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Award Winner Profile


Leicester College recognised CML for its contribution to the training of apprentices in 2019


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Transferable skills


The wide range of training offered at CML also includes English lessons. Delaney outlined: “We currently offer


ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) lessons and we have 40 employees doing those. Certain qualifications require basic English ESOL if the student has not been through an English education. In any case, we encourage all of our people to have basic English to help ensure health and safety.” Plus: “We have discussed the addition of


A valuable investment


Core Management Logistics (CML) won the BIFA Staff Development Award 2019 in recognition of the positive impact of its training provision on employees’ growth and wellbeing


According to Kerry Delaney, managing director at CML, the company’s focus on staff development has two primary


motivations that go hand in hand: a duty of care for employees, and the need to retain a skilled workforce. “Our biggest challenge in this industry is the


availability of labour, especially hourly labour,” she said. “We are based in a 7 million sq ft area at Magna Park in Lutterworth; it is already competitive and more facilities are being built here. “A differentiator for us as an employer is that


we offer development opportunities that our competitors perhaps do not.” One example is the provision of personalised


e-learning courses. CML offers over 150 modules covering topics such as personal development; management and leadership development; customer service; health and safety; communication and social skills; and policy and compliance. Every month around one hour’s worth of learning


is added to every employee’s e-learning platform, with the selection tailored to their role and any skill gaps identified during performance reviews. For training in specialist areas such as mental health awareness, alcohol and drugs, CML worked with external providers qualified in the subject matter. “We also have relationships with local colleges such as Leicester College and North


14 STAFF DEVELOPMENT AWARD SPONSOR


Following the announcement of category winners in January, BIFAlink profiles the successful companies showcasing the service, innovation or attitude that caught the judges’ eyes. For your chance to shine start thinking about your submission for the 2020 BIFA Freight Service Awards, go to www.bifa.org/awards


Warwickshire and Hinckley College,” Delaney said. “We have seven apprentices at the moment [early March], on various courses from engineering to business administration. We are looking at taking on apprentices in IT, finance and human resources as well.” Like any CML employee, those apprentices can


use the company’s training centre, which opened in August 2018. The centre is housed in one of CML’s warehouses and has six workstations.


Benefits While the company’s investment in staff development is relatively large, Delaney is convinced it is a valuable approach. Employees are more engaged, motivated and keen to develop their skills. “Investing in our staff reduces turnover and we


retain good people. Employees feel valued as the company is paying attention to them. People are growing in confidence and feeling they have an opportunity for promotion.” CML has a target of 90% leadership


recruitment through internal promotion as part of its strategy of future-proofing. The company has promoted several individuals with no previous experience of managing a team to supervisory or leadership roles, training them up specifically for these positions. “We are facing big challenges and new


Kerry Delaney, CML managing director: “Our biggest challenge in this industry is the availability of labour, especially hourly labour.”


opportunities, so we need to focus on succession planning,” Delaney explained. “Promoting internally tends to help ensure a good skills match for the job in question, and is more cost effective than bringing in new leadership staff from outside. “Promoting people internally is a clear measure


of the return on our investment in them. But really, the best thing is giving our own people the opportunity to develop.”


August 2020


other language courses. Some employees have been asking for German lessons, for instance, because we are now part of [Germany-headquartered] Rhenus Group. “A large proportion of our hourly


workforce is from Eastern Europe – chiefly, Poland. So it might be interesting to offer Polish lessons too,” Delaney added.


“We have a lot of apprentices from Leicester


College who spend 20% of their working week on coursework, and the centre helps them keep up with that. It is a quiet space with no distractions,” Delaney observed.


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