INVESTING IN OUR PEOPLE
Essex Ford recognises the fact that our employees are our greatest asset. The success of an organisation depends on having the right number of staff, with the right attitudes, skills and abilities. The Standard provides a national framework for improving business performance and competitiveness, through a planned approach to setting and communicating business objectives and developing people to meet these objectives. The process is cyclical and engenders the culture of continuous improvement.

The Investors in People Standard is based on four key principles:

• Commitment to invest in people to achieve business goals
  
• Planning how skills, individuals and teams are to be developed to achieve these goals 
   
• Action - taking action to develop and use necessary skills in a well defined and continuing programme directly tied to business objectives.
  
• Evaluating outcomes of training and development for individuals' progress towards goals, the value achieved and future needs. IIP confirms the importance of the individual in the workplace and is an outward and visible sign that an organisation is committed to learning. We have recently been accredited for the Investors in People standard for the third time and significant progress has been made by the company in developing strategies that support staff training and development.

Philip Maskell
Chairman