The RailStaff Awards 2024

Helena Sevier - **HAS LEFT**

Said the following about David Rees:

“Since joining WSP in 2008, Dave has worked tirelessly to provide outstanding HR support to the Rail business across the UK, a high-performing business unit which has increased in headcount to over 760, from c.250 in 2009. He has helped oversee a smooth merger transition and the seamless introduction of new talent from support offices in India, Romania and Serbia (known as integrated Complementary Resource Centres).

Dave provides a highly visible, proactive strategic and operational HR service to the business. He has facilitated talent management, performance, succession, development and retention planning throughout the business. A champion for coaching and mentoring, Dave has trained and influenced the senior leadership team to see things from a people perspective, developing their leadership skills and ability to act as behavioural role models. He takes the lead on HR projects and improvement initiatives, including writing and presenting proposals to the Leadership team.

Putting our people first

Dave’s insight, drive and industry knowledge have supported WSP UK Rail’s aim to be the ‘employer of choice’, attracting and retaining the most talented rail people in the industry, to the extent that we now have an industry leading attrition rate (from 17%, after the merger, to 7% vs an industry average of 12%-14%). He has helped us create an inclusive, welcoming and rewarding work environment that motivates employees and provides career development opportunities that enable everyone to reach their potential.

He supports our execution of the people strategy, which supports our growth ambitions and ensures we are a consistently high-achieving business unit, whether that’s in terms of staff engagement (evidenced by staff surveys), compliance with our internal systems (i.e. personal development reviews), retention rates and gender balance and diversity targets.

Dave helps us remain compliant with our policies while remaining open to new ways of working and thinking that will positively influence our working culture. For example, he supported our adoption of the pioneering ‘20-first’ approach, which moves away from assuming today’s gender imbalance is caused by something women lack (i.e. skill, will, or background), instead embracing the diversity of experience and ways of working that women bring to the workforce. Dave’s support here has been invaluable, for example overseeing the roll-out of unconscious bias training for all senior rail staff to ensure they make the right decisions when recruiting or recognising progress. 96% of all line managers have completed their Unconscious Bias training, the highest in the entire UK business.

Award winning graduate and apprentice schemes

Dave was an active member of the Rail Trailblazer scheme to introduce a new apprentice standard to the industry. He actively supports our apprentice and graduate recruitment and development, working closely with our Learning & Development team to implement an award-winning graduate and apprentice programme.

In July, we were awarded the Graduate Programme of the Year at the Women in Rail awards, recognising our efforts to meet our gender balance targets and apply an innovative approach to attract and retain great talent. As HR Business Partner, Dave has worked with our team leaders and recruitment team to promote greater female representation: the percentage of female graduates in the Rail discipline has risen steeply from 12% in 2015 to 43% in 2019, exceeding WSP’s target set for 2021! This year the percentage of female apprentices was 66 per cent of our 2019 apprentice intake, following year-on-year increases since 2015.

Creating a happier workforce / improving retention

Dave supported the Managing Director of the Rail UK business to address attrition; he analysed staff attrition data to identify post-chartership staff as most ‘at risk’ and implemented an innovative career coaching programme. This provides dedicated career coaches from Rail’s senior leadership team to support career development and improve engagement, and is largely responsible for a 57% reduction in leavers in the post-chartered grades between 2015 and 2018.

Encouraging more young people into rail

Passionate about encouraging early career professionals to be the best they can be, Dave has actively promoted successful inhouse mentoring schemes. He has also supported initiatives to support graduate recruitment and female participation in STEM careers, including Launchpad, where our graduate volunteers visit schools and offer mentoring and training.

Dr Nike Folayan, WSP Technical Director and Chair of the Association for Black and Minority Ethnic Engineers (AFBE-UK), recalls Dave’s enthusiastic support of the Making Engineering Hot Careers Day in May this year: “Dave brought lots of energy and positivity to the event, spending the whole day providing careers advice and later delivering a great presentation, inspiring school age kids to consider a career in engineering. He is clearly passionate about encouraging underrepresented young people into the sector and is a convincing advocate for diversity.”

Dave also supports our UK EDI Manager who is engaged across WSP’s 11 active HS2 contracts, helping WSP meet various EDI and skills, employment and education commitments, which include open days, work experience and lectures for the National College of High Speed Rail (NCHSR). Dave is actively involved in meeting the college to discuss how WSP can support it, for example through developing its curriculum.

Dave gets involved in STEM activities; he recently attended an event hosted by Women into Construction (a cross-industry initiative) sponsored by Camden Borough Council. Representing HS2 senior support staff, Dave joined a panel to conduct ‘speed interviews’ with female candidates hoping to return to work following long absences.

Darren Reed, MD of UK Rail, said: “Dave is a very responsive to requests from around the business. He is an extremely attentive business partner, always responding to any challenge and seeking to improve our performance, making our workplace a diverse and enjoyable place to work.”

Under Dave’s expert guidance, WSP’s UK Rail business has engendered a culture of equality, diversity and inclusion, with rail professionals that are empowered, accountable, client-focused, culturally diverse and forward-thinking, whatever their background. His practical approach has helped deliver exceptional results for WSP and put us in a strong position to achieve our ultimate objective of being Britain’s first gender balanced engineering consultancy.“

John Harding

Said the following about David Rees:

“I know Dave and he is good at this role“