After being independently assessed last year the HWP Group has received Investor In People (IIP) status on December 19, the company's president and CEO Jonathan Brewin announced on Tuesday.

The accreditation is awarded to companies which have introduced "best practices" in employee training and development schemes. Particularly popular in the UK, IIP is now gaining a foothold in human resources programmes in Bermuda.

"The Standard is an internationally accepted measure of HWP's commitment to the continuing development of its staff, a key factor in providing high quality customer service," he said in a press statement.

It provides a framework for improving business performance and competitiveness through a planned approach to setting and communicating business objectives and developing people to meet them.

The IIP Standard is based on four key principles: A commitment to invest in staff in order to achieve business goals; planning how skills are to be developed to achieve those goals; taking action to develop the skills; and evaluating the outcome of training and development.

"Moving forward, the HWP Group recognises that we must continue to develop our people so that we can be the best provider of customer service," Ms Wade said.

"We knew we had problems which is why we committed to the programme and have dedicated resources to these improvements." And as he said that an organisation's staff is its greatest asset, Mr. Brewin said the IIP Standard provided the HWP Group with the framework needed to ensure better company performance. The IIP Standard recognises that the HWP Group is a quality organisation, committed to effective investment in all HWP Group staff in order for them to achieve their business goals, Mr. Brewin said.