EVERYONE has gasped at the speed with which CPP - Card Protection Plan - has become one of the biggest employers in York, operating out of its new £10 million flagship HQ at Holgate Park.

Now the company, which at the latest count has 1,100 on the payroll - 35 per cent more than last year - is making a bid for the Evening Press Growth Business of the Year as well as the Progress Though People Award.

CPP, a U.S.-based company founded more than 20 years ago by chairman Hamish Ogston, delivers a comprehensive card insurance protection service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It also provides mobile phone, travel and key cover for almost six million customers in 140 countries.

This year has been one of the company's strongest, with acquisition of both Debt Management Associates and Homecare and the launch of new and improved products - KeyCover and m-phonesafe. Gross turnover zoomed from £6 million to £65.4 million.

Product trials over the past year suggest that the business will develop significantly next year.

As at most call-centres, people are at the heart of CPP's success, and its policy is to further its own aims by allowing and helping staff to achieve personal ambitions and goals. Training and education is available across a wide spectrum of skills from basic induction and customer contact skills to computer skills, time management techniques and interpersonal skills.

These include a graduate training scheme; a "Magic Moments" contact centre induction programme; a "buddying" system to team up new staff with an experienced colleague; and sponsorships of a number of staff to gain professional qualifications such as MBA, CIM and accountancy.

There are also staff-incentive schemes offering individual and team prizes, substantial cash rewards for successful submissions in a staff suggestion scheme, ad hoc rewards for significant achievement, a subsidised canteen, company gym and recreation rooms.