Leadership, management and supervisor development

We are committed to developing our people throughout their careers with us.

Training and development

We invest in our people and encourage them to reach their full potential, because it is their contribution and effort that will help the company achieve its vision.

Examples of training and development for employees include technical qualifications, health and safety training, diversity awareness training and people management skills, in addition to on-the-job training. For several