How a Partnership Approach to Equality and Diversity is Delivering Real Competitive Advantage
ConstructED online recently undertook a major project to develop Equality and Diversity training with a UK based Top 100 construction and property management company. The process of developing a fully funded training programme, took months of careful planning, and involved consultancy on development of training plans, devising the delivery mechanism to thousands of staff, and development of internal systems to control and monitor training.
By working in partnership, the company now has a web based training programme through ConstructED online, which is being rolled out across many divisions and regions of the business and simultaneously transforming the business, whilst also providing a significant competitive advantage for future major procurement contracts.
John Raine from ConstructED online explains how the business partnership evolved from a simple enquiry for an online demonstration of software, into a major project developing multiple strands of activity across the business.
‘Initial contact was confined to enquiries about how our online software worked and some discussion around flexibility of delivery. It quickly emerged that this major player in the construction sector was looking for a bespoke training solution.’
Over the course of a series of meetings all parties recognised the complexity of the challenge ahead:
- The business had multiple regions and different divisions, which meant that implementation was going to be a significant challenge.
- The business was fundamentally committed to equality and diversity in the workplace and was looking for a solution which would embed best practice, increase awareness at every level in the organisation, and most importantly gain external recognition and celebrate internal achievement.
- The business was looking for a solution which could qualify for funding through Construction Skills, and so required a detailed approach to developing the initial training plans to ensure funding was forthcoming.
For most of our competitors in the market, the company would have been left to solve these issues alone, and the process would take many months, and then potentially be adopted in a fragmented way. For ConstructED, this was the ideal opportunity to demonstrate how they operate as a partner to the construction industry.
John Raine continued: ‘We set about devising a series of planning sessions with the company. This allowed us all to scope out the project and make some critical decisions about timescales and implementation. We set out the flexibility of our online solution and worked closely with the company to ensure they had a really solid base to test the training with groups and then roll the programme out across thousands of employees. That is the stage we are at right now and the company has already seen that our solution online is not just flexible, but has a significant impact on all employees undergoing the training module.’
For ConstructED this was a perfect opportunity to deliver free consultancy which in turn led to a fully funded training programme. The company will have to pay nothing to cover the cost of this training, and through a close working partnership, the business benefits from an online solution which is now even more flexible.
John Raine concluded: ‘We are seeing companies really benefit from ConstructED online. The solution helps employees and provides instant access to the best information. The company benefits in numerous way, and in the case of our major construction partner, they see the longer term commercial benefits. With all major public sector contracts being awarded through procurement portals, and an absolute requirement to demonstrate a robust approach to equality and diversity, our partner sees a major hurdle to winning large contracts has been overcome quickly, easily and without a huge financial investment.’
For further information about ConstructED Online and what funding may be available to built environment contractors please contact John Raine on 0191 5166464.
Mark Carton
0191 5641444
Tags:
