NORLAND CASE STUDY 2008

"Thales is one of our key providers, delivering a broader range of courses than any other partner we work with. I am delighted with the quality of the training and feel it effectively prepares our managers to deal with the wide range of business issues and personnel challenges they face on a daily basis."

Norland is a leading provider of facilities maintenance and support services for some of the best known organisations in the country. Taking a client-centric approach to customers including BSkyB, Wembley Stadium, Selfridges and Citigroup, Norland has one of the highest customer retention rates in the industry - running at an impressive 97%. With an annual turnover of approximately £150 million, the company employs around 1700 people throughout the UK and Ireland.

But, with the vast majority of Norland's employees working in small 'on location' teams at customer sites, the decentralised nature of the business posed very specific geographic and cultural challenges. Added to this, as a rapidly expanding business, Norland needed to integrate new employees into the business in the fastest and most effective manner. Senior management recognised quality training would deliver a skilled workforce and enable staff to engage more effectively with, and provide a better service to, clients.

Enter Thales Training and Consultancy

Over the past three years, Norland has worked with Thales to define a wide range of training objectives and to deliver an on-going series of projects for its people. Feedback has been extremely positive with course evaluation sheets indicating a high level of satisfaction with the training provided.

According to Terry Foster, Training and Development Manager at Norland: "Thales is incredibly responsive - particularly when it comes to tight deadlines. Its network of directly employed and associate training consultants is one of its major strengths and gives me the confidence to know Thales can deal with any request."

Employee Inductions

Thales first worked with Norland to devise an induction day for new recruits. This was becoming increasingly important as the company had grown at an impressive rate in recent years - with over 400 employees having joined the company in the last two years alone.

Held at the company's head office in London, the ongoing programme of one-day inductions is designed to make new recruits feel welcome and introduce the organisation's culture and values. Norland also wanted the induction to help its people see the company in a wider perspective and to understand that Norland isn't just the small team of colleagues they work with each day.

Foster said: "Asking Thales to run our induction programme is not an obvious move, but its training consultants understand our business, and crucially, how best to clearly and concisely communicate our USPs and business culture to new starters."

Quality 'Remote' Management

Thales has demonstrated its flexibility in being able to deliver its programmes wherever we have needed, UK-wide. This includes courses on appraisal skills, finance for non-financial managers and disciplinary and grievance procedures.

Foster says it is important these managers achieve a certain level of commercial acumen. They are, after all, working alongside the clients on site and will be expected to talk knowledgeably about the details of the contract. Offering training on a range of management skills means head office can feel confident that the remote teams are run professionally and that employees are receiving quality people management - from assessment and appraisal processes through to conflict resolution

Foster said: "There is no doubt that Norland is a demanding company. We attract talented staff because we have a reputation for offering good pay, quality training and development and a professional workplace. Our major industry differentiator is the way we do things and ensuring we have highly trained and competent managers is vital."

The Thales Difference

According to Foster, Norland requires all managers to undertake training that is relevant to their job, whether experienced or new to the management role. This ensures consistency of management style and skills.

He continues: "Regular positive feedback from the courses that Thales runs for us means that our managers have confidence that the training available to them is of the highest quality."

With teams spread throughout the UK, Norland has also benefited from the Thales national network of training facilities - and takes advantage of these rooms and equipment whenever the need arises. Foster also feels the neutrality of Thales' training consultants brings additional benefits as delegates are often happier speaking about issues they might not want to broach within their works teams or with senior management.

He continued: "Training events can often be places where barriers come down and views are expressed. The Thales training consultants are able to give us an insight into how our people see things and highlight internal issues that we may not have been aware of - so we can quickly resolve them.