Groupama Insurances Gains Gold!

14 August 2009,

In a fantastic endorsement of its people management skills, Groupama Insurances has become one of only 41 businesses in the UK to achieve the prestigious Gold status in the Investors in People (IIP) accreditation - the highest level of achievement available. Only 1.3% of the 28,000 IIP accredited companies have attained Gold and Groupama is one of the first general insurers to have achieved the highest standard.

The IIP added three new tiers of achievement on top of its existing standard in May 2009 – bronze, silver and gold. The new levels were created to promote a higher level of attainment in businesses through improvement of employee performance, communicating objectives to colleagues and demonstrating delivery of results.

Paul Cann, HR Director for Groupama Insurances said: "We have been working with IIP for a number of years and in 2008 achieved one of the highest scores yet recorded against the wider Profile framework when we renewed our 3 year accreditation. It was therefore a natural step for the business to aim for the highest Gold standard when this became available. It was a rigorous process which required us to provide over 126 pieces of evidence in relation to the 10* areas of IIP Framework."

Within Groupama’s evidence, IIP noted in particular the drop in employee turnover, a rise in average length of service, low absenteeism which outperforms the financial services sector as a whole and an increase in people taking qualifications linked directly to their role.

Paul Cann continues: "This is a very impressive achievement for our business and demonstrates the value we place in our people and the work we have done to make ourselves a preferred employer. Gold recognition demonstrates that Groupama Insurances operates at the very highest levels of people management practice. It is all the more important as we are not a consumer brand, so the accreditation will really help to set us apart for prospective employees, broker partners and policyholders."

Paul Picknett, Corporate Services Director for Groupama Insurances added: "Working with IIP has been invaluable on a whole number of levels not least of which the framework it provides for us to improve our effectiveness and the new targets it sets for us to aspire to. For Groupama this has never just been about the badge, it’s been about the journey and IIP has really helped us with our continuing efforts to be a great place to work."

Ends
August 2009