Curtiss-Wright’s Defense Solutions division announced that its Avionics business unit, based in Christchurch, Dorset, has been awarded Silver accreditation by the Investors in People Standard, demonstrating the Company’s commitment to high performance through good people management.
Curtiss-Wright continually invests in research and development to ensure it maintains technology leadership to deliver high performance Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) and custom engineered products. Curtiss-Wright’s Avionics business provides system solutions that acquire, consolidate, analyze and record sensor and avionics data on aircraft. Our core capabilities include safety critical certified design and development processes (DO-178 and DO-254) combined with mature quality processes (AS9100). A range of product and service offerings enables us to provide solutions for many applications including: airborne recording, air data computing, flight test and space data handling systems. Curtiss-Wright Avionics is one of 3 business units based in Christchurch, Dorset and employs 100 staff.
Investors in People is the international standard for people management, defining what it takes to lead, support and manage people effectively to achieve sustainable results. Underpinning the Standard is the Investors in People framework, reflecting the latest workplace trends, essential skills and effective structures required to outperform in any industry. Investors in People enables organisations to benchmark against the best in the business on an international scale.
Paul Devoy, Head of Investors in People, said: “We’d like to congratulate Curtiss-Wright Avionics, Investors in People accreditation is the sign of a great employer, an outperforming place to work and a clear commitment to success. They should be extremely proud of their achievement.”
Commenting on the accreditation, Mark Liversidge, General Manager of the Avionics and Electronics group, said: “I am thrilled with this significant achievement for the Avionics team. This has been a 3 year journey of working together to make significant improvements to our business through good people management.”
Gloucestershire-based Arc Energy Resources – a specialist in weld overlay cladding and fabrication services for the oil & gas, nuclear and water industries worldwide – has been awarded a prestigious Investors in People Silver Award, an upgrade to the Bronze Award it has held since 2013. The Company also received the Good Practice award for Health and Wellbeing.
Announcing the new awards, company director Rosemary Robinson says: “The Investors in People award recognises that businesses go above and beyond expectations in the way they develop, support and motivate staff. Since winning the Bronze Award standard, with each subsequent assessment we have been able to demonstrate real improvements to our systems.” She adds that Investors in People is not something achieved by simply ticking a box or preparing for an audit, it is something that is central to a business. “We live it.” she says.
Commenting on the news, Rosemary’s son and Arc Energy Resources managing director, Andrew Robinson says: “It is exciting to have this accreditation as it demonstrates that we go above and beyond expectations to ensure that our staff are well managed, trained and developed.”
For the new award, an additional 20 assessment objectives were considered within the IIP Framework, including 92 additional evidence requirements and an initial assessment against the IIP’s Health and Wellbeing Award.
As Rosemary explains, the Health and Wellbeing Award is special because it shows that, in addition to the IIP Silver requirement, the company is investing significant resources into the ongoing health and wellbeing of its staff, which is good for them and for the Company.
She adds that the way this affects staff was demonstrated when, in 2015, one of our employees, Charlie Fryer, won Employee of the Year in the Cotswold Life EMI awards, and Arc Energy Resources won the Stroud Life Family Business of the Year and overall Business of the Year.
The Investors in People framework, which is suitable for organisations of any size and in any sector, transforms business performance through people, helping companies to achieve their objectives by targeting specific priorities within the organisation.
Arc Energy Resources was first accredited as an Investor in People in May 2004 and successfully reviewed in 2007, 2010 and 2013.
Summarising, Investors in People Practitioner Mary Walsh says that all of the core requirements were met and she was therefore delighted to confirm that Silver level accreditation has been awarded. She was further delighted to confirm that all of the requirements of a further Health and Wellbeing Award were also met and the new Award was added to Arc Energy Resources’ achievements, together with a clear understanding of the success and the costs of company’s health and wellbeing strategy.
The IIP review also noted that strategic planning has improved significantly, learning and development continues to be well structured and staff describe a longstanding open culture where people are listened to and constructive feedback is encouraged.
