Ambitious housing group shortlisted twice for National Award
An ambitious North Wales housing group, which has introduced leadership and development programmes to meet its expansion targets, has been shortlisted twice for a prestigious national award.
Two projects submitted by Pennaf Housing Group of St Asaph are among nine finalists across three categories in the National Training Awards, organised within Wales by the Welsh Government in partnership with the National Training Federation for Wales (NTfW).
The National Training Awards recognise the outstanding achievements of employers who have Investors in People accreditation and who have used excellence in training and skills development to impact on their business.
The winners will be announced at a high profile awards presentation ceremony at Venue Cymru, Llandudno on Wednesday, October 24, where the winners of the Apprenticeship Awards Cymru will also be recognised. The joint awards which will be attended by around 300 key stakeholders from the vocational education and training sector across Wales.
Sponsor of the National Training Awards, which aim to showcase excellence in skills development in Wales, is City & Guilds and media partner is Media Wales.
Pennaf Housing Group’s projects, ‘Happy and Healthy Housing People’ and ‘Building Leadership Skills in the Housing Sector’, are both finalists in the Large Employer category.
With a strategy of expansion and a five-year plan to increase its 520 staff by 56 per cent, Pennaf recognised it needed to reduce high levels of absenteeism and take earlier intervention to improve staff performance.
For Pennaf, who offer a range of housing and care and support services, absence levels in 2008 were running at 14 days per person, alongside high numbers of disciplinary and grievance cases.
The company embarked on a three-year Absence and Performance Management Learning and Development Programme, which equipped managers with the tools, confidence and skills to tackle employee issues more pragmatically and at an earlier stage.
This improvement was recognised when Gold Investors in People status was achieved in 2010 and there was a dramatic improvement in the Sunday Times Top 100 Best Companies to Work For ranking from 92 to 29 by 2012.
Employee relations cases dropped from 163 to 11 by 2011, time taken to resolve issues was slashed, effectively saving managers 626 days and absence reduced from 14 to five days per person.
Effective leadership is also critical to Pennaf as it seeks to expand services over the next five years and double its workforce. Nineteen senior managers and directors participated in a leadership development programme.
Pennaf’s Director of human resources Gill Murgatroyd said: “By enhancing leadership skills we have seen considerable benefits. Our residents have greater access to community training and there is improved repairs maintenance. Staff satisfaction has increased and absence, staff turnover and grievance levels have dropped.”
Deputy Minister for Skills, Jeff Cuthbert said: “These joint awards recognise excellence by individuals, employers and learning providers in delivering training. I am delighted with the standard of this year’s finalists and the variety across all ages and sectors, which shows the strength of the skills being delivered in Wales.
“All the finalists have an inspiring story to tell and are great ambassadors for Investors in People and other programmes in Wales. The Investors in People standard helps businesses become more competitive and improves their performance and results by maximising the potential of their staff.”
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