Local social enterprise, Five Rivers, has secured a prestigious We Invest in People Gold accreditation for the second time running.

Five Rivers, which has operated in Salisbury for over 30 years, runs specialist fostering services, children’s homes and independent schools in Wiltshire.

The accreditation comes at a time when there is a national recruitment challenge for social care staff and foster carers, and the highest ever recorded number of children in care.

This independent judgement reveals what it’s like to work at Five Rivers. It opens by saying: “Iit is evident from the assessment that people believe Five Rivers to be a great place to work,” and gives numerous examples of how and why this organisation values its staff.
Investors in People use a stringent framework to understand how organisations lead, support and develop people at work.

Gold status was awarded following a robust assessment, which included interviewing a wide range of randomly selected employees from across the company and an anonymous survey to all staff.

Kate Bromfield, head of HR said: “Our Gold re-accreditation demonstrates the unwavering commitment we uphold to developing and supporting our employees. Investors in People have a simple vision and that is to make work better, something we wholly subscribe to.

“We’re delighted not only to have been awarded Gold status, but the icing on the cake is to have strengthened performance across several key areas.”

“The assessment is wide reaching and covers many areas, including leading and inspiring people, reward and recognition, building capability and continuous improvement. Five Rivers is committed to this regular independent judgement to ensure their workplaces are the best they can be.

Pam McConnell, chief executive and founder of Five Rivers, said: “I am so proud to see Five Rivers get a strong Gold, awarded by Investors in People. I am particularly proud as despite the last three most challenging years, we have seen an improvement in our overall grading, with clear improvements across six important categories.

“Everyone knows how hard it is to recruit and retain the right people to work with children and this is one way of measuring what we can do to make a difference.”

Five Rivers has a strong focus on creating the right environment for staff to feel cared for, so they can do the important work with vulnerable children in care.

Pam added: “We are committed to continuous improvement and this independent review highlights so many areas of excellent leadership and development. It’s been lovely to have something to celebrate and enjoy as an achievement.”

“Now we turn our attention to the areas we can improve on further to ensure we keep building a welcoming, learning culture.”