The Company
Reliance Facilities Management accessed the government’s Train to Gain service when they identified training needs for their staff. Facilities Manager, Gary Evetts called the hotline last year to find out more about NVQs and was put in touch with Charterhouse Training, the corporate training arm of City College Coventry, with whom they have just completed Business Administration and Team Leading NVQs at Level 2 for two of his staff.
Reliance Facilities Management holds a contract making them responsible for the Soft Service facilities at the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) in Coventry. Reliance provides facilities management services at four other NPIA sites around the UK. The Coventry site is extremely busy with 168 en-suite bedrooms and a rolling programme of training, exams and conferences to cater for. The organisation manages all housekeeping, leisure (including a gym and swimming pool), security, porters and catering facilities.
Gary said, “I found out about NVQs and the Train to Gain Programme while attending a meeting in the north est. Colleagues based at the NPIA in the north had put their security guards through a customer service NVQ and had been pleased with the results.”
What the employees thought
Gaynor O’Donnell has been an Administration Assistant with Reliance Facilities Management for ten months and found the experience of undertaking her Level 2 NVQ in Business Administration really beneficial, “I found collecting the evidence really helped me as a new starter. It got me to quickly learn about the organisation and my role within it.
Gaining the NVQ Level 2 in Business Administration is already paying dividends for Gaynor. She may have the opportunity to progress to a more advanced role in the future. She said “I am delighted with what I have achieved. It has given me a great deal of confidence and I am ready to look at starting an NVQ Level 3.”
Irene Jenkins, Domestic Supervisor, of Ryton-on-Dunsmore embarked on the Team Leading NVQ Level 2, a prospect which she found a bit daunting to start with. “It had been along time since I had sat any exams and so I was a little apprehensive about getting started. However, the one-to-one work and the promise that the assessor was available to speak to by phone at any time for advice made me feel a lot better."
"I really have enjoyed the training and feel much more equipped to deal with any difficult situations in the absence of my manager.”
Whilst her manager is absent Irene is responsible for looking after over 30 staff including porters and cleaners. Her assessor Gayle Barnes, was particularly pleased with the work that Irene had put in not having studied for 40 years. “I was delighted when Irene completed her NVQ. She put so much time and effort into her work and has clearly got so much out of it. She should be an inspiration to others who have been out of training for some time to show just how much can be achieved.”
The Outcome
Gary Evetts said “It was the first time I had used Charterhouse Training although I had known of them for some years. I have felt that the programmes Gaynor and Irene undertook worked very well. The assessor from Charterhouse regularly visited us on-site and worked in a variety of ways; observing, tutorials and advice and guidance. We were so impressed we recommended them to our colleagues in the NPIA reception who have just started their training.”
Reliance Facilities Management is a pro-active company in terms of training for their staff offering many in-house training programmes themselves. Gary Evetts said, “We are fully supportive of allowing staff to train. The NVQ programme fits in well as it enables staff to use company time and resources to gain a qualification. Its flexibility means that it can fit in with deadlines and workloads.”
If you are interested in finding out more about how NVQs can help your business and the funding available please call Clare McKenzie, Business Manager on (024) 7679 1546.
Charterhouse Training, the corporate training arm of City College Coventry offer NVQs in the following areas; Team Leading, Customer Service, Health & Social Care, Warehousing and Distribution, Taxi Driver training, Community Drivers and Business Administration.