Investor’s In People – Gold Award

In the ever-changing world of modern business, it’s important to recognize achievements that truly shine. And we’re delighted to share that not only did we recently achieve Investors in People Gold Accreditation – we also took home the Investors In People Third Sector Employer of the Year Award. Combined, these accolades capture how committed we are to creating a positive, supportive space for everyone—staff and the people we support alike. Here, Regional Manager, Lynsey Todd, explains more about Investors in People (IIP) and what it means for the organisation in 2025.

What does Gold accreditation mean to Recovery Connections, and how was it achieved?

Being a LERO, we are very aligned to our values and all of the work that we do is for our people and our communities. It means so much to us, that our people feel valued, that we have a good people culture and staff have a good experience working for Recovery Connections. We work closely with our IIP assessor, who conducts an assessment which includes; a staff satisfaction survey, and then 121 or group interviews with staff, to ask them if what we say we are doing is correct.

We have also worked closely with managers across the organisation and senior management team, to look at overall improvements and suggestions from the previous inspection.

How important is it for Recovery Connections to achieve Gold standard IIP and what benefits will it bring to an employee or volunteer within the organisation?

It is a great achievement for us to have Gold status and also to be named Third Sector Employer of the Year in 2024, because we are very proud of the way we treat and support our staff. The benefits to staff are that we are continuously improving the way we do things to make their experience of working with us a positive one. Some of the things we have introduced in the last year are reduced working hours to 35 hours per week, paid wellbeing time, the Techscheme and access to Optimee, a health and wellbeing app.

What are the organisation’s plans to sustain this accreditation, or advance to a higher level?

We will be working hard to ensure that Gold is maintained and hopefully in the future we may even strive for Platinum. We are keen to develop an IIP Working Group and I am looking for volunteers from across the organisation, who are passionate about people and making a difference in the workplace.