Investing in people
Network Rail is one of the biggest investors in vocational training
and development in Britain. In 2009/10 we spent £26.8m on vocational
training and provided 186,473 training days to our people – a huge
investment in our future.
Supporting talent
We continue to support the engineers, technicians and project
managers of the future through our graduate scheme, sponsored MSc, and
our award-winning three year Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme, one of the
largest in Britain. The 233 young men and women who joined as
apprentices in 2009 have spent their first year studying technical,
practical and personal development activities at Europe’s largest
specialist engineering training centre, HMS Sultan in Gosport,
Hampshire. They live and work alongside the Royal Navy, sharing modern
recreation and sports facilities.
We also partner with top universities, run a coaching programme, have
a state-of-the-art leadership development centre and much more – all
with the aim of developing our existing people, and the next generation,
to be the best.
Winner of Awards for Excellence
Our continued investment in talent has been recognised as best in
class. In 2009, we won the Serco Talent Award, in association with the
Talent & Enterprise Taskforce, at the annual Business in the
Community Awards for Excellence. The awards are the UK’s most
influential, independent, peer-assessed corporate responsibility awards.
They recognise and celebrate those companies who have shown innovation,
creativity and a sustained commitment to corporate responsibility.
In particular, we were credited for our comprehensive approach and
the continued positive impact of our programmes. In 2009/10 this
included:
- Delivery of over 12,000 delegate days of track safety training
and 75,000 delegate days of technical training for our infrastructure
maintenance staff helping us to maintain a safe and efficient railway
- Investment in multi-million pound training and development
centres nationwide. For example our training centre in Walsall, which
opened in March 2010 providing safety and technical training for up to
114 delegates per day.
Leading and managing teams
In 2009/10 we launched Leading and Managing Teams, the first
management qualification to be offered by a UK employer with awarding
body status from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Currently
around 1,600 employees each year are working towards one of our
externally recognised qualifications
Backing Young Britain
In 2009 we participated in the Government-backed schemes Backing
Young Britain and Graduate Talent Pool, giving 18 unemployed graduates
an eight week paid work placement which also included skills training to
help them find future employment. Four of our graduates who showed real
promise, were offered short term contracts to extend their stay in the
Company.