Learning and development

Providing development opportunities for our people is key to being an employer of choice, achieving competitive advantage, and benefiting our business.

We help our people identify their development needs through ‘job chats’ with line managers and annual appraisals, which include personal development reviews and a training needs analysis, In 2010, 85-90% of our people received these.

Carillion also has a catalogue of training courses for technical and non-technical skills open to all our people. This is supplemented by having ‘job family groups’ to help identify and implement appropriate learning paths for particular job types.

To ensure quality and suitability, we ask for feedback on the training we offer through course evaluation forms, and more widely in our Great Debate survey. In 2010, we invested approximately £20 million in learning and development resources, and this was reflected in the improved levels of agreement with the Great Debate statements, “I have had sufficient training to do my job effectively” and “Carillion is making good use of my skills and potential”.

We continue to work with the UK Government’s Skills Funding Agency to develop a skilled and flexible workforce. In 2010, we met our commitment to its Skills Pledge by increasing the number and range of vocational qualifications offered and introducing over 83 graduates into the company. In 2009, we were awarded our first national contract, to deliver Level 2 National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) on our rail business. One hundred and forty-six learners enrolled with a 100% success rate. We were then awarded a second contract, to deliver level 2 and 3 qualifications across a range of areas such as management, construction supervision and business administration.

In 2010, 485 learners enrolled with a 95% success rate. In 2011, in line with the skills strategy launched by the Government, we will deliver a range of advanced apprenticeships, not only in traditional areas, but in new sectors such as facilities management and utility services.

Developing our leaders

We have various leadership development programmes including:

Power of Engagement – our people management training programme for senior managers. It provides practical and relevant skills for managers to engage with their people. There is a strong focus on communicating with employees to help them develop and maximise their contributions.
The Carillion Leadership Programme – designed to identify and develop people early in their careers who have the potential to fill key leadership roles in the future. The programme aims to provide a structured career path for two years, which fast-tracks individuals to more senior positions through focused development.
The Futures Network – where we bring together the next generation of managers and leaders within Carillion. We organise conferences to encourage networking and sharing business knowledge across the Group.