Helping people thrive

In order to support the growth of our people we have invested more than £5m in training and employee development over the past three years. In 2010, we invested more than £1m in 6,036 training days and £300,000 in supporting employees to gain professional and academic qualifications. We were delighted with our first inclusion in the ‘Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For’ 2010 Index.

Growing our own talent meant that we were able to promote 200 employees in 2010. We are proud of our 96% employee retention rate, which is higher than the industry average and gives our customers consistency and continuity.

We are also committed to greater diversity within the Company. In 2010, 18% of our employees were female, including two of the nine members of our executive team.

As part of our commitment to ensure employees create a healthy work-life balance we made great progress with flexible working.

Wates also believes in growing talent for our industry. In 2010 we supported more than 100 apprentices; 32 went on to join the Company and 65 individuals joined our management trainee programme. We continue to support skills and employability programmes, which help the long-term unemployed to find work.