Terri Stanley

Said the following about Andrew Skitt:

“I am writing to nominate Andrew Skitt for the Trainer of Year award. And it is my great honour and privilege to do so.

Andrew is clearly an outstanding professional, mentor and colleague but I believe he should be recognised for his training skills.

When I joined Colas Rail in December 2015 the new employee induction was inconsistent, and did not provide new employees a guaranteed induction into the business. I was keen to change this as I feel the most important time to impress a new employee is within the first 3 months to ensure we have engaged them enough to stay with us.

Andrew shared this opinion and was keen to help me even though at the time he was taking on his manager’s role and responsibilities and working far more hours than his contract. Andrew wanted to go above and beyond to ensure the company had a proper induction.

Within a couple of weeks of us discussing what the induction could look like, Andrew approached me with a full comprehensive induction which would be covered over 3 days. He had factored in all aspects and researched different departments to ensure the induction & training provided was fit for purpose.

We have now run several successful inductions and received excellent feedback from the new employees, with even one saying, 'it was the best induction he had ever received'. Managers have also commented and said the new induction is amazing as it allows their new members of staff to gain more information on what Colas Rail is about before starting their role. This is all thanks to Andrews’s brilliant training skills and engaging with the new employees. He uses various different training methods to ensure they do not get bored or uninterested in the induction.

Due to all his hard work and dedication we are now proud to promote this induction and looking to roll this out to various other business areas.“