Bradford & Bingley won the award from the Institute of IT Trainers (IITT) for the Internal training project of the year 2001.

TrainingZONE are pleased to report that they were involved with the assessment of this particular award that were held at the headquarters of the IITT in Coventry.

Steve Ding who is the IT Career Development Manager attended along with Lee Meadows, Senior IT Recruitment & Development Coordinator and presented with ease their reasons why they should win this award.

The approach that was taken to this project was that they felt they had to radically change the perception that their staff within the IT Department viewed on training and they feel they have achieved this with outstanding success over a three year period, for the following reasons.

Bradford & Bingley looked at the whole IT training programme and wanted to broaden the boundaries beyond simply allowing IT staff to attend appropriate technical skills courses. They started to offer courses covering more of an educational nature, wider aspects than those purely related to employees performing their day-to-day role. This included courses such as management related skills, more soft-skill type courses which enabled them to become more professionally developed, thus help them make informed decisions over their future career moves.

The vision of Education, not Training came from the Head of IT Business Applications and Support, who wanted a programme of training to promote a more rounded, knowledgeable IT professional.

The Group IT Director also demonstrated his support by presenting certificates at special evening events and stated Education is one of the keys to our success - if people feel that their careers are being developed, they will make a similar commitment to us. Both of us benefit from this partnership.

This strong leadership empowered the IT Career Development Team to go out and support the vision that had been created and fed through funding that supported this initiative and encouraged their staff to take time to attend these programmes.

Bradford & Bingley also thought it pointless to send their people on courses that they really did not want to attend and also that if staff were to buy in to these courses that they would have to be prepared to put some of their own resource in terms of time and cost into the programme.

Before Bradford & Bingley changed direction of their training, they took the conventional approach which meant their staff would often attend scheduled public or tailored in-house courses that resulted in staff being away from their desks between 3 to 5 days at a time.

The education programme appears to have produced a more effective way of delivering training as not only has an efficient use of resources been achieved but also training that exactly suits the requirements of Bradford & Bingley. This involved buy-in from staff by putting their own time and their own cost into some of these training programmes which also showed their commitment to the education process. Degrees for example are all attended in their staff's own time, however, Bradford & Bingley are paying for them.

The contribution that the education programme has made to the business has resulted in reduced staff turnover which was around 17% in 1998 down to 2% in 2000. Staff surveys and interviews has identified this as the key factor for retaining people.

Staff morale has also increased as they feel more in control as to the education they receive and to their own personal development. Other areas identified as having improved are reduced recruitment and training costs and higher productivity.

As this education programme has only been in place within the IT Department of Bradford & Bingley, the intention is to introduce this approach to other areas of the organisation which the staff of the IT Career Development team think will be achievable in the near future.

If you would like to discuss this education programme with members of the IT Career Development team of Bradford & Bingley further, contact Steve Ding, IT Career Development Manager on 01274 554646 or Lee Meadows, Senior IT Recruitment & Development Coordinator on 01274 554634.