We aim to lead the industry by being an employer of choice and an organisation that attracts diverse and talented people.

We want to provide a great place to work, somewhere people can thrive, where everyone is treated fairly, with dignity and respect – and where they feel supported. As a responsible employer that is our duty. But it also makes business sense. We want employees to feel positively engaged in our business, to understand, their career and development opportunities and how they contribute to achieving business goals. We know that focusing on this engagement helps us retain people, drive commitment and innovation, and we want to give everyone the chance to fulfill their potential.

Providing a great working environment also gives us a head start in the recruitment market, helping us to reach our goal of becoming an employer of choice by 2020. Our sustainability strategy sets out five targets and milestones that are designed to help us develop, motivate and empower our employees, while ensuring that their efforts are recognized.

We help employees develop their talents through learning and development programmes and work-based training; something that makes us a more attractive employer for potential recruits, helps us retain our existing employees, and allows us to promote internally when vacancies come up. In 2016, we filled 84% of senior vacancies internally, ensuring we continue to exceed our target to fill 70% of senior vacancies internally through delivery of our talent enablement programmes by 2020.

The Discovery Zone is an online resource consisting of five Academies which facilitates organisational learning through the 70/20/10 approach. Over 2000 of our employee have registered for online learning with the discovery zone.

MindTools is one of our self-directed online learning tools. It contains more than a thousand articles, videos and workbooks designed to help our employees tailor their learning based on their personal development.

As part of our Leadership Programme and commitment to developing our employees, we created a Leadership Academy, which offers a series of courses in partnership with expert academic and training bodies. (Link to Creating new leaders).

Around 200 employees, across all levels within our organisation enrolled onto our Leadership Programmes. The average number of learning hours is 118 hours per employee. All of our Leadership Programmes are accredited through the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and cover an array of topics from Line Manager basics and coaching to transformational leadership.

We have separate development programmes tailored for apprentice and graduate recruits, with a mixture of on-the-job development and off-site learning. Apprentices are provided with vocational qualifications to take on roles such as operatives and fitters, while some also work towards a degree. Graduates take on a variety of roles across the business including aggregates logistics, readymix technical, communications and environmental advisor positions.

Our commitment to the development of young people is has been further demonstrated by becoming part of the 5% Club.

The 5% Club is focused on creating momentum behind the recruitment of apprentices and graduates into the workforce. Its members consist of large and small employers from a wide range of sectors who want to make a difference and support the UK’s ability to compete in increasingly tough global markets..

Members of the 5% Club strive to achieve 5% of their workforce consisting of apprentices, sponsored students and/or graduates on formalised training schemes within five years. Learn more about the 5% Club

Read our case study: Driving Norfolk skills agenda with new highways apprentices

In previous years, mentoring was identified as a developmental tool from the output of research across the business on Diversity and Inclusion and in particular, a useful tool for women at Tarmac to utilise.

A Mentoring Pilot was established in 2016 primarily focussing on women but also extending to men so there was a more balanced approach. We had 12 females and 5 males on the pilot.

Senior Mentors were matched with the 17 employees identified as able to benefit from a Mentor. The engagement from both Mentees and Mentors was high with benefits for Mentees including networking, confidence building, developing soft skills, reflection on career and next steps and insight into the wider business. Benefits for Mentors included developing coaching and listening skills, helping to support and challenge potential, insight into other areas of the business, reflection on self.

We want employees to work in an environment in which they are supported and inspired to work to the best of their ability. To achieve this, a core principle for us is to seek out and listen to employees’ views.

We have a Workplace Wellness programme that offers free, independent and confidential support and expert help in areas such as emotional support, work and career issues, family relationships, health and wellbeing, and debt management. We have launched schemes in 2016 that provide further added value and flexibility to employees through a variety of voluntary benefit offerings – such as discount vouchers, cycle to work and health cash plans.

In 2016 we ran a series of ‘Tarmac Connect’ forums across the Business to engage with employees at all levels and get input from employees on a range of key issues. Every quarter 16 forums run across the country with nominated employee representatives from across the Business learn more about what is happening in Tarmac, and share their thoughts, and those of their colleagues. Hundreds of questions, ideas and solutions are being raised and responded to by the Business.