It’s true – training and retaining makes good business sense, but here at Walker Construction people development is central to our strategy.
We cherish our culture of learning, it not only improves our employee relations and retention, but it also helps us to become more efficient, provide a higher quality service and improve the image of construction as a whole. In the past 2 years a significant part of our employee’s training matrix has been made up of soft skills courses and assessments. This makes for more collaborative teams, informed managers, and improved conduct.
Walker Construction are passionate about ensuring we have the right environment to maximize return on investment by getting the best from our teams. Here we attribute our success to more than just proven expertise and experience – it’s our people who are at the core of all we do. Indeed, our collaborative approach very much begins from within.
Giving people the right skills to do their job, avoiding future skills shortages and managing change are key to business success.
The Walker Construction guiding philosophy is to actively encourage and reward working together as a team; teamwork provides an effective mechanism to drive improvement and growth.
Cultural change is necessary to respond to market demand. Our thriving workforce is adaptable, endorsing individuals to bring diverse views, perspectives, and ideas into the workplace. We have made it simple and efficient for our people to connect to knowledge experts, have instant access to training and engage in a supportive network of likeminded peers.
Apprenticeship Engagement Day
With a relatively new apprenticeship scheme, the business is acutely aware that the way we manage and train can have a positive impact on our future ability to retain the competitive edge and grow the business.We ‘grow our own’ employees with high quality training solutions created to address the company’s needs now and to prevent skills shortages in the future. Training our existing staff on how to manage and get the best from the increasing number of graduates and apprentices is vital to ensure we capitalize on all of the skills of the diverse workforce. This is evidenced by our high retention rates and long standing employees.
Our People Strategy is owned and delivered throughout the company, our leaders and managers play a key role in its delivery – guided by our zealous Board of Directors. An annual implementation plan has been developed with specific objectives, activity and success measures.
The Southern Construction Director left school in 1982 at just 16 years old – when Walker Construction sponsored his apprenticeship at Bircham Newton – the rest they say was history as he worked his way through the ranks. It is this culture of nurturing young talent that has inspired our very successful apprenticeship programme today.
We are committed to building, and promoting our workplace as a haven for all to realise their full potential, and in which everyone feels valued for what they do.
Key achievements
- Industry leading approach to mental health
- Commitment to Disability Confident Programme
- Our family business status helps us to work collaboratively and provide flexibility to our workforce
