A North-east charity has won an international employer award.
North East Sensory Services (NESS), which has offices in Aberdeen, Dundee and Elgin has been crowned winner of the Excellence in The third sector category (up to 249 employees) at the annual Investors in People Awards 2016, the leading industry event recognising high performance in people management.
The Awards, which received over 300 entries from organisations working in a variety of sectors and locations across the globe, celebrate the best people management practices amongst businesses.
Investors in People is an international quality standard which assesses an organisation’s performance through its people, helping businesses and charities realise objectives through exceptional quality management and development of staff and volunteers.
North East Sensory Services was presented their award at the ceremony held on 29th June in London, at Old Billingsgate, and hosted by comedian Sally Phillips.
NESS supports more than 4800 people in the North-east of Scotland who are visually impaired, blind, hearing impaired and/or deaf. It has been caring for people in Aberdeen since 1879 and now supports people in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Dundee, Angus and Perth & Kinross.
NESS achieved the standard and advanced bronze standard recognition as an Investor in People in 2010, and retained this in 2013.
After a comprehensive audit in February 2016, accreditation was achieved at the gold level, placing it in the top 14% of all organisations in Scotland and the top 1% of charity/voluntary sector.
The judging panel commented “NESS has transformed itself over the last ten years by putting people first, they have developed an innovative and flexible approach which encourages staff to be responsive and effective when supporting people who are deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind.”
Paul Devoy, Head of Investors in People, said: “Once again we have been overwhelmed by the number and calibre of entries received for the Investors in People Awards. It’s fantastic to see so many organisations nominated for outperforming in their sector, demonstrating great people management practice and a commitment to staff development, all winners should feel extremely proud.”
On being presented with the Award, NESS chief executive Graham Findlay said:
"It’s great to have the investment in our people recognised at this prestigious event. Winning is a credit to the hard work of everyone concerned with NESS - staff, volunteers and friends who are essential to what we do at NESS every day – helping to achieve independence for blind and deaf people”
“At NESS we have a very person–centred approach, which allows us to be flexible and responsive, enabling us to take account of each individual’s wants, needs and preferences.
"We work together to ensure that every single one of our service users, in all three of our centres, receives the very best support.
“Winning this Award for Excellence places NESS at the very top.”