Northumberland manufacturer achieves “prestigious” accreditation following £10m investment

International soft seating manufacturer and e-commerce retailer, Bazaar Group, has been awarded Gold accreditation against the Investors in People Standard.

The accreditation is awarded to people-focused organisations that demonstrate a commitment to supporting and developing employees. Following an external assessment including an anonymous survey completed by 91 per cent of its employees, Bazaar Group now joins the top 4 per cent of gold standard IIP manufacturing organisations.

Alongside “transparent business plans and a supportive, accessible working culture”, the report highlighted that employees feel the Bazaar Group is an “excellent place to work”, offering them a “good working environment and an exciting future with potential”.

Since Comhar Capital’s £10m private equity investment in 2021, the businesses natural tendency to seek improvement has been “supercharged”. With the appointment of a trio of new directors to the board in 2022, Bazaar’s strategic leaders are focused on helping the business continue its growth trajectory with a trusted leadership team.

Awarded ‘Silver’ in its 2019 evaluation, the Northumberland headquartered firm has focused on strengthening its people strategy over the past three years to secure its gold status. As a business that firmly places people at the centre of its thinking, this achievement demonstrates Bazaar’s promise to develop a “high-performing team”.

Helen Svensson, HR director at Bazaar Group, commented: “As a team we are delighted to have achieved Investors in People Gold. Our IIP journey started 6 years ago, and the standard has underpinned our growth as a business and supported the creation of a high performing, engaged and motivated team, who live our values every day.

“Under the framework we continue to develop a people centric culture which delivers strong business results. We are hugely proud to be recognised as a Gold Investor in People. Going forward, we look forward to rolling out the framework internationally to our team in Germany and continuing to invest in our people as we grow.”

Bazaar Group CEO, Mark Dolder, added: “Not a day passes without us discussing people and how best to harness their collective and individual talent. The great thing about people is that there is no limit to what can be achieved with the right values, culture, and leadership.

“Therefore, I am extremely proud of Helen Svensson, our HR director, for showing such energetic and skilful leadership in the development of people in our business. Also, of everyone in the organisation who are consistently exemplars of our values.”


By Matthew Neville – Correspondent, Bdaily

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