Addressing skills shortages
Manufacturing | 250-999 employees | Rotherham

In response to engineering skills shortages, this highly-specialist company created a bespoke Apprenticeship training programme in conjunction with Rotherham College and Sheffield University. 51 of the 63 trained apprentices from the last five years are still with the company and the average age of employees has reduced by ten years.

Created a training incubator to build confidence
Retail | 50-249 employees | Liverpool

This hairdressing business created a Graduate salon for newly trained hairdressers to build their experience and confidence away from their own places of work. Results include graduate apprentices improving their client retention year-on-year.

Investing in its people
Food and beverages | 250-999 employees | Surrey

This successful company, which provides food and beverages to work place restaurants, designed a management development programme in order to increase staff retention and improve customer satisfaction. Results include reductions in staff turnover and employee sickness figures and 25 internal promotions in the last three years.

Ensuring staff are skilled to support learners
Education and training | 1000+ employees | Belfast

This college created a Mental and Emotional Health and Well Being programme to ensure that staff had the skills and resilience to best support learners. Outcomes from the programme include exceeded attendance targets, increased knowledge and confidence to offer early intervention to learners and a more proactive, caring culture across the college.

Making care outstanding
Professional services | 1000+ employees | Colchester

This organisation developed a Future Leadership programme to upskill managers and to meet industry criteria. Results include positive performance in inspections with two care homes reaching the highest accolade, reduced staff turnover and positive feedback from both relatives and employees.

Tackling sector skills gaps
Property | 250-999 employees | Chertsey

This house building company created a training framework to address a national sector skills shortage and to ensure that they had the right people with the right skills doing their job as effectively as possible. Outcomes include a 5% reduction in staff turnover, a large increase of female employees and industry recognition through numerous award achievements.

Creating an impressive talent pipeline
Food and beverages | 250-999 employees | Pontefract

This is an example of how a meat processing plant established an Apprenticeship programme in order to create a pipeline of ‘grown its own’ butchers trained to its own exacting standards. The impact of the learning has been outstanding and includes impressive retention rates of apprentices and a high number of female trainees, in what is usually a male-dominated sector.

Working in partnership
Charities and not-for-profit | <50 employees | East Lothian

This local radio station used a partnership approach to create a tailored programme for people with additional support needs. The aim was for the group, along with their carers, to produce a two-hour weekly live radio show. Outcomes have included increased work with the community and the ability to apply for additional funding, crucial in keeping this community radio station on air.

Using well-being to improve performance
Education and training | 0-49 employees | Leicester

This is an example of a primary school, based in a deprived area, implementing a well-being and mental health programme for teachers leading to improved outcomes and performance for both staff and pupils. Results include stress-related staff absences reducing from 151 days to 0 days and key stage 2 pupil attainment rising from 14% to an impressive 74%.

Flexible boot camps to meet training needs
Banking, insurance and finance | 1000+ employees | London

This financial technology organisation initiated sales boot camps to address a lack of structured sales training and to meet the needs of a global market. Boot camps are constantly adapted in line with product developments and shifting technology and they are delivering well-equipped staff ready to perform.

Investing in female leaders
Pharmaceuticals and healthcare | 1000+ employees | Brentford

This organisation established ‘Accelerating Difference’ in 2013 to accelerate high-performing female staff members into leadership roles. Since 2013 there has been an increase of 4% of women in management positions and 88% of Accelerating Difference graduates have stayed with the business.

Developing trailblazer in the sector
Hospitality | 1000+ employees | Bury St Edmonds

Following a review in 2011 of current and future workforce needs this pub retailer and brewer established an in-house Apprenticeship programme. The CEO pledged to train 10,000 apprentices and this was achieved in March 2018. This organisation is now involved with Trailblazer development in the hospitality sector.

Blended training delivering results
Public sector | 1000+ employees | Belfast

The Criminal Justice Academy was established to train a large number of staff over a short space of time. The innovative training – which includes a blend of classroom, e-learning and realistic role plays using barristers – has met Government targets and has become an integral part of learning and development for HMRC’s new recruits.

Empowering its volunteers
Charities and not-for-profit | 1000+ employees | Birmingham

This non-profit organisation, working in partnership with the Humanitarian Academy for Development, established the Volunteer Leadership programme in order to empower and upskill its volunteers. Outcomes include increased funds raised by volunteers and there are plans to replicate the programme both in the UK and abroad.

Creating a sought-after qualification
Retail | 1000+ employees | London

Two years ago 25% of branches of this retail organisation didn’t have their own fish cutter so the business established its own fish cutting qualification. The organisation has made the training applicable and highly desirable and has reduced shops with no fish cutting specialists down to 8%. Furthermore fish cutters have been promoted with 16% of them becoming Team Leaders and 3% Kitchen Managers.

Future-proofing the business
Retail | 1000+ employees | Reading

This national retail organisation created a ‘human plus digital’ experience introducing digital product and sales information devices to all staff. This has provided a unique customer experience that can’t be replicated by Internet retail businesses, has increased sales substantially and has future proofed the business.

Equipping leaders for the future
Banking, insurance and finance | 1000+ employees | Solihull

This banking organisation is offering exceptional training and development opportunities for leaders whilst facing challenging circumstances including large-scale staff redundancies. Over 7,000 leaders have been trained and have joined a 30-day development challenge across the last two years and staff motivation and productivity is high.

