Learning and Development
We employ over 18,000 people and seek to ensure that we provide all our people with appropriate learning and development opportunities. We want our staff to be effective at what they do but also to achieve their personal goals.
A recent independent inspection by the government's Adult Learning Inspectorate put us in the top 5% of construction trainers in the country.
Our sustainability strategy can require staff to question and change their working practices and we believe that we have to provide training in an easily accessible way to ensure that our staff is aware of the issues and the potential solutions.
During 2002 we provided the bulk of our training on our contracts and additionally provided 2,327 formal training days through our shared learning centre Learning Works. Although this was less than the training days delivered at Learning Works in 2001, much of this is due to our introduction of Shared Services. This has allowed an even more flexible approach to sourcing the required training and development for each area.
Several of the training packages provided by the group were reviewed to ensure that they included sustainability information. For example,
- the new Intranet based Corporate Induction has a section dedicated to communicating our approach to sustainability.
- our high potentials Leadership Programme includes involvement in a Sustainability related activity, whether that be of a practical nature through BITC, or through the development of sustainability projects where individuals work with the business to enhance the implementation of sustainability
- we continued to promote our on line sustainability awareness module which allows a flexible approach to learning
The following formal sustainability courses were delivered throughout the group;
- sustainability awareness
- environmental awareness for site managers
- environmental awareness for project managers
- environmental awareness for office managers
- category managers sustainability course
- environmental auditor training
These courses are specific to the needs of the employee groups identified. For example, the Category Managers course explored the drivers for sustainability, the sustainable development issues surrounding the products and services procured by Category Managers and provided an overview of the measures that can be implemented to ensure that sustainability is considered during procurement decisions. This course has been attended by 75% of Category Managers.
We have continued to work with The Natural Step (TNS) on several of our projects. TNS provide our projects with training courses that help the project teams to think about the activities they undertake in a more sustainable way. In addition, one of our people has been seconded to TNS for a year with the intention of using TNS to make our supply chain more sustainable.
We have adopted a blended learning approach to our provision of learning and development. This has enabled us to provide learning in a flexible way. We have utilised on-line training materials, as well as face-to-face sessions and printed materials. This enables us to reach many of our project staff that would normally find it difficult to take the time to travel to Learning Works.
Be the change
In order to keep sustainability at the fore of everything we do we have launched a 'Be the Change’ poster campaign. The strapline is based on the quote from Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi – “Be the change for the way you want to see the world".
The series of six posters will be issued once very two months. Each poster will cover a different subject such as climate change, waste management, resource depletion, sustainable design, transport and energy use.
As well as promoting sustainability internally, the posters will be prominently displayed on sites so clients, visitors and passers-by will also be able to see Carillion’s commitment to sustainability.
Sustainability week
In order to enhance the communication of our sustainability strategy to employees, we held a 'Sustainability Week'. This involved a series of events including a sponsored bike ride and electronic quiz.
A range of mediums were used to communicate our sustainability strategy including presentations and posters. Posters included information detailing resource consumption in a normal week.
We also extend our learning and development to others
We recognise that we have an opportunity to share our skills and knowledge with others, including the communities in which we work. Carillion Building have taken this on board and won the Paddington First Award for their outstanding contribution to construction training and recruitment of local people.
Please refer to the following case record, which is an example of our project staff helping the learning and development of the local community.
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