Sofico has been awarded the Investors in People (IIP) Silver level accreditation, due to initiatives rolled out as part of the company’s learning organisation philosophy.

Sofico’s learning management system maintains a focus on continuous learning for all employees, including new starters.

Only 15% of businesses that apply gain IIP’s Silver accreditation, and Sofico has achieved the standard for its offices in UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, plus its office at Puebla, southeast of Mexico City.

Sofico views the IIP standard as an independent measurement to help improve the ongoing development of its human resources (HR) processes and its people management approach.

Corinne Martens, human resources manager at Sofico, said: “The idea behind the learning organisation is to encourage people to grow in their job role through continuous learning and to put people in control of their career by focusing them on future goals through their personal development plan.

“The underlying reason is that we would rather have people switch to a new role or job within Sofico than leaving the company for a new challenge.”

New employees at the company spend their first six months under the wing of a job coach – a senior employee in the business who takes on the role as an additional responsibility and helps them to complete a personalised curriculum for their development.

Sofico says its existing employees are encouraged to take control of their career by creating a personal development plan that defines career goals and outlines any required training and learning to achieve those goals.

Within the personal development plan, staff can opt to gain either a broader knowledge of different job aspects or deepen the knowledge of one aspect of their job.

Staff are supported in this process by a career coach who supports and monitors their progress towards attaining their personal development goals. Training can be provided in-house or through an external trainer either via classroom teaching, online learning or self-study.

Sofico has just announced a five-year growth plan with Ergon Capital Investment, based on its ongoing investment in people and innovation, following a year of record sales in 2019.

The global automotive finance, leasing, fleet and mobility management software provider presented its Vision 2020-2025 to Sofico staff, outlining plans aimed at maintaining a healthy growth through ongoing investment and product development.