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^» Heathrow City Partnership

"HCP have fully embraced the principles of the IIP Standard and as a result have gained commitment, loyalty and passion from their staff. Everyone is giving 110% to ensure HCP succeeds and grows. They are an inspirational organisation, which shines as a beacon to others in these challenging and uncertain times."

Joanne Holliday, IIP Specialist at CQL

^» Introduction

The Heathrow City Partnership (HCP) is a business–led, private and public sector organisation and is a not for profit company, limited by guarantee. They are a Managing and Delivery company which is supported by the Mayor of London's Development Agency – the LDA and various private and public sector Stakeholders and Partners.

The HCP pride themselves on being a leading economic development company that brings "business and communities" together by creating business opportunities, supporting enterprise and training people for jobs. Their vision is "to make Heathrow City an international gateway for enterprise, commercial development and multi–culturalism".

^» The Challenge

The Investors in People standard was something that HCP were determined to achieve. Having not attained accreditation previously in 2007 it was something they were prepared to work for. They originally planned for the assessment 6 months after the previous one but due to a significant restructure it was put on hold. On their journey to attaining IIP they were faced with many challenges which needed to be overcome. In addition to the restructure they subsequently lost 30% of their investment from one of their main contributors. As they rely heavily on this funding to generate income for the business this potentially may have jeopardised their future. Their assessment was put back several times due to the numerous problems from a funding perspective and internal changes. However they identified one of the major challenges to gaining IIP was their training and development. Employees were attending courses on an ad hock basis but not measuring how this later impacted on their jobs. This was one of the main issues that required further work.

^» The Solution

The HCP is a particularly small company with only 14 employees therefore they were a very close and hard working team. The organisation provides support for the local community, for example securing local people jobs at Heathrow airport. From the outset the company was determined to face the economic struggle and potential closure. With the initial findings from the review in 2007 (when they did not gain accreditation) they put together an action plan. As they progressed through the plan it was adapted and modified to encompass the loss of their major funding and any other issues that arose.

The solution was effectively decided by the employees as their attitude was to collectively carry the burden and reach a pivotal solution as one. From directors to contract staff everyone carried the weight equally. Areas that had originally been highlighted in the initial review included; top level learning and development in addition to evaluating benefits of activities undertaken by the organisation. These were all addressed and included in the review of contractors and full time members of staff.

^» The Result

Most of the staff have worked there for at least 3 years which is not indicative of a small fund based company. You would normally expect to find a constant turn over but with HCP employees have a real sense of loyalty to the company and a strong sense of comradeship. When faced with the challenge of losing such a great amount of funding and still trying to work towards attaining Investors in People it seems nothing would get in their way. It is symptomatic of a successful business to have a workforce that comes together in challenging times. Rather than making redundancies they worked on a solution together. Between them 7 employees became contractors which cut down their hours and immediately took pressure off staffing costs. Whilst these contractors now worked 3 days they were still in essence doing a full time job. With half the workforce on contract you would expect the dynamics of the company to change. However apart from the pay no one allowed the change to affect the business morale, everyone was just as engaged as before which is an indicator of a strong business.

They believe their achievement is directly related to the guide lines from IIP originally given in March 07. The action plan they formulated helped to strengthen their business and develop and nurture relationships. This in turn helped them move forward through tough times and to reap the rewards of a small organisation. Due to strong communication rather than lose people they have managed to retain all staff and continue on as a thriving organisation. Being awarded Investors in People only highlights how evident this is throughout the business. For the company and its employees there is a real sense of passion and commitment which helped towards reaching IIP standard.