Attending the IPA CPD Awards is a great recognition for any team, at least that is how we felt when our names were called out on the day to collect the award. This award recognises agencies that have made an exceptional investment in the professional development of their employees.
We have now been awarded Gold accreditation for the past eight years, which leads us to our three years at Platinum. The Platinum accreditation is awarded to those who win Gold five years consecutively and shows how our development programme is going from strength to strength. At OMD UK, this is evident through our ‘Academy’ programme, which hosts all our development opportunities under one umbrella. The Academy was launched in 2015 and it hosts internal content run by our very own OMDers as well as external content for which we work with fantastic trainers for a tailor-made approach.
We saw programmes like ‘Introduction to DMPs’, ‘Best in Class Development Planning’, and ‘OMD Financial Imperatives’ run by our internal teams to ensure OMDers were getting the right training needed for the business and themselves. This includes our longest running graduate scheme, ‘Knowledge Express’, which sees all of our graduates enrolled in a three-month special training scheme, with learning lectures, a live pitch, and an exam at the end. Along with courses run by our internal teams, we have also seen our long-term courses such as ‘Springboard’ provide a platform for our senior managers and associate directors with opportunities of working with charities and partaking in a residential.
The opportunity for anyone in the agency to present an idea for the Academy has driven change and new initiatives each year. It’s been brilliant to see the Academy evolve continuously to bring about ever more relevant and agency related programmes each year.
The achievement of this award recognises all the hard work completed by the People Team putting together the individual training plans and making training accessible, but also everyone who contributes to the development opportunities. In addition, there has been a return on investment to the agency through the progression of our people and the retention of our employees.
We are proud to receive this award once again as it is a testament to our focus on development and progression for our people and shows that the Academy is indeed a core part of our business.
