MITIE, the strategic outsourcing and asset management company, has secured a National Employer Service (NES) contract to fund a series of training programmes as part of its Skills Pledge. The training will help its people across England to develop their skills, including literacy and numeracy. 

The Skills pledge is a government initiative to try to combat the findings of the Leitch report in December 2006, which stated that: 

• More than 1/3 of adults do not hold the equivalent of a basic school-leaving qualification; 
• 17 million have difficulty with numbers; and 
• Five million are not functionally literate 

On 14 June 2007 MITIE became one of the first employers to make the Skills Pledge – a specific promise, made by an employer to its employees, to support its people in developing their skills, including literacy and numeracy, and work towards relevant, valuable qualifications to a minimum of Level 2 (equivalent to 5 A* - C grade GCSEs). It is a commitment to train and develop all staff – from fundamental skills training to opportunities for higher-level qualifications. It’s a promise that, through training, the employer will work to boost the productivity and efficiency of their business and realise the potential of their employees. 

In November 2008, MITIE secured funding from the National Employer Service (NES) to help deliver on its promise. Since then, the Skills Pledge team within MITIE have been working to develop a plan of action to roll out the programme across the company.

“Signing up to the Skills Pledge gives us the opportunity to demonstrate publicly the importance MITIE places on investing in the skills of our people,” said Joanne Bacon, HR Director for MITIE. “Now that we have the funding in place, we will start to roll out the training commencing with our security and cleaning teams who make up 65% of our 49,000 people. 

“We are offering a number of different courses including maths that could help our people to manage their money and English that could help improve their quality of life. There are also nationally recognised qualifications and apprenticeships on offer including specialist security and cleaning NVQs. 

“We will be testing the literacy and numeracy needs on-site and will be delivering the learning in a variety of ways to best suit the needs of each individual including on-site tutorials, e-learning, or group sessions that will be delivered by a contracted college. 

“For the Level 2 training we will assign a coach or assessor to each learner who will work with them to develop an individual learning plan and then support them throughout the duration of the programme. The courses will be tailored around the needs of each site to minimise the impact on operational roles. We will also be developing specific areas within the Level 2 qualification to meet the training needs of individual client sites. 

“Over the next few years, we hope to help thousands of our employees learn skills for life helping them to increase their confidence and performance. The training will also provide benefits to the business including reduced turnover and improved service to customers.” 

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For further information, contact:

David Revis, Investor Relations and PR Manager, MITIE Group PLC
T: 020 7034 7306, M: 07979 702465, E: mailto:david.revis@mitie.co.uk 

What is MITIE?
We’re the strategic outsourcing and asset management company.

What does that mean in practice? Providing everything from strategic consultancy, to world-class delivery on the ground. From long-term infrastructure planning, to facilities management, property and engineering services. Our strategic input can add value at the highest level, while our practical management expertise can save customers money and maximise their returns.

At the same time, it’s not just what we do, but how we do it that makes us different. Our people are passionate about what they do, committed to working in partnership with their clients, and will always look for a fresh answer to a new challenge.

We work with our clients in three ways; some take full advantage of our whole range of expertise by buying the whole suite, others may only need one aspect of what we do:

Strategy and consultancy

+ Facilities and project management

+ Service delivery

In other words, we think, we manage, and we deliver.

The thinking phase is all about finding strategic answers to long-term challenges about assets and resources. Facilities and project management puts those plans in place, and our unrivalled range of services is one of the best in the business.

There’s a lot more to MITIE than you probably think. We’re a big company with big ambitions - a leading FTSE 250 support services business, with 49,000+ people, revenues in excess of £1.4bn, and a reputation for being the best.