At the ceremony unveiling a plaque marking Jungheinrich's IiP status (L-R): Stefan Gradenwitz from Jungheinrich AG; Hans Herbert Schultz from Jungheinrich (UK) Ltd; Councilor Jan Lloyd, mayor of Milton Keynes and Gavin Kibble from Jungheinrich (UK) Ltd.

Jungheinrich UK Ltd has been given Investor in People (IiP) accreditation at a 31 March ceremony at the company's UK headquarters in Milton Keynes.

IiP is a UK standard, defining best practice for all aspects of developing a company's employees.

Gavin Kibble, Jungheinrich UK's finance director, says that in 2006, following company restructuring programs, the company's management recognised that the business lacked a cohesive and defined culture.

"We used the IiP programme as a vehicle for restoring our culture.

"At the heart of IiP is the performance development and appraisal system. This gives our staff regular opportunities to discuss their development with their line managers. Areas for training are identified against required competencies for the job they are performing," he explains.

New training programmes, incentive schemes and individual reward and recognition schemes based on performance criteria established during the appraisal process have been introduced and internal communications improved with the launch of monthly magazines and regular team briefings.

Collaborating with Milton Keynes Chambers of Commerce and as part of the UK government's Skills Pledge, Jungheinrich also introduced a range of courses to develop employees' commercial awareness. Management courses were also established to ensure managers attain a standard managerial skill set.

"The appraisal system showed us there was an enormous demand for different types of training," Kibble says. "For instance, several employees felt they needed a better understanding of finance. Finance was regarded with fear and misunderstanding by many, so we implemented a course which has demystified finance and made it accessible and understandable."

Kibble adds that staff have responded well to the program. "The culture of the organisation is now one where we have confident, productive people.

"We can already see the effects that the IiP program has had in our company's bottom-line result and we believe that investing in our people, especially through training, will create a world-class organization ready to take marketshare when the economy emerges from the current economic downturn," he says.