Public transport operator First Bus has been named the best large organisation for employee learning.
The accolade, presented by the Campaign for Learning, recognised the company’s contribution to the Learning at Work Week, a national initiative that took place in May.
First Bus also won the Employers Working in Partnership award in a joint entry with Unite – the UK’s largest trade union.
Throughout the week, thousands of colleagues at 60 nationwide sites, including Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Leicester and Bristol, benefited from online learning courses and e-learning tools.
In addition to online learning, face-to-face workshops were offered, including sign language in Bury, bike lessons in Leeds and dancing in Bristol.
Giles Fearnley, Managing Director for First Bus said: “The vast majority of our staff – such as drivers, engineers and support staff – are on the road, in pit lanes or managing the traffic office.
“From a development point of view, this obviously presents logistical challenges. However, thanks to our partnership with Unite, we were able to reach a great many locations and open our colleagues’ eyes to the learning opportunities available.
“I was impressed by how many of our front line staff accessed IT improvement courses; skills that will benefit them not just at work, but also in their home lives. We are looking forward to building upon the appetite for learning that was created during the week.”
Julia Wright, National Director for the Campaign for Learning said: “Learning at Work Week celebrates the deep and positive impact of learning for our work and home lives, and workplace agendas, from wellbeing through driving innovation to productivity. It’s a real privilege to work with so many great companies and organisations each year who believe in the transformative effect of learning and are passionate about engaging colleagues across their business.”
Notes to Editors
FirstGroup plc is the leading transport operator in the UK and North America and our services help to create strong, vibrant and sustainable local economies. During the last year around 2.2 billion people relied on us to get to work, to education, to visit family and friends and much more and, each day, every one of our 110,000 employees works hard to deliver vitally important services for our passengers.
Our vision is to provide solutions for an increasingly congested world… keeping people moving and communities prospering.
First Bus
FirstGroup is one of Britain’s largest bus operators with around a fifth of bus services outside London. A fleet of some 6,200 buses carries approximately 1.6 million passengers a day in a huge number of communities including 40 of the UK's largest towns and cities. We operate some US-style yellow school buses and have a fleet of coaches available for charter. We also operate the Aircoach network in Ireland.