ARI wins international award

An award that recognises a sustained commitment to professional employee development has been won by ARI (Automotive Resources International), the parent company Fleet Support Group (FSG).

ARI, a US-headquartered and leading global fleet services provider that acquired FSG late last year, has received the Dale Carnegie Training Leadership Award.

The award is given to companies dedicated to a philosophy where people are as important to the overall business success as any technology, patent or strategy.

Award criteria include recognition as an industry leader or benchmark entity, having a strategic plan that includes driving performance via professional development and sustaining that commitment.

Culturally, both FSG and ARI have a huge commitment to employee development and customer service.

To further boost customer service and staff development at FSG, the Chippenham-based company is adopting ARI’s world class quality assurance programme - Partners in Excellence.

It is designed to both unlock employee potential and embraces a 50-point customer performance matrix to ensure top class service levels are delivered to customers.

ARI president Carl Ortell said: “It’s the collective work of each and every one of our employees that makes us a successful company and family.

“This award is especially meaningful to us because of our lasting commitment to helping employees grow. We truly believe that investing in people is critical to business success. That’s evident in the sheer number of employees that we’ve been able to nurture over long and successful careers working at ARI.

“We already know that FSG has an extremely loyal workforce. The company celebrates its 25th anniversary this year and many staff have been with the business for more than a decade with some having a record stretching back 15-20 years or more.

“Our strategic plan is to provide all FSG as well as ARI employees with additional opportunities for career growth with each person having an employee development plan.”

FSG Chairman and founder Geoffrey Bray added: “FSG has always invested as much as possible in its employees, technology and processes. However, acquisition by ARI opens the door to 20 times the resources previously available and that includes unlocking further potential among our employees that will enable the business to further expand.”

Peter Handal, President and CEO of Dale Carnegie Training, said: “We are proud to present this year’s Dale Carnegie Leadership Award to ARI. ARI’s commitment to human resources is evident from the top down. Through the creation of its Leadership Excellence program, ARI continually identifies new ways to professionally develop and grow its employees.”

The Dale Carnegie Leadership Award was created in 1985. It is granted to a company that places special emphasis on the development of its human resources, innovation and organisational creativity for the purposes of business future.

The award has been presented to approximately 300 organisations worldwide. Past recipients have included The Ford Motor Company, Coca Cola, Adidas, Boeing, Four Seasons Hotels, Daimler-Chrysler and SAS Scandinavian Airlines.