John Hannan

Said the following about VGC Training team:

“VGC’s training team manages training for nearly 1,000 members of VGC’s workforce: in 2014, they arranged an astonishing 2,767 job-specific training courses.

The small team works efficiently to ensure that all staff are suitably qualified and skilled to work safely, competently and confidently.

In the three months May – July 2015, the team booked over 1,430 courses for site staff, covering a wide range of Network Rail Sentinel, London Underground and construction industry training, as well as lifelong qualifications such as NEBOSH certificates and industry-related NVQs.

Increased workload

Successful VGC tenders have led to a number of high profile rail projects being awarded to the company, so the training team faces an ever-increasing challenge in keeping all staff members’ training up to date. VGC has a policy of promoting internally where possible, so staff need appropriate training to progress their careers, be it technical, management health, safety, quality and environment, or professional qualifications. In addition, the company recognises the need to multi-skill workers to tackle the increasingly critical industry skills shortage.

Training requirements of staff are reviewed every six months at a management meeting, and the team regularly rises to the challenge of ensuring that as the training workload fluctuates, the standard stays high, and all learners continue to receive a consistent, efficient and flexible service.

• Expenditure on training in 2014: £320,000

With approximately 1,000 members of staff, that represents an average of over £320 per person per year.

As well as job-specific training courses, the team manages the training for professional qualifications such as ICE (Institution of Civil Engineers), NEBOSH (National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health) and CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) - 20 employees’ studies are currently being funded by VGC.

Improvement planning

As well as ongoing reviews, the company carries out periodic in-depth analyses of the needs of clients and learners, as well as local and national skills requirements. Comprehensive self-assessment reports identify strengths and weaknesses in training across the company. Together with brainstorming sessions to ensure that the approaches stay fresh, these feed into the quality improvement programme, which includes key indicators to indicate achievements against ambitious targets. The competence management system monitors how well the team has met the continued professional development needs of each individual member of staff.

How training is managed

The company competence management system tracks all company workers and flags up the requirement for training, either because certification is due to lapse, or as a result of the personal development plans - drawn up as part of the annual performance appraisal process.

Then the training team works to identify and book appropriate industry-accredited courses. They contact each person to offer alternative times and dates for training. The line manager is given all the information needed to support the training including releasing them from their duties and arranging replacement cover (all training courses are in paid time). As well as all the training details, joining instructions gather information on any special needs trainees might have, to ensure that the training sessions will be positive and successful. Where necessary, learners are given help to develop literacy, numeracy and language skills to make sure they can reach their learning goals. People who speak English as another language are given additional support.

Where appropriate, qualified trainers deliver training at VGC’s training venues in Manchester and London, as well as on work sites. Feedback from learners collected at the end of every course is used to improve the training. As well as appraising all courses and trainers, the team analyses feedback to make sure that learners from all different cultures and backgrounds benefit as much as possible.

Outcomes

• “I am now adequately trained to perform tasks safely” Martin C, forward tipping dumper plant training

• “I’m more aware as this course reminded me of performance and safety at work” Henry N, slinger signaller

• “Trainer was very helpful and had a very good knowledge of the course. The whole course was very relevant and very helpful. I definitely would recommend this course” Nicholas W, work supervisor

• “The training course was very good, trainers were very helpful” Keith L, crane supervisor

• “The learning will make work safer by looking out for everyone’s safety on site” Kelvin A, forklift training

VGC’s graduate training scheme has recently been approved by the Institution of Civil Engineers.

NSARE, the National Skills Academy for Rail Engineering, rated VGC’s training performance ‘outstanding’, presenting an award for training that is “outstandingly effective”, “thorough, consistently well organised, closely monitored and rigorously reviewed”. “Outcomes for learners are outstanding with very high pass rates achieved consistently on all courses run. This is despite the potential barriers to learning presented by the enrolment of many learners from increasingly diverse ethnic origins.”

The NSARE report also said: “The contribution and commitment of the training team to VGC’s success is clear. Their efforts have led to a well trained workforce who see the training as evidence of the value VGC places on each member of staff.”“