About 1st Credit Limited

Whilst 1st Credit encourages and supports self-learning and personal responsibility for development they also understand the pivotal role they play in providing structured development and succession planning opportunities. Their internal Personal Assessment and Career Management platform ‘PACman’ provides the employee with a concise understanding of their goals and objectives as well as a development path to help them succeed. This is achieved via the delivery of structured reviews, analysis of performance and development interactions across and throughout the year. Previous PACman Appraisals, Employee Survey Information, KPI’s and Quality Assurance Information all empower the employee and manager to understand current performance and help establish the development requirements for the following year. Once this is understood the option of a plethora of development options are open to the individual via the learning and development department. Development includes a blend of workshops and modules designed to improve attitude, skills or knowledge. The Management Prospectus provides over 16 internal courses as well as 7 external vocationally based qualifications. The employee prospectus covers over 30 development modules, 7 external vocationally based qualifications as well as a structured pre-management development suite of learning. Monthly reviews of performance enable the manager and employee to check the progress of the PACman goals and targets set, as well as understanding the impact of development options provided. Development follow up in this way enables the manager to understand what has worked, what has been achieved and progressively what needs to be changed or done differently.

The health and wellbeing of 1st Credit staff is extremely important to 1st Credit. They understand that sometimes throughout working life and personal life times can be difficult. Through ample communication with their staff during return to work interviews and one to one meetings they try to establish and eliminate any cause for concern. 1st Credit has established an open and honest ethos which encourages staff to share any concerns to prevent them escalating further. Working alongside a local doctor’s surgery they obtain advice on dealing with work related stress in guidance of the HSE (Heath and Safety executive). 1st Credit also offer an Occupational Health service via the surgery; this enables staff to gain professional medical advice and provides further guidance to 1st Credit in making any further adjustments. They provide behavioural workshops at all levels in the company that address stress in the workplace and provide practical solutions on how to avoid and cope with the demands of the job. These courses are essential for teams who deal with sensitive issues faced by their customers such as bereavement, critical illness, and mental health. This level of development is not only about equipping employees with the skills, knowledge and confidence to deal with such issues but it also ensures that their employees are given a degree of resilience.

For the past 2 years 1st Credit have been visiting Oakwood School in Horley to provide financial awareness training as part of the educational curriculum. Nine sessions were delivered this year by employees who volunteered their time to provide lectures on Credit and Debt awareness, Credit Scoring and Credit Histories, as well as how to be aware of managing Credit as a young adult. In addition to this they also support a work experience programme as well as a kick start your career programme where they offer support and careers advice. Oakwood School is an important project for 1st Credit as it’s not just a community initiative, but an opportunity to contribute to the future of their local community by providing sound career advice, debt management awareness and an opportunity for the students to experience a real working environment. 1st Credit hope the partnership that has developed with Oakwood School, will continue for many years to come.