Aberdeen IT firm becomes the only local company in its sector to reach top marks of excellence in people management.

Aberdeen-headquartered PCL Group has become the only IT company in the city to gain Investors in People (IIP) Gold Standard accreditation. It joins a list of only 10 other companies across all sectors in Aberdeen to have achieved gold status.

A total cabling and IT service provider to the offshore, marine, commercial, industrial and renewables sectors, PCL Group was established by CEO Jeanette Forbes 17 years ago and now employs a team of engineers and support staff.

In being granted accreditation, PCL Group was commended by the auditor who said she was very impressed in assessing the company for the second time to find that they had worked so incredibly hard to meet the Gold Standard of Investors in People and are to be warmly congratulated on this achievement for being a great employer, an outstanding place to work and having a clear commitment to sustainability.

Jeanette Forbes said: “On achieving Standard accreditation in December 2014 both management and employees decided we wanted to raise the bar and try for Gold accreditation on our next audit. As a company, we very early on realised that this was no easy undertaking during an oil and gas downturn as our main focus was retaining customers as well as endeavouring to obtain new business; as a team, we worked exceptionally hard and the effort has certainly paid off. It was even more of an achievement when informed that no other local IT company has obtained Gold Accreditation for Investors in People, clearly stating that we recognise our people are our greatest asset and our customers deserve the highest standard of technical service delivery.”

Formed in 1991, Investors in People was established by the UK Government to help organisations get the best from their people.

Accreditation is recognised in 75 countries across the world as a mark of excellence with organisations undergoing a rigorous and objective assessment to determine if they meet the criteria for an IIP standard.

Peter Russian, chief executive of IIP-Scotland said: “What PCL Group have shown is that in challenging economic conditions, it is the way that companies lead and develop their people which can be the difference between success and failure. PCL have worked tirelessly using the Investors in People framework to do this and their Gold Accreditation is a huge achievement.”

 

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