THE EASTCAPE TRAINING CENTRE (ETC) is the first training institution in South Africa to have achieved the world-class standards set by the Investors In People recognition programme. “This is exciting. It confirms that ETC is a world-class training organisation with regard to its human resources practices,” says Adri Solomon of Investors in People. Investors in People is a similar quality control system to the internationally-recognised ISO 9000 programme, with the main difference being that Investors in People focuses on people rather than systems as in the ISO accreditation. Evaluation of 40 South African companies taking part in the pilot phase of the programme was undertaken by international assessors. ETC was one of two organisations in the Eastern Cape chosen to pilot the programme, and is very proud to be the first to have qualified, says ETC director Dieter Küsel. A commemorative plaque was presented to Küsel and seven other organisations by Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana during a special function in Sandton recently (Thursday, September 26). The other organisations were BMW, SA Breweries, BankSETA, Western Platinum Mines, Kelly, the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and the du Toit group. The Investors in People programme, which was introduced in Britain in 1991, is being used by the Department of Labour to promote skills development in South Africa. The Standard was developed in the United Kingdom during 1990 by the National Training Task Force. Over 500 companies around the world were surveyed in order to identify best practices in human resources, according to Ms Solomon. The standard is built on four principles – commitment, planning, action and evaluation. These principles are underpinned by 12 indicators of good practice, each of which is further broken down into what are known as evidence requirements. Küsel says ETC had no hesitation in becoming part of the programme. “With Coega and all the other export-related developments in the Eastern Cape, it was important for us to be benchmarked against international standards. Our customers are competing in the global market-place, and we have to be able to support them with world-class training,” he says. The Investors in People standard can be applied to all kinds of organisations, according to Solomon. In Britain, 70 per cent of organisations with 200 and more employees have achieved the standard. “Case studies in the UK have shown that Investor in People organisations have experienced significant commercial benefits. Some of these benefits may even begin to appear while working towards becoming an Investor in People,” she says. According to Küsel, the benefits within ETC were “definite and immediate. What the accreditation process highlighted was how much we invest in our people. The staff recognised it instantly, not by having management tell them, but by identifying it themselves from the process. “The process of applying the strategy – meeting with management and staff and holding briefing sessions – provided an opportunity for team building. It gave people a sense of involvement,” he says. ETC is geared to help Eastern Cape companies to experience the same returns, says Küsel. “Our accreditation as a training organisation shows that we practice what we preach by investing in our own people. Over 30 per cent of our payroll is invested in training. The world bench-mark is under 10 per cent, while the South African average is around one per cent,” he says. All the training is geared towards providing a better service. “The key focus of Investors in People is to ensure that what people can do, and what they actually do matches what the organisation needs them to do. In the case of ETC, this means providing effective training in over 200 main fields,” he says. The benefits of ETC’s accreditation will be felt throughout the province, believes Küsel. “The recognition raises the skills profile of the Metro and the Eastern Cape as a whole. It tells investors that we have world-class training facilities right here,” he says.