Offering placements to high-calibre students
Technology | <50 employees | Birmingham

This micro-business, working in partnership with Aston University, has developed a placement year for gifted students. The training offered is used as a vehicle for possible recruitment and there is a 100% retention rate of these graduates since 2012. This method is allowing the company to compete with the biggest players for the brightest recruits in the IT industry.

Retaining industry talent
Hospitality | <50 employees | Fleet

This non-profit organisation established an Aspiring Leaders Diploma to develop high performers across the British Hospitality industry. Of the 98 trained participants to-date, 90% are still in the industry and over 60% have been promoted. This is no mean feat in an industry renowned for its high staff turnover.

Creating exceptional induction training
Charities and not-for-profit | 250-999 employees | London

This organisation, which offers medico-legal advice and indemnity to healthcare professionals, introduced a Membership Induction Programme in 2008 in response to 95% of new membership staff leaving the company within 12 months. Staff retention rates have increased to 88% and membership numbers, employee performance and income have all increased substantially

Creating a cyber skills pipeline
Technology | 250-999 employees | Basingstoke

This cyber security consultancy responded to a critical skills shortage by strategically using learning and development to create a talent pipeline via a cyber skills undergraduate programme. The programme has grown from 29 to 85 candidates over four years and has been extended to Singapore, Johannesburg and New York due to its overwhelming success.

Reviving the workforce
Public sector | 50-249 employees | York

This National Park Authority delivers a well-established Apprenticeship programme which contributes to employment prospects in the region. Apprentices cover a wide range of administrative and conservation roles that are core to the Authority’s strategy. The programme has lowered the average age of employees and has revived the Authority’s workforce bringing fresh ideas and new ways of working.

Creating agents of change in maternity care
Charities and not-for-profit | <50 employees | Birmingham

This non-profit organisation developed a comprehensive programme of education and training of in-house and front-line staff, focusing on key priorities for monitoring the wellbeing of mothers and babies during pregnancy. The training has led to clinical staff becoming committed agents of change, and resulted in significant improvements in the safety of maternity care in the NHS.

Bringing the expertise in-house
Retail | 1000+ employees | Boston

This pet care specialist retailer brought an animal medicine qualification in-house in order to meet the needs of its staff and improve pet welfare in the process. Staff are now better trained and can dispense medicines previously supplied by veterinary clinics. Training costs have been reduced and sales of licensed medicines have exceeded targets by over £2 million.

Investing in experiential learning
Banking, insurance and finance | 250-999 employees | Basingstoke

This life insurance broker created an innovative on-boarding programme in order to address its high staff turnover figures following a period of rapid growth. The business devised an experiential 12-week programme to replace its previous 10-day workshop approach. Staff turnover has reduced to 7.5% resulting in large savings of recruitment costs.

Attracting commercial interest
Media and publishing | <50 employees | London

This radio station and social enterprise created the Sounds of Young London scheme to provide media training opportunities to disadvantaged young people. The non-academic, practical programme has achieved impressive transition rates into employment and commercial interest in the scheme has meant that the radio station has started to make a profit which is put back into the programme.

Promoting resilience and combatting stress
Aviation and defence | 1000+ employees | St Mawgan

The RAF has always placed great emphasis on physical fitness but with less consideration given to mental resilience. Senior Leadership committed to developing resilience and coping strategies as part of their Eagles Scheme with an equal focus on Physical, Mental, Spiritual and Social elements. Feedback indicates positive behavioural changes in dealing with service stress.

Improving customer service
Banking, insurance and finance | 1000+ employees | Edinburgh

A good example of a bank implementing a customer-service programme from the top down in a bid to create a shared ethos and language across the business and improve levels of customer service. 51,000 employees, including the CEO, have completed the first level of the training and the model is now being rolled out across contracted staff.

Placing value in apprentices
Retail | 1000+ employees | Hampshire

This family-owned opticians places value in Apprenticeships as a way of improving capability and increasing retention in a sector renowned for its high levels of staff turnover. The business realised that it needed local buy-in and support and created ‘The Big Apprenticeship Promise’ – a social contract setting out working relationships and level of support offered.

Using Apprentices to grow the business
Manufacturing | 50-249 employees | Poole

This family-owned manufacturer decided to ‘grown its own’ in the face of a severe shortage of specialist engineering skills. A £1 million investment was made into an Academy and the business now trains 6 apprentices a year. Apprenticeships are seen as a significant contributor to the ongoing success and growth of the business.

Investing in its workforce
Technology | 250-999 employees | Manchester

This independently owned hosting provider developed an in-house Apprenticeship scheme to ensure that its employees could meet its business needs in a constantly evolving marketplace. Apprentices make up 18% of the workforce and are paid almost double the National Apprentice rate. The organisation has recently got the go ahead to build a digital high school to further improve digital literacy in the region.

Line manager accreditation
Travel, transport and logistics | 1000+ employees | Oxford

This UK manufacturer and logistics provider created a Line Manager Accreditation programme to ensure that all employees embody the Unipart way of working. The programme informs the company’s talent pipeline meaning that employees must complete the training to be considered for promotion. Company turnover is low and the company is committed to growing and developing its own talent.