The RailStaff Awards 2024

Gemma Newby

Said the following about MPI Rail Team:

“The MPI Rail recruitment team has worked tirelessly on finding the right candidates for the Trainee Installer Programme, since 2012 over 55 individuals have progressed through the scheme. The aim of the trainee scheme is to bring local labour to our clients’ projects to reduce risk of fatigue from travel and to also increase the skilled labour pool with the signalling installation sector whilst also driving an excellent attitude to work safely.

For many years it has been widely recognised that for most projects the work force is travelling too far for too many shifts due to skills shortages, ageing workforce, project location, peak and trough of work availability and many other reasons. It is also becoming increasingly evident that within the signalling industry more and more people are coming to retirement age and taking the vital knowledge and experience with them and there are not enough people coming through to replace them with the relevant skills and experience.

Sustainability is a word we must all put at the heart of our work, MPI feels strongly that as an agency it is important to be giving back to the industry we work in to sustain the future workforce to deliver the modern railway requirements.

Once the requirements of the scheme were determined it was over to the recruitment team to search our bespoke database and advertise for individuals that wanted to be considered for the 1-2 year scheme which involves signalling and electrical installation courses.

MPI wanted to find individuals with a great attitude towards safety that could commit themselves to the trainee programme and that were geographically based within 15-30 minutes maximum travel from the intended project. We set a team to support this recruitment drive, using social media, job boards, database and networking with the people on site we already have working.

From the first rounds of applications a shortlist of individuals was created for initial interview and screening process to include checks for right to work in the UK, medically fit and mentally aware of the unique requirements for working in the railway industry.

MPI’s rail recruitment team of 8 has collectively over 100 years of service working for MPI which means they are able to fully communicate effectively to the shortlisted candidates the full requirement and realities of working in a project delivery environment, they also hold PTS themselves and are regularly out on track with our teams and clients so were able to identify very quickly which individuals would be best suited to the programme and those which would benefit from gaining other work experience first. The individuals were then presented to the client/project and once accepted a start date agreed. MPI then arranged the medical, D&A, PTS and primary sponsorship with Sentinel, issued PPE, carried out our induction and met the trainees on site for their first day. The trainee scheme is open to everyone, whether they already have a rail background or not and preserves equality and diversity by ensuring that both female and male candidates are able to apply and are accepted, anyone at any stage of their career can apply too so no age restrictions either.

The trainee scheme provided by an agency is an innovation in itself, the programme includes medical, D&A, PTS, and then MPI provides manual handling, emergency first aid and small tools courses, delivered on site by our in-house trainer. After an initial 12 week work placement the individuals go on the Basic Signalling 1 and 2 course and SPWEE courses and are provided with a No1 toolkit which is theirs to keep. MPI pays each person whilst they are attending the training, we provide the accommodation, meals and travel for the training.

Working closely with our training partners, BK3 and Babcock to create and develop the bespoke packages of training we were able to ensure the trainees got the most effective and real life training courses possible which they will take forward to deliver the digital rail and projects such as HS2 amongst others.

After 9-12 months on work placement, they then attend an EISS – Electrical Installation course, are given a Number 1 toolkit and they will have been compiling evidence in their IRSE Log Books during this time so that they can go for assessment for their IRSE licence which again is provided by MPI.

Once the licence category has been achieved they are able to take up a permanent role with the client if they wish to and there are no further costs or fees due to MPI for either the worker or the client. A scheme like this also embeds the culture of the client at the very heart of the workforce and amplifies the loyalty of the worker for the client. It is also used to drive a pro-active attitude towards making close calls and seeing them through to closure, therefore creating the Safety Champions of the short and long-term future and bringing ‘fresh eyes’ to the rail industry.

MPI commits to spending 20% of each week out on site or on track with our teams, this includes our Rail Director, Simon Henser who is personally available to present to the trainees on their first shift and subsequently visits and goes on safety tours with the teams. MPI attends all project safety stand down and time out and considers ourselves to be fully engaged with our clients and workforce alike to underpin the safe delivery of each and every project.

MPI has dedicated and experienced in-house teams for Recruitment, Training, Compliance and Payroll, as part of our commitment to our work force and our clients alike they can take for granted that we always answer the phone quickly, are honest and transparent, always providing a great service for a fantastic price and always paying our work force correctly first time, on time every week, 24 hour on call service and being accountable should we not achieve.

Since the initial programme was introduced in 2012 over 55 trainees have gained their IRSE licence in either Assistant Installer or Installer grades. There has been a consistent shortage of IRSE licenced Installation personnel across the UK and this scheme is working in each location to address these gaps. There is now opportunity from the success of this scheme to extend it to other sectors within signalling and rail generally which MPI are really excited about. The main aim is to progress this scheme over the next few years to continually improve our service and delivery and also demonstrate that as a recruitment agency we are bringing candidates to the industry to underpin our clients excellent record of ‘safe delivery’ for the rest of CP5 and into CP6 and further more supporting schemes such as HS2 in the future.

In September 2017 Siemens Rail Automation in Glasgow committed to taking 18 trainees on their projects in a clear demonstration of MPI and Siemens commitment to investing in local people for current and future projects in the region. Simon Henser, Rail Director for MPI and Richard Cooper, Operations Director, East for Siemens were on site to greet and present to the 18 individuals. Richard Cooper said “We are delighted to support this initiative. Trainees are vital to securing future generation of skilled workers on the railway, across all disciplines and trades and this scheme supported by Siemens Rail Automation in Glasgow is great step towards achieving this.

MPI is able to say that we have individuals working for us that have been working solely for MPI for over 20 years and clients that we have been dealing with for 30 years which we feel demonstrates the consistently high service levels we provide.“