Merseytravel a national ëChampioní

Merseytravel is one of only nine UK organisations to be awarded Investors in People (IiP) Champion status for 2006.

The Investors in People Champions programme recognises leading employers through the country who are boosting the performance of their organisation through the way they manage and develop their employees.

Merseytravel has had to demonstrate a consistent commitment to the development of its staff as a way of achieving its goals.

Neil Scales, Chief Executive and Director General of Merseytravel, said: ìI am delighted our approach to learning and development has been recognised by Investors in People through the award of Champion status to us.

ìWe have made many successful changes to our learning agenda, including setting up Merseylearn, and that has involved excellent joint working with all of the trade unions and unionlearn.

ìWe look forward to sharing our experience with other employers and demonstrating how positioning people at the heart of the business is the key to any organisationís success.î

Out of 37,000 organisations nationally that are Investors in People recognised, only 33 are ëChampioní organisations.

In its third year, the IiP Champions programme this year added Merseytravel NCP, Fujitsu Services and newspaper publishing group, Metro to its elite list of employers.

It is now for Merseytravel to work alongside Investors in People UK to share the organisationís expertise with other employers through a variety of means including mentoring and visits.

Ruth Spellman, Chief Executive of Investors in People UK and British actor Brian Blessed presented the award to Neil Scales and Merseylearnís Liz Chandler at a celebratory dinner this week.

Ruth Spellman said: ìMany organisations from across the country have benefited from the experience and expertise of our Champions, who are all excellent standard bearers for Investors in People.

ìThis yearís Champions prove, once again, the business benefits of placing people development at the heart of any organisation. Merseytravel thoroughly deserve this coveted accolade and we look forward to working closely with them in the future to help share their lessons with other organisations.î

Councillor Mark Dowd, Chair of Merseytravel, added: ìWe are very pleased that our success has been recognised with this award. Merseytravel can only as good as the staff who work for us. It is for this reason we are so strongly committed to learning and development within the workplace and why we have invested so much in it in recent years.î