Introduction
Established in 1984, The Capita Group has grown to become the UK's leading partner supplier of outsourced services with 35,500 employees across a range of businesses including IT, HR & training, property, business process re-engineering, administration and customer services.
The Group has a strong learning and development culture. In October 2006, on behalf of the Capita Group, Capita Learning & Development secured a contract with the National Employer Service (NES) to draw down government funding to establish and develop a Vocational Learning programme for the Group.
The programme was developed by Capita Learning & Development who had to create a commercially viable solution – one which delivered an efficient working model over and above that delivered by the national standards. Given Capita Group’s business model which focuses on delivering cost efficiencies, yet increases quality, flexibility and control over learning and spend, Capita Learning & Development needed to create a solution that was innovative, thought leading and could be easily transferred from one Capita business to the next. It also had to make best use of funding.
Capita's solution
In order to understand how Capita Learning & Development could best deliver a solution to the business, meetings with training managers and operational heads across ten of Capita’s business units were scheduled to identify those areas of the business which most required support and to establish where best use of funding could be applied. Areas such as customer service and business administration mapped to KPI’s outlined in client contracts were examples for focus and informed the solution design.
In designing the solution, Capita Learning & Development took into account the needs of each individual and mapped a solution to each individual member of staff. In some cases, learning already undertaken by the learner either formal or informal was taken into account. The next stage was to present the solution to the respective training managers and operational heads for sign-off. Once signed-off, Capita Learning & Development identified which employees were eligible for funding and completed a qualifications map; the learners were then signed-up to the programme.
Benefits to The Capita Group
Business areas across the Capita Group were measured against specific criteria and have seen improvements in:
- Increased motivation – as a direct result of training, staff are more motivated and morale has increased. Whereas previously, some staff would not have envisaged achieving a recognised qualification, by formally recognising the skill-sets they have they now have a qualification which recognises their ability. Employees are encouraged to develop their careers within Capita but for those who wish to develop their careers outside of the Group, they can confidently apply for positions perhaps not necessarily open to them.
- Increased employee retention – by investing in its employees, Capita has seen an increase in retention rates. As employees are trained, they feel more appreciated by the organisation and are keen to further develop their skills helping to enable future career prospects.
- Reduced recruitment costs – as a direct result of increased retention rates, Capita has seen a decline in recruitment costs. This allows the business to further invest in its staff; the benefits cycle is a continuous one.
Capita has a strategic objective to reduce staff attrition within its business. It is commercially recognised that loyal, engaged employees stay with the business longer and are more productive. As NVQ’s / apprenticeships form part of its accreditation strategy, Capita believes it is important to measure the completion rates as part of the success criteria. The delivery of vocational learning across the business has helped Capita in achieving this strategic objective.
The evaluation of employer questionnaires is completed and analysed on a bi-annual basis. Analysis of the feedback shows that 100% of business unit training managers grade the work-based learning as good or better and strongly agree that learners are well-supported and guided by Capita’s on-site assessors.
Benefits to the employee
Capita TUPE’s a number of people each year as part of its service proposition to its clients some of whom do not have formally recognised qualifications. In addition, Capita acquires organisations in order to develop its overall service offering.
As Capita encourages career development within its business, being able to offer nationally recognised qualifications gained through vocational training supports employees in their career development. By way of example, in 2006 Capita acquired Lonsdale Travel now Capita Business Travel to provide business travel support to Capita Group employees. When Capita acquired Lonsdale, there were two team leaders who were new to their positions, who through Capita’s Level 2 programme, achieved the Train to Gain qualification in Team Leading via a fast-track solution developed by Capita Learning & Development. When funding guidelines changed to include over 25s in 2007, both employees undertook the Management Apprenticeship and as a direct result attained managerial positions within the business.
As part of the evaluation process, comments are invited from learners; examples include:
- “From these qualifications, learning and understanding I have gained more confidence to pursue a further career”
- “I really enjoyed this course and felt that it made me focus on my job role. It also gave me a chance to look at areas that I may need to change or develop more”
- “The Apprenticeship has helped me to have a good understanding and further my knowledge of business & administration”.
Summary
A national contract allows the Capita Group the flexibility to offer qualifications across its diverse workforce. Its Accreditation Strategy is planned to grow to include the Financial Services and IT sectors to meet the requirements of each individual business units.
Capita intends to grow its vocational training offering to a minimum of 1,000 learners by December 2009 and to 2,000 learners by the end of 2010. Capita is also keen to develop its offering to include:
- Contact Centre Operations NVQ Level 2
- Contact Centre professional NVQ Level 3
- ITQ NVQ Level 2 and Level 3
- Certificate for IT Users Level 2 & Level 3 (Technical Certificate)
- Retail Financial Services Level 2 & Level 3
- IF1 (Technical Certificate) and CF1 (Technical Certificate)
Capita’s advocates and sponsors are wide-ranging through the Group from operational managers to the Board of Directors. To ensure that momentum and commitment to the programme is maintained and enforced, Capita signed the Skills Pledge in January 2009.