Learning at Work Week is almost over, and S&G Response have been getting up to plenty to help ensure our mission of ongoing learning, upskilling, and professional development continues. We value our staff hugely, and we firmly believe that offering them the chance to grow in their careers and to learn all they can is invaluable to them, and to us as a company.
We sat down with L&D Manager Kelly to talk about what’s been going on during Learning at Work Week, and for the months ahead.
What does ‘ Learning at Work Week’ mean to S&G?
Learning at Work Week is a national celebration of lifelong learning at work and every year there is a different theme. This year’s theme is ‘Learning Uncovered’, and is about deepening understanding, knowledge, and engagement in lifelong learning.
Learning & Development is of huge importance to S&G Response, not only to ensure we have staff that are skilled to do their role but also developing for the future and supporting our colleagues with their career ambitions. This has been demonstrated through the appointment of a dedicated learning & development manager to ensure the business has a structured approach to learning moving forward.
Do you have anything planned to mark ‘Learning at Work’ week?
For the first time, S&G Response will be participating in Learning at Work Week and there are a range of activities planned starting from Monday 16 May and running through to Friday 10 June. Learning at Work Week is not just a week for us. We spread our activities out over 4 weeks so that everyone across the business can access and develop from this.
Throughout this time there will be activities and access to learning that explore the 3 areas of ‘Learning Uncovered’ – uncovering learning potential, uncovering hidden powers, and uncovering new dimensions.
There will also be opportunities for staff to participate in the Learning at Work Week Doodle Challenge, where they can upload their daily themed doodles to the Learning at Work Week Twitter page and be in with a chance of winning a £30 voucher to spend on creative goodies.
How do S&G support their staff to continue with learning and development day to day?
Having recently re-launched our e-learning portal, staff now have access, both inside of work and from home, to a range of courses that not only support learning within the role but also for those looking to develop knowledge and skills outside of their role in line with their career ambitions. Alongside this we have a structured annual plan of learning for our staff that we look to develop further based on business needs.
Being huge advocates of internal development, we continue to support several colleagues with their own career development and are proud of some of the recent successes we have achieved. We’ve seen apprentices progress into different roles, including management and technical roles, through their continued self-development and the support from the business. On top of this, we have recently recruited several new mental health first aiders who are currently going through the training needed to fulfil this role.
Do you have any L&D programmes or initiatives that you’re especially proud of?
The launch of the Drive2Learn portal allows staff to access learning 24/7 and as we continue to grow the library within this, we’ll create an even greater wealth of learning and development opportunities for our people.
We’re looking forward to launching the next phase of our team leader development programme in the coming weeks. This is a dedicated programme aimed at upskilling our existing team leader population so that they can be the best version of themselves. This will be followed by a programme to upskill team managers so that we can ensure we have our leaders of the future in place ready for when vacancies arise.
On top of this, we’re currently doing some focused activity on understanding learning and development needs for those that don’t want to move into leadership and management roles, and we’ll run some dedicated development for these people too.
How do you feel S&G as a company and its employees benefit from ongoing staff training?
The ongoing training and development of staff is a no-brainer as there are benefits in this for both the business and the individual.
From an individual perspective, they feel valued that the business wants to invest in them and support development, and from a business perspective we have greater staff retention, employees that feel empowered, have greater staff engagement, and a happy workforce who want to come into work and give 110%.
Do you offer recognition for any stand-out team member who has excelled in professional development?
At S&G Response we like to celebrate any successes with our staff, and this is no different when it comes to learning and development. Shout outs on Teams, in our staff newsletters and on our social media channels help to promote the successes whilst also encouraging others to think about ways in which they could develop and learn.
