EXECUTIVE REPORT


Fit for the future


A-Plant has implemented a number of initiatives to train and develop its expanding workforce, as well as helping them identify new career opportunities. Alan Guthrie reports from its Support Office in Warrington.


Recruiting and retaining high-calibre personnel is a perennial challenge for any business, and one regularly faced by hire companies where much emphasis is placed on product knowledge and customer service. The issue becomes even more important as an organisation expands or diversifies.


This issue has been faced by A-Plant, which has been particularly acquisitive in recent years and, as a result, now encompasses no fewer than 16 different product divisions. Indeed, since the beginning of 2015, the company has purchased, amongst others, Rapid Climate Control; generator hirer Mather + Stuart; Lion Trackhire which was merged with A-Plant’s Eve operation (acquired in 2013) to create the Live Trakway business; and assets following the demise of Hewden, including its access and power generation fleets, the Interlift lifting and materials handling business, and all of the former Hewden on-site petrochemicals depots.


Acquisitions since 2015 have included Mather + Stuart … People Strategy


“We currently have around 3,600 employees throughout our business,” said HR Director Sara Saleh. “People leave for different reasons, but whatever the reasons we felt that the attrition rate was at an unacceptable level therefore it was important that we recognised the overall situation, and that we did not just explain it away as a general, industry-wide issue. At this time we also identified that at any given time, we may have up to 60 vacancies within the business and if we can fill these through promotion, rather than rely on outside recruitment, it rewards employees and shows a clear commitment to succession planning.


“We recently introduced our People Strategy to focus on four key areas. Attraction, we want to identify and recruit the best people to join


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our business whether this be through our apprentice programme, our work with ex-military personnel or attracting talented senior managers; Retention, to ensure we can offer something for all our employees, be that through our benefits programme, right the way through to extensive development programmes; Engagement, to involve our people in the growth and success of our business and ensure we have good internal communications; and Future-proofing, ensuring we have the right people in the right roles so that we are equipped to meet the challenges as A-Plant grows and develops further.”


… and Rapid Climate Control.


Early in 2016, the company introduced a new element to its


performance review process, which has been further fine-tuned this year and is aimed at all employees. Each one is asked to review their performance, to discuss their career plans and where they would aim to be within the organisation in the future, together with what they, and the company, might do to help achieve this, through training and other development opportunities. It might be that they would like to move to another A-Plant division.


In previous years this process has been what the company describes as a ‘slow burn’; however this year the take-up has more than doubled, which is no mean feat for a business with approximately 3,600 people.


“This will give us a clear indication of where our attention needs to be when it comes to future training requirements and other necessary initiatives to move the people agenda forward as the business continues to evolve,” said Sara Saleh. “Undertaking this process really helps our people realise their contribution to the success of our business. Every person has an important role to play and adds value to the organisation. In addition, A-Plant’s successful apprenticeship programme has now been in place for more than ten years.


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