Our People
Progress 2007 cont...
Training and development
We take training and development seriously and promise our people 'an opportunity to get on'. Developing our people means we have a workforce which can serve customers better and managers who thoroughly understand the business and the Tesco culture.
In China, we are recruiting management trainees locally and from our international operations. Our first seven Chinese graduates started working in Shanghai in July after completing their training in the UK. We are also training 42 local Chinese graduates and five MBA graduates from the China Europe International Business School in Thailand and Malaysia. Ten further graduates are currently training in the UK.
In Ireland we have a school leaver programme aimed at people who have completed their 'Leaving Cert' (higher school leaver's qualifications) in the previous two years; 73% of the current intake came from within Tesco. We also have a graduate programme in Ireland and have helped develop two National Retail Training Awards in conjunction with FÁS, Ireland's National Training and Employment Authority.
In the last three years we have appointed 27 directors, 200 store/depot managers and 8,000 department managers from within Tesco in the UK. Our Training Framework Scheme delivers most of our shop-floor and depot training in the UK and is accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. In 2007, 94.4% of shop-floor and 96% of depot employees were trained to bronze level and 86.6% to silver level.
We encourage continued learning throughout our people's careers. Our UK Lifelong Learning programme has created five workplace learning centres operated in partnership with the trade union Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distribution and Allied Workers). In 2007, there were over 500 enrolments for courses including basic IT, English, Maths and ESOL(English for Speakers of Other Languages). Many of these courses are free and attract qualifications. We are also exploring the possibility of providing a foundation degree in Retail Management and Leadership in the UK.
8,000
department managers appointed from within Tesco in the last three years
Asia
In 2007 we created 4,536 jobs and undertook an extensive training drive in China. We brought in existing Tesco programmes from across the Group to train managers on issues including core skills, performance management, technical requirements and legal issues and redesigned them to meet staff needs. We implemented the Options programme at store level and promoted 66 employees.
Europe
In Turkey, 100 senior managers completed leadership training in 2007. We have also carried out extensive training for all staff in Turkey to prepare them for promotions, as the business has nearly doubled in the last year. We have created 1,077 new jobs in the Czech Republic and promoted 296 people, while 892 people are on the Options development programme. In Slovakia we promoted 207 people and a further 765 people are on the Options development programme.
