Big Tick Winner in 2008

BAA Heathrow - Heathrow Retail Academy

BT Total Talent Award supported by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills

By unlocking talent in the local community, BAA Heathrow engages other employers in “total talent” programmes that benefit staff and local communities.

Processes

BAA Heathrow’s approach to developing talent in the community and workplace builds on a long-established engineering apprenticeship programme. A strategy built around the company’s Retail Academy sets out to engage other airport companies in programmes that provide a seamless approach to education, employment and training.

The Retail Academy provides high-quality training services to Heathrow’s retail community in order to promote airport retailing as a career to prospective employees; improve staff recruitment, retentions and skills; and thereby drive commercial revenue and improve stakeholder relations.

The Academy was established in 2004 in response to the serious challenges reported by Heathrow retailers in recruiting and retaining staff with the right skills. A study commissioned in 2003 found that just 27% of retail outlets were operating at optimal headcount, turnover rates exceeded 40%, and retailers struggled in particular to fill supervisory and managerial positions. These factors were costing the airport significant amounts each year in lost retail revenue.

Support programmes that give workless residents from neighbouring communities the skills to access airport jobs, including “Routes to Work” - a comprehensive employment support package that includes a 30 hour pre-employment training programme. The project is managed by Heathrow City Partnership, a regeneration agency, in partnership with BAA Heathrow, and is delivered by three local training providers.

Working in tandem with the academy is a programme to help local school pupils understand career and training opportunities within Heathrow’s retail operation. Projects include school resource packs and classroom materials, work experience, on-site training days for teachers and personal advisers and the Heathrow Apprenticeship Fair, which was attended by over 600 local school pupils, teachers and parents, in partnership with five local Education Business Partnerships.

Skills for Life, apprenticeships, advanced apprenticeships and NVQs (under a Train to Gain contract) is delivered on behalf of their retail partners. This unique feature of the Academy involves a major employer delivering accredited qualifications to other employers and their staff. They hold contracts with London West LSC and deliver programmes in partnership with VT Training. They also deliver a Foundation Degree in partnership with TVU. Together, these programmes provide retail staff with a total talent pathway from Skills for Life through to Level 4. They also allow those accessing retail jobs as a result of its pre-employment programmes to step onto qualifications once in work.

Impact

The Academy has made a major contribution to tackling worklessness. It has also made a real difference to local skill levels: 80% of learners live within the five neighbouring boroughs that form the priority area for BAA Heathrow’s local labour strategy.
Routes to Work and other recruitment processes introduced by the Academy have together placed almost 2,000 staff in Heathrow’s retail units since 2004, of which 302 were previously unemployed.
The Academy’s six-monthly employer surveys demonstrate that the Academy has made a major contribution to staff skills and competencies. The survey found that 100% of employers value the qualification that their staff are undertaking, whilst 88% consider that the standards set by the training programmes fully meet their organisational needs.
Retention rates amongst learners on Academy programmes are far higher than the airport average. Turnover rates have historically exceeded 40%, yet almost 90% of Academy learners complete their programmes and stay with their employers after qualifying.
Within the last two years, the programmes have helped 312 airport staff gain nationally-accredited qualifications. For 90%, this was their first qualification at or above Level 2.

Visit the BAA website