
and a reassurance that we were doing a lot of the right things
already. Now it is a fundamental part of what we do and our
relationship with assessors is a key partnership.
"We operate in a highly competitive and fast-changing sector and
with a rolling assessment in place for IIP, there is always an area
of the university going through a re-assessment. We find that
flexibility very helpful in identifying quickly any areas where we
need to take action. It has helped us in all sorts of areas from
appraisal systems to induction processes and we hope to look at
leadership next."
Andrea Walters, Acting Director of Human Resources, added: "We
are delighted to be the second UK university to achieve these
modules. We place great importance on work- life balance and, for
example, we encourage a whole range of flexible working options and
offer enhanced maternity, adoption and paternity leave. Our
recruitment strategy enables us to attract high quality staff from
a range of sectors."
Sunderland has already been named as the leading university in
Britain for equality and diversity in the National Workplace
Equality Index. With two campuses, one in the heart of Sunderland
and the other at St Peters it is currently playing a major role in
the creation of a £300m film academy in the region and Steve Cram
was recently installed as Chancellor.
Robert Macleod, Managing Director of Investors in People North
East, said: "There is a lot of enthusiasm for IIP in the North East
with around 2000 companies and organisations from engineering
companies and museums to hospices and building societies working
with us. It is good to see the University of Sunderland rewarded
for all its commitment and hard work and leading the way in the
UK."