ISO Employer Certifications
To earn the certification, organizations will need to demonstrate that they have:
- A strategic engagement process that clearly defines the brand and culture and is clearly articulated to the entire community, including customers, distribution partners, employees, vendors, investors and volunteers or constituencies.
- An ongoing leadership coaching and assessment process to ensure supportive management.
- A clearly defined engagement assessment process to identify the level of engagement of all key audiences and a method of addressing engagement gaps in a demonstrable way.
- Recruitment strategies that strategically seek to match people’s emotional and technical skills with jobs that provide meaningful opportunities and create a diverse community.
- A job design strategy that ensures that people’s greatest strengths are maximized in a sustainable manner by having a proper work/life balance.
- A documented learning platform for regularly ensuring that key audiences have the information they need to provide desired services to external and internal customers and to act in such a way that supports the needs of external and internal customers.
- An ongoing method of fostering innovation across the enterprise in a way that engages customers and distribution partners and fosters a sense of task value among all employees.
- A clearly articulated rewards and recognition strategy that distinguishes rewards and recognition from compensation and pricing with customers, and that follows research-based best practices related to presentation, selection and customization to maximize impact.
- A method of measuring and analyzing all the above elements to identify gaps or deficits or other ways to improve performance going forward, as well as a feedback mechanism ensuring this information gets to the right people.
The Process
The evaluation is conducted by an ICEE consultant in a two-step process. The first step involves a preliminary gap analysis to help an organization determine what it will have to do to comply and how it will do so. The second step involves the actual evaluation process after the organization has had sufficient time to implement and begin measuring the process. If a company’s practices already comply, they can receive an immediate certification. On the other hand, this can take at least a year if an organization is starting from scratch. If the organization needs ongoing assistance to comply, it will need to reach out to an ISO-certified developer for guidance on how to implement best practices in a sustainable way. (See below for more information on ISO-certified developers.)
Depending on the size of the company, a senior level auditor will need one to four days on site or in different locations (on potentially two different occasions) to review in-person the documents substantiating the above practices and to ask direct questions of those responsible in the organization. These meetings will be held with the management responsible for each aspect of the engagement strategy, along with meetings with randomly selected employees at the time of the visit to gauge their understanding of organizational values and goals as outlined in its engagement strategy.
Once ICEE certifies compliance, the recipient has the option to license a logo it can use for three years until it is subject to renewal at a reduced cost. There is only one ISO 10018 Quality People Management logo; companies are not given grades, although the consultant might share additional benchmark information for future reference.
First Time Cost
The cost is based on the size of the company and the level of services requested, plus reasonable travel expenses.
Phase I: Evaluation: This is generally a two-day assignment to provide a preliminary gap analysis to help an organization determine its level of compliance. The gap analysis can be used by internal management or an ISO-certified developer to create an action plan.
| Cost: | |
| Number of Employees | Fee |
| >1,000 | $10,000 |
| 501 – 1,000 | 8,000 |
| 51 – 500 | 6,000 |
| 25 – 50 | 4,000 |
| <25 | 2,000 |
Phase 2: Assessment: This ranges from one to four days based on the size of the company, with a corresponding day for each day on site for further evaluation. If an organization passes the assessment process, it can purchase a certification below.
| Number of Employees | Fee |
| >1,000 | $15,000 |
| 501 – 1,000 | 12,000 |
| 51 – 500 | 9,000 |
| 25 – 50 | 4,500 |
| <25 | 3,000 |
Phase 3: Optional ISO 10018 Certification logo license. Companies that meet certification standards may opt to purchase a license to display the certification logo in their marketing, recruitment, investment and other materials for a period of three years. Cost: $10,000 for three years (or $3,500 per year). Note: there is no charge to use the logo for additional certifications.