.png)
New Possible’s British HR Awards sets out to discover and celebrate the organisations that are truly passionate about delivering a world-class people experience.
In our latest Sharing Success series, we interview British HR Awards 2025 Winners to shine a light on the inspiring projects that are improving workplaces across the UK and beyond. In this article we spoke with Vicky Judson, Director of People at iamproperty, winners of the ‘Technology Company of the Year’ and 'People Team of the Year (500-1,000 employees)' categories.
Introducing Vicky Judson:
Vicky has over 25 years' experience working in HR and joined iamproperty in June last year as Director of People. Vicky has responsibility for creating, developing, and delivering the People Strategy to support the overall business plans and to help the business achieve its goals through the people agenda. This includes the managing of the HR team which comprises a Talent Acquisition Team, HR Generalists and Learning and Development. Vicky said “to join a growing business is a real delight, we have a very welcoming and supportive culture, and I have a fantastic opportunity to build on strong foundations and help deliver our ambitious business goals.”
About iamproperty:
“Proudly founder led, iamproperty's mission is to modernise the property market. We do things differently, pioneer new methods and bring much needed speed and security to the sector. 15 years after spotting a gap in the market for a property auction service that benefitted both Estate Agents and consumers, we now lead the market with our ecosystem of solutions, from CRM to auction and onboarding and sales progression. Our Next Gen Agency solutions are trusted by over 6,500 Estate Agency branches to help accelerate their success. Our people are at the heart of what we do, day in day out.”
Hiring at pace
It's fair to say that 2024 was a busy year for the iamproperty team. Vicky commented: "With over 314 hires made - 95% filled in-house, the team saved over £1.3 million in agency fees, all while achieving an outstanding 100% hiring experience rating on Glassdoor."
When asked what strategies contributed to the success of filling 95% of roles in-house, Vicky said: “The team are highly competitive and work proactively to source candidates. We do use agencies but the team’s preference is to source direct, we know our business best and we value saving the company money. We have a very active social media presence and created ‘Life at iamproperty’ social pages to further enhance our brand.”
"We also pride ourselves on our candidate experience. All suitable candidates have a telephone screening call set up within 48 hours of their application. Candidates are regularly updated throughout their journey and we provide detailed feedback to unsuccessful candidates. This is what resulted in a 100% candidate experience score on Glassdoor. We have since introduced a survey that we issue out to candidates so we can learn more about any ways we can improve. We also rely on internal referrals and have a good referral scheme. The fact that so many employees recommend us to friends and family shows what a great place to work this is. Our employees are our biggest advocates and in 2024 we had 130 referrals, leading to 66 interviews and 51 offers.”
Developing talent
Vicky commented: “I fundamentally believe L&D is important to any business. At iamproperty, we have more than tripled our headcount over the last 5 years and so it has been essential that we develop our people to enable them to grow into bigger roles and ensure that we continue to meet customer needs. We have a fantastic leadership development programme, Elevate, which has a number of levels depending on where you are in your career. In iamproperty you will regularly hear the phrase ‘set you up for success’ and our L&D programmes are all designed with that in mind. We have a great programme for aspiring managers, Future Leaders, to enable them to learn some of the skills they need, in advance of that step up, to give them the confidence that they need. We have a great track record of internal promotions. 45% of our Future Leaders have already been promoted.”
"We also invest in L&D across the board. Particular highlights include our Auction Specialist Academy, for the first two weeks of their employment with us, our Auction Specialists receive dedicated training to enable them to hit the ground running. We are developing similar academies elsewhere in the organisation. Since the award submission we have launched a highly successful development programme, Bigger and Better, together with an external consultant which is going really well, and we are already starting to see great results.”
To summarise, L&D initiatives included:
- The introduction of KUDOS enabled immediate peer-to-peer recognition, with 873 issued.
- Career progression is championed through job families and internal promotions, with 25% of backfills filled internally.
- Leadership capabilities were elevated through a bespoke Leadership Development programme, lifting average manager ratings from 4.38 to 4.50, with 67% of employees giving their manager the highest possible score. The Future Leaders programme further accelerated progression, with 45% of participants promoted.
- Over 1,500 colleagues engaged in learning opportunities via the new RISE eBrochure, while 163 hours of coaching were delivered through iamCoaching.
- A redesigned Sales Academy saw a 90% pass rate and a 9.5/10 rating for its L&D Advisor.
Getting the fundamentals right
Wellbeing remained a central theme, with on-site health checks, mental health initiatives, and a thriving Happiness Hub drawing 1,500 visits per quarter. The team also enhanced internal culture with regular engagement events for both onsite and remote workers - from celebrations like International Women’s Day and Employee Appreciation Day to creative monthly quizzes.
From a systems perspective, the implementation of an Applicant Tracking System, Learning Management System, and upcoming HR system upgrade all contributed to a significantly improved internal customer experience.
Impact
With eNPS sitting at +32, iamproperty's people describe their culture as 'inclusive, collaborative, friendly and supportive'. Employee turnover has also decreased from 18% to 15%, and sickness levels have remained at just 2%.
When asked which initiative Vicky believes has had the biggest impact, Vicky said: “I genuinely don’t think that I can pick just one! All of the pieces knit together to provide the overall experience. We haven’t really touched on all of the fantastic work that the HR Generalists do. We do a huge amount around engagement and wellbeing, more than half our workforce is remote and we have developed strategies to ensure that everyone feels included and part of the company. We do not sit on our laurels and constantly look at ways we can improve.”
Overall, the judges praised the 'comprehensive people strategy' and 'impressive results'.
What advice would Vicky give to other companies looking to achieve similar results?
“Invest in your people and ensure you have the right sized HR team, with proper investment it can reap huge success for a business and more than pay for itself. One of the things that has really impressed me since joining iamproperty is that we have a weekly Exec call on a Monday morning and the first topic on the agenda is people, before we discuss any business results. This shows a business that really gets how important people are to their success.”
The British HR Awards is powered by New Possible, an employee insight platform that's committed to your success. New Possible helps leaders build healthier organisations by providing meaningful insight that can drive real change. Find out more about our mission or book a demo.
