This global defence business established a one-day mental health awareness workshop in order to manage its employees’ duty of care and maximise productivity of the business. The workshop, which is linked to real business challenges, was initially delivered to the leadership team but feedback has been so positive that there is a target to reach 6,000 employees by the end of the year.

This international infrastructure group responded decisively to a challenging period, by delivering a corporate transformation built on upskilling its employees in order for them to deliver the commercial decisions needed for business success. The commercial programme has led to significant return on investment and an increased awareness of commercial governance.

This rapidly expanding franchise restaurant business developed a training programme focusing on brand integration and engagement in order to improve guest satisfaction. In an extremely transient industry, the training was developed to be accessible and interactive and included training buddies and champions. Following the training, both mystery diner scores and guest satisfaction responses have improved across restaurants.

Leading and inspiring
Construction and engineering | 1000+ employees | UK-wide

This industrial conglomerate recognised a need to create a UK-centric programme in order to build a strong managerial culture. ‘Building Your Leadership Signature’ supports managers to ‘lead and inspire’ rather than ‘command and control’. The programme includes a Dragon’s Den simulation where teams can present business proposals and has resulted in improved business performance and replacing the invoicing system with credit card payments.

This successful manufacturing business identified concerns around long-term sustainability of production due to much of the workforce being close to retirement age. It developed an in-house training and Apprenticeship programme and created a training academy. Training is now directly relevant to business needs and the age profile of staff under 30 has risen by 13% over the last seven years.

This employee-owned organisation devised a Teach to Reach programme to support nursery practitioners in achieving high standards of care, education and customer service levels. The training is undertaken on INSET days in order to reach whole teams. Out of the 43 nurseries in the partnership, 81% have been rated as Outstanding by Ofsted, compared to 19% of all early years providers across the UK.

This large residential conveyancing provider established a Training Academy programme with well-defined career progression pathways for non-legally qualified employees and those with foreign qualifications not recognised by the UK legal system. Training Academy programme lawyers are achieving 40% of the business’s exchanges and 69% of those trained are still working for the company.

This charity is upskilling its volunteers who in turn deliver training to cadets across uniformed organisations. Over 4,000 cadets each year gain a qualification as a direct result of the quality of training provided by volunteers. Since 2004 there has been a 42% increase in those undertaking the training and 90% have benefitted from it either financially, through career enhancement or by their improved ability to work with the Cadets.

Dermalogica decided to reinvent the way it trained its employees about new products (innovations) in line with advances in technology. The business decided to focus on digital delivery, increasing the learning and reference resources whilst improving access and flexibility for staff. In 2018 revenue made from innovations was at 13.8% which is 3.8% above the expected target.

The Dorchester Collection set out to respond to challenges in the face of possible staff shortages due to Brexit. It reinvented its staff development processes creating a framework that is flexible and sophisticated enough to meet individual needs in many different situations and countries. Employee turnover has reduced significantly and recruitment applications have almost doubled in a year.

This contract catering organisation established a Chef School programme in order to create an in-house pipeline and address a predicted future skills gap in the sector. Outcomes include a 68% promotion rate, significantly reduced recruitment spend and collaboration with suppliers and clients leading to increased reputation and credibility with customers.

Developing talent from within
Manufacturing | 250-999 employees | Prudhoe

This manufacturing organisation invested in its Apprenticeship programme in order to address skills gaps being created by an ageing workforce. The former maintenance apprentice became the business’s Apprentice Team Leader and to-date more than 150 employees have completed their Apprenticeship with over 70% still employed by the company.

Product Portfolio Online Learning – Putting automation at the forefront
Technology | 250-999 employees | London

To address the need to upscale training provision in the face of rapid growth, this technology business brought its product training online. Learners are able to learn at a time, place and pace that suits them and the business is championing the use of technology in its operations. Outcomes have included time and cost savings and improved consistency of delivery.

This top performing College invested in Coaching as a means of maintaining and improving its performance status and retaining its ‘Outstanding’ OFSTED rating. The strategic whole organisation approach involved training 35 coaches who then cascade the learning throughout the College. Gateshead College was awarded number one College for Learner Outcomes in 2017-18.

Go North East, working in partnership with Gateshead College and the Job Centre, created the revolutionary Bus Driver Routeway programme as a way of improving the recruitment process for the unemployed. Of the 250 learners who have undertaken the programme, success at interview has risen from 27% to 76% and learners gaining employment has increased from 9% to 44%.

This is an example of a manufacturer of convenience foods developing an on-demand learning programme to equip line managers with the required knowledge at the right time. The Grow with Greencore programme uses a blend of videos, ‘how to’ guides and peer learning and has led to increased employee engagement scores and a 10% reduction in turnover.

This leading care provider upskilled its CAREGivers in order to help them deliver exceptional end of life care and support their client families effectively. The programme provided the personal skills and resilience needed and CAREGivers are better equipped to deal with stressful and emotional situations. There has also been a 4% reduction in attrition since the programme began.

This global technology business believes that continuous skills development is critical in providing a valued service to its clients. Dedicated development managers provide tailored support to Early Professionals and the ‘ladder of opportunity’ in place offers training from trainee through to graduate level and beyond creating top class client facing, professional employees from the outset.

Coordinated approach to talent management
Professional services | 1000+ employees | UK-wide

This work wear provider established the Johnsons Academy in order to deliver a coordinated and formalised approach to talent management and succession planning, aligned to the growth of the business. Outcomes have included increased business performance and a reduction of recruitment costs saving the business £128,000.

This is an example of a nursery using yoga and positive thinking training to support the personal and professional wellbeing of its employees. The training has resulted in staff having an increased understanding as to why their own and the children’s wellbeing is so important for healthy growth and development and has led to positive feedback from parents.

In response to a chef-shortage in the hospitality sector and increased uncertainty following the Brexit vote, this hospitality organisation created an industry-leading culinary development programme – Chefs Academy. The Apprenticeship, offered at levels 2 and 3, includes masterclasses with award-winning chefs and has led to an average 70% retention rate, compared to 12% for chefs in the business not undertaking the programme.

Mortgage Processing Expert – Investing in all staff
Banking, insurance and finance | 50-249 employees | Edinburgh

This mortgage broker implemented a six-week training programme for its support staff in order to reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of administrative tasks and provide a smoother journey for customers. The cost of administrative tasks has reduced by 13% following the training and the ‘Application to Mortgage Offer’ timescales have also improved significantly.

This Further Education provider overhauled its teaching and learning after an OFSTED rating of ‘requires improvement’ in 2015. Teaching for Distinction focuses on learning from successes and an ‘open door’ policy where staff can observe other tutors in action. Teaching and learning was rated as ‘good’ by OFSTED in 2018 and the College shared its model with the wider sector at a recent Conference.

Opportunities for hard to reach groups
Public sector | 1000+ employees | Redcar and Cleveland

This Council re-launched its Apprenticeship programme as a way of providing opportunities for those not in education, employment or training and also to address an ageing workforce with an average age of 44-56. NEET individuals undertaking the programme has risen from 9% to 22% and 76% of those recruited in 2018-19 were under the age of 25, helping to address the issue of an older workforce.

RBS established Nextgen, a bank wide talent programme, as a long term structured approach of creating future leaders. The programme provides a range of opportunities for building competencies and capabilities and individual coach consultants enable participants to confidently develop the skills needed to better support the bank’s strategy.

The Royal Navy is invested heavily in its Apprenticeship programme as a way of balancing key strategic priorities whilst meeting the needs of its complex set of stakeholders. 10-12% of the workforce is undertaking an Apprenticeship at any one time and there has been a significant focus on joining up operations to form a more coherent structure. In 2018 the programme was rated as ‘Outstanding’ by OFSTED.

This B2B marketing company is meeting fast changing priorities whilst developing employee skills needed to deliver excellence. Its Everybody Always Learning Programme, which uses a bespoke software package and visually resembles the iris of an eye, is making learning a shared cross-company initiative whilst focusing on the bespoke needs of the individual.

This steel-producing company decided to reinvigorate its Apprenticeship programme in the face of an ageing workforce and competitive marketplace. The business brought the training in-house, investing in its own training centre and the expertise and knowledge of its staff. Tata Steel now has a ready-made pipeline of talent and has significantly reduced external training costs.

In response to a Listen, Fix and Act initiative to find out what colleagues wanted to change, The Co-op decided to reinvigorate its Apprenticeship programmes offering clearer pathways of progression for staff. 68% Customer Team Members were promoted to Team Leaders by the end of their level 2 programme and 20% degree level apprentices were promoted in their first year with 99% still working for the business.

This UK manufacturer wanted to reach new markets which meant that its workforce needed to grow in order to take on more diverse workloads and roles. The Unipart Way was created as a way of resetting the company culture. The framework is a set of 18 principles upon which the tools and techniques for the business are based. A total of £4.3 million in cost savings has been made since its inception.

This construction company has developed an innovative and multifaceted approach to mental health training, creating a robust support service for its staff. The business has established free counselling support available to all employees and their families and is offering varied training to different job roles including an interactive quiz, videos and a group task which can take place on-site rather than in the classroom.

This organisation was the first retailer in the UK to launch the Improvement Apprenticeships. Its aim was to embed continuous improvement into the daily work of all Wilko’s employees in order to deliver its strategic vision. By evolving the Continuous Improvement team and empowering its staff, the business has created sustainable solutions and delivered improvement projects worth over £11 million to date.