We're passionate about, and committed to, the development of our people.
We have launched a new leadership competence framework together with 'The Learning Zone', an online portal which supports leaders and managers to drive their own personal development.
Our belief that leaders have a key part to play in driving individual and company performance led to investment in improving the skills of our most senior leaders in coaching for performance. More than 100 attended workshops in 2008.
This investment in skills development, together with introduction of balanced scorecards across the business, has ensured that we have the capability and focus necessary to continue to drive high performance through our people.
In 2008, we recruited 37 graduates to join our graduate development programme. They undertake four placements of six months duration working across diverse areas to support our objective of providing a world class graduate scheme which attracts and retains talent in the graduate market and which provides an exceptional talent pool for our future leaders and professionals.
We have identified and developed strong partnerships with selected universities that support our graduate pipeline. Particularly successful is our work with Liverpool John Moores University and their World of Work programme, supporting students’ preparation for the move from study to the working environment.
A further 75 apprentices joined the business following accredited training frameworks.