Technical recruitment firm Carrington West proves it's one of the best places to work in the UK

Carrington West, which operates from 1000 Lakeside, North Harbour, Portsmouth, also proved that it’s one of the best at looking after its own staff .

It won the 2020 Investor in People Learning & Development Award (up to 249 people).

Winners of the award were announced at a virtual ceremony on Tuesday, November 24.

Managing director James Fernandes said: ‘We are very proud to have won this award especially in the wake of what has been a challenging year for everyone.

‘Our learning and development programme has been developed significantly over the past two years as we understand that our employees are the key to driving our ambitious growth plans.

‘We have introduced a number of elements including a bespoke platform with hundreds of hours of video content and training materials that are designed to suit different learning styles.

‘As the Covid-19 pandemic hit, we made a very deliberate decision to focus firstly on our employee health and wellbeing, but also on learning and development as a tool to help build the personal and business resilience and agility needed to operate business as usual.

‘Our employees’ appetite for knowledge and self-improvement especially during the first lockdown was inspiring.

‘We are so grateful that we had the systems and processes in place to be able to provide a variety of tools for everyone to access from reading material up to an including virtual workshops.’

Carrington West began working with Investors in People some years ago and achieved Gold status in 2018.

Emily Christmas, HR advisor, said: ‘Working with Investor in People and achieving accreditation level is an important focus for us.

‘Organisations like the IIP guide companies through an evaluation process that delivers a people first approach.

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‘Their input into our HR processes has been invaluable and we are very pleased to have a very high employee engagement rate as a result. Winning this award is the icing on the cake.’

The annual awards recognise organisations of all sizes across all UK industry sectors.

Carrington West provides high-calibre talent to the UK highways, transport & infrastructure, town planning, water & environmental, utilities, power and telecoms, building and rail industries.

The firm was set up in 2011 by two friends – Simon Gardiner and ​James Fernandes - in a converted garage in Southsea. It has won several awards over the years, including being named Employer of the Year and Medium/Large Business of the Year at The News’ Business Excellence Awards.

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