Bath-headquartered law firm Stone King has been awarded the prestigious Investors in People Gold Standard – the highest level possible in the scheme.
The firm – which also has offices in London and Cambridge and has just opened a base in Leeds – is among just 7% of accredited organisations across the UK to hold the coveted standard, which recognises businesses that realise the full potential of their people.
To achieve gold status, Stone King underwent rigorous assessment of its people management practices which involved in-depth i
nterviews with employees across the firm.
Stone King human resources director Tassy Vincent, pictured right, said: “We are incredibly proud to have received this highly prestigious award.
“The Gold Standard is given to only a small number of organisations that have demonstrated excellence in developing and supporting their people.
“The feedback from the assessor was extremely positive about the hard work that has gone into establishing a professional and forward-thinking approach to people development across the firm.
“By realising the full potential of our people we are able to offer our commercial and individual clients the very highest standards of legal support.”
Among Stone King employees to benefit from the firm’s flexible approach to family and working life is Sarah Clarke.
Sarah, pictured left, joined the firm in 2013 after deciding to move her young family from London to Bath and retrain as a solicitor. She previously worked in Parliament as a health policy researcher including in Philip Hammond’s parliamentary office when he was shadow health minister.
Sarah said: “I wanted to be able to train part time because I have two young children. I was told, however, that part-time training contracts didn’t exist in the legal world.
“But when I went to Stone King and told them what I wanted to do – and what I could bring to the job given my past experience in Parliament – they were happy to offer me a part-time training contract.”
Sarah recently qualified having completed her two-year training contract and now works part-time in Stone King’s trust and estates team.
She added: “I specialise in adult social services and NHS appeals so a lot of what I did in Parliament is very relevant. Stone King saw the value of that and have enabled me to realise my ambition of becoming a solicitor while raising my family.
“They even agreed to me taking a few months off at the end of my training contract to go travelling in Central America with my family, so they have been really forward-thinking employers.”
Investors in People is the UK’s leading accreditation scheme for business improvement through people management.
Pictured below: Stone King’s Managing Partner Steven Greenwood with Marian Moir from Investors in People
