Employees
There is continuation of the Staff Forum that was established in Shirebrook, comprising elected representatives from across departments and representatives of management. The Forum meets monthly and discussions cover issues ranging from pay, holidays, hours, health and safety, working conditions, equipment needs and developments in and the performance of the business.
The Group recognises the right of employees to membership of a trade union and has entered into an agreement with the trade union Unite in respect of collective bargaining of pay, hours of work and holidays of certain groups of employees in the National Distribution Centre.
The Group is committed to the equal treatment of its employees and has formal policies in place that are reviewed on a regular basis. The Equal Opportunity and Diversity policies ensure that employees are treated as individuals, fairly and with respect providing fair and equal opportunities to employees regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, social background, religion, disability or sexuality. Every effort is made to provide disabled people with equal opportunities for work, training and promotion.
Applications for employment by disabled persons are given full and fair consideration for all vacancies in accordance with their particular aptitudes. Where an existing employee becomes disabled the business makes every effort to provide continued employment in the same or similar job or by offering retraining in order that the employee’s employment within the Group may continue.
The Group places great importance in the training and development of employees. We want them to be able to perform their duties to the best of their abilities while wanting to retain these skills within the business.
During 2010/11 the International Training Centre at Shirebrook was extended. The aim of the Staff Training and Development Department is to use the Training Centre to provide the best, state of the art facilities for our team to achieve their best. Our goal is to give every employee the opportunity to be inspired, stimulated, motivated and empowered to do a better job. The Centre has four specialist environments for running, football, women’s sport and specialist knowledge. During 2010, 153 managers and assistant managers attended this training and up to May 2011 has seen 75 attendees.
The management training programme that was introduced in 2008 has continued. The programme covers interview skills, communication, people skills and this year it has focused on employment law at work. During the Year 132 employees attended the programme compared with 175 last year.
The Group, as reported last year, has introduced refresher training as part of a rolling programme, to ensure that all employees reinforce their existing skills and update their knowledge and practices.
The specialist training programme has continued during the Year. Areas covered by our specialist training are footwear, rackets, cricket and golf. Since inception the footwear master class has seen 102 employees attend in 2010 and so far 24 in 2011. Managers responsible for the footwear department have been trained over 14 courses. The three day residential course focuses on one of the key categories; typical subjects would include employee efficiency, best practice, health and safety and policy and procedures.
Brand training was launched in October 2009 and has continued with 365 employees attending during 2010. 16 Nike training days have taken place since August 2010, training 997 employees with all 997 employees progressing to Nike undergraduate status and 227 of the 997 having further progressed to graduate level.
All National Distribution Centre employees are given appropriate training upon joining the Group, on health and safety matters, communication and relevant aspects of employment law. English is not the first language of many of these employees, and the Group acknowledges that as it recruits from a diverse talent pool the needs of these employees must be addressed. Accordingly, training often involves the use of interpreters, and training materials, policy documents and building signage are usually in multiple languages.
The Group promotes and fosters a culture of personal development for all. The Group’s policy is to always look for internal promotion before external recruitment.