Best Learning and Development Strategy


WINNER Wates Group


FINALISTS


• McDonald’s • RS Components • Trader Media Group • Travis Perkins


when the external market has been tough. The company has retained its annual


B


£1 million investment in L&D initiatives and strives to provide all staff with training and development throughout their career with the company. Wates has developed a framework of


development plans for all staff incorporating personal and technical development (for sales, commercial, design, IT and respect for people, among other topics), professional development and memberships, leadership and management strategies, as well as


24 HR Excellence Awards July 2011


uilding contracting firm Wates has kept its well-known mantra, ‘above all, it’s about people’, close to its learning and development strategy – even


coaching and mentoring teams. Everyone in the company who is on a talent management programme, from the trainees right through to senior managers, is provided with a senior mentor. At the same time, staff are encouraged to


take personal responsibility for their own career development. About £300,000 is invested each year in


professional qualifications and staff are allowed three days every year for formal training, with a £421 average spend per person. In 2010 alone, 6,036 days worth of training to 2,000 staff were delivered. In 2010, the company took its learning and


development strategy up a gear with the launch of a whole raft of initiatives to boost staff engagement: a leadership programme as part of a succession plan for the future; a learning academy for its project managers; six one-day sales workshops; a customer


service programme (leading to a Level 3 NVQ qualification); and a health and safety training programme. Wates attributes the achievements – the


fact 60% of senior managers are appointed internally, 91% employee engagement and 200 annual internal promotions – to its investments in development of employees. Judges praised the entry as being much


more than ‘style over substance’. The panel recognised the broad strategy


Wates had put in place, with ‘a bit more gloss’ going on. Judges said: “Mentoring stands out,


apprentices stand out, so does management buy-in. The business is using L&D to move forward and the future focus is impressive.” Finally, the judges were impressed that the


L&D link to business strategy was clear – profit per employee has risen from £15,700 per employee in 2006 to £19,600 in 2010.


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