20_SHD_May:ShD re-design 1/5/07 09:43 Page 22
■ ShD Investigates
last promises to be aligned with the needs of
businesses and public services.
Experts like Professor Alan Waller warn
that employers who, on the other hand, do not
invest in the development of their company
will not be those who get the best return of
their people. Similarly Sir Digby Jones, the
government’s skills envoy, has said that
businesses unwilling to train their employees
have a choice between “a very good 21st
century” or letting down the next generation.
Ultimately it is everybody’s responsibility
to ask what part they can play individually to
have a positive impact on training and skills –
a vital ongoing issue that will eventually
affect not just the current employees of the
logistics workforce but future ones too.
Professor Alan Waller offers some final
words of advice: “Don’t say ‘How can the
particularly with Skills for Logistics – the says Williams. government help me?’; say ‘How can I help
sector skills council for the logistics industry. With the introduction of apprenticeship and play my part in this overall issue?’. It’s a
Over the past year, SfL has successfully schemes, government funding and training big issue now, and unless we address it now,
achieved recognition from the Department of vehicles, logistics employers must begin to it will become an even bigger issue
Trade and Industry of the need to look after get involved with improving the skills of the tomorrow.”
logistics as a business function and to workforce, now that education and training at
www.skillsforlogistics.org.uk
appreciate the role of logistics. With the
logistics industry employing up to 6 per cent
of the UK workforce, but receiving only 3 per Derigo launches Scotland’s first outsourced training
cent of public funding, getting enough money department company
for training is proving difficult. Scotland’s SME sector is losing its competitive edge due to a lack of integrated training
However, Dr Mick Jackson, director of according to Derigo Consulting, a leading management, training and HR consultancy based
skills and development at Skills for Logistics, in Edinburgh.
says the sector skills council has established “Many small and medium sized organisations are paying lip service to their training
there is £290 million available for training of needs,” claims Renee Mackay, CEO, Derigo Consulting. “They may send employees on ad-
the drivers, warehouse and administrative hoc courses or even commission in-house training but there is no ‘glue’ binding this training
staff in the ‘operative’ zone of the ‘Stairway’. to the organisation’s overall goals and objectives.”
This funding will only be applied effectively For this reason Derigo is launching a new service called (In-Train). (In-Train) will offer
though if the industry starts to recognise small and medium enterprises access to the type and quality of training resources which at
public qualifications. “If it doesn’t – and this present only large companies can tap into. For a reasonable monthly fee SMEs will be able
isn’t a matter for negotiation – then quite to outsource all their training requirements, including the admin work, to (In-Train).
simply, they won’t get the money,” “From our initial consultations we ‘get under the skin’ of a company and find out their
emphasises Dr Jackson. Public funding will real training needs and how these can be aligned with the organisation’s business, sales and
only be applied to publicly recognised growth objectives. From this we devise a structured training plan which is bespoke to the
qualifications. With the money and company. As our contact with the company is consistent and ongoing the impact of the
opportunity there for skills funding, it is now training can be assessed, measured and adjusted as necessary.
up to employers to consider logistics as a Many SMEs would love to employ a full-time training manager or set up an in-house
profession – but here lies the rub. “Skills for training function but just cannot afford the investment. (In-Train) provides the ideal solution
Logistics is trying to turn the logistics sector to this dilemma.”
into a profession rather than just a job of a last The (In-Train) services are ideally suited to companies with a minimum of 25 employees.
resort,” says Dr Jackson. The service can also incorporate a full Human Resources department, too.
There is a certain amount of cynicism Derigo was established by Renee Mackay and Richard Lambert two of Scotland’s most
surrounding how much public funding ends experienced professional trainers in 2002. Renee, CEO of Derigo, is a highly qualified
up being spent after it gets through what trainer and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personell and Development with a wealth
Roger Williams of the UKWA describes as of experience in the corporate and public sectors advising on training and HR strategies and
“the many layers of avaricious bureaucracy.” implementation. Among the organisations she has worked with are Telewest
Rather than traditionally looking for Communications and Lloyds TSB Phonebank. Richard has over ten years’ experience in
government subsidy – something which is training and business coaching having worked with leading organisations such as The Virgin
often the case in the operator level of logistics Group and HSBC on management development, sales training and organisational and
– to fund projects, there needs to be “more cultural change.
joined-up quangos and less bureaucracy,”
www.derigoconsulting.co.uk
22 ShD May 2007
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