Blakemore Retail Achieves Investors in People Gold Accreditation

June 06, 2019

Blakemore Retail’s commitment to developing colleagues has been recognised with the highly prestigious Investors in People Gold accolade.

Investors in People is a nationally recognised quality standard that looks for continuous improvement in how businesses communicate and develop colleagues for the future, today and tomorrow.

Blakemore Retail has held Investors in People accreditation since 2002, with the Gold status coming just three years after the business achieved Silver in 2016.

This is the first time that a division within A.F. Blakemore has achieved Gold accreditation.

As part of Blakemore Retail’s assessment process, almost 90 colleagues were interviewed, including people from various areas and locations within the company.

Site visits were also conducted across Blakemore Retail stores and the company’s head office, where IiP representatives attended an area manager meeting and observed a working group.

The company received the award due to a number of strengths, including a continued focus on upskilling colleagues, extensive internal communications and a clear leadership approach and vision that inspires a strong sense of pride and passion.

Investors in People Practitioner Bob Morrison commented: “Blakemore Retail has raised its game yet again! Reaching Gold accreditation against a more challenging set of criteria than three years ago is a truly remarkable achievement for everyone, especially during a time of change and increased competition. 

“Open management, good teamwork and taking personal responsibility for achieving targets, alongside a very strong sense of pride in providing a great level of service to customers and local communities were key factors in gaining this award. 

“Congratulations to everyone for their combined and sustained efforts in achieving Gold for Blakemore Retail.”

Training & Development Manager Kerry Hunt added: “The assessment was robust, challenging and far reaching. I would like to extend a big thank you to all those that took part in or assisted with the assessment.

“A very special thanks goes to all those that are out there working hard week in, week out, as this has resulted in making the Gold accreditation possible.”
 

IiP Practitioner Bob Morrison (centre) presents the Investors in People Gold certificate to Head of Blakemore Retail Matt Teague and Blakemore Retail Operations Director Chris Bacon

Back to news