A competitive edge, increased productivity, increased customer satisfaction, enhanced corporate image. These are some things that most, if not all, businesses want and or need to survive. Well these are some of the benefits that a new programme being introduced to businesses in the Cayman Islands will provide.

The Investors in People programme is being project led by Mr. Philip Scott of the Employment Services Centre. "The Investors in People Standard focuses mainly on four areas within organizations, namely; raising the bottom line, building new relationships, reducing hassle in day to day operations and creating new mind sets conducive to high performance," explains Mr. Scott. "One of the best things about the Standard is the fact that it has been tried and tested and there is research to show where this programme has been successfully run and seen significant results in each of these areas," Mr. Scott explains.

The Standard was launched in the United Kingdom in 1991 and has since seen tremendous growth and success. A survey recently conducted of over 2000 companies in the UK showed benefits in all the areas Mr. Scott refers to. Almost 80% of the organisations reported increased competitiveness and productivity, 90% of the companies reported that training of employees had become more focused and over 90% had improved their communications and had a more motivated workforce.

"Cayman business can look forward to Investors in People being launched in March with a pilot programme," says Mr. Scott. "We intend to start the programme with a mix of six local businesses and three government departments." The reason for a pilot programme explains Mr. Scott is to develop and put in place quality assurance procedures and to develop our local Investors in People skills base.

Investors in People is something that companies will aspire to attain with certain criteria being required of the organisations. The Standard requires that businesses demonstrate good practice in the management and development of employees, as well as in their recruitment and selection. Such a demonstration of good practice will result in applications for work permits being readily approved.

"Many organisations in the Cayman Islands may already meet some or all of the requirements of the programme," explains Mr. Scott. "We will be training advisors to evaluate interested organisations and help them to achieve the Standard."

Working along with Mr. Scott in developing Cayman's programme is the Director of Employment Relations, Mr. Walling Whittaker. Together they have laid the foundation of the programme and are now putting together a Steering Committee to guide the programme's implementation. The committee comprises local expertise and is chaired by the Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Education, Human Resource and Culture, Mrs. Joy Basdeo.

"Local involvement from all sectors is vital to the programme's success" Mr. Scott points out. The Steering Committee that is being formed will include representation from the private and public sectors, trade associations, employee organisations and members of the community.

The programme is a very large undertaking by the Employment Services Centre and one that will no doubt prove very beneficial to all organisations in the Cayman Islands. The public can expect to hear a lot more about the programme throughout the next several months and how they and their organisations will be involved. Anyone who would like more information about the programme can contact Mr. Scott at 945-3114 or by e-mail at Philip.Scott@gov.ky