The story
Wiltan Limited is a leading manufacturing company for transformer industry components in the UK. The company employs 40 staff of whom 70% are recruited from the immediate community, an area within the top 5% of most deprives in Wales, where over half the population have few or no formal qualifications.
The company faced strong barriers to learning – not least due to widespread resistance to training, the workforce’s lack of confidence and continuing problems with staff errors despite previous training – and a growing need to introduce technology to control production. It realised that the key to maintaining efficiency and its competitive advantage was investing in a Skills for Life programme that was integral to the corporate strategy.
In 2006, the company signed the Welsh Employers’ Pledge and established Step Up, a wide-ranging training programme seeking to develop employee’s skills at work and home. It has been strengthened by the strong relationship between their training provider, Torfaen Adult Basic Skills, and Basic Skills Cymru.
Of the 14 learners who enrolled in the first round of Skills for Life training, over 85% completed the course in Microsoft Excel and mathematics. To date, over 50% of staff have been encouraged to go back to the classroom. This has encouraged the local community to re-focus learning as a number one priority. The emphasis on skills development beyond the workplace is increasing the sustainability of Wiltan’s Skills for Life programme in contributing towards a more prosperous community.
In recognition of their success, the company was recently awarded the JCP Wales Employer Diversity Award 2008 in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Category.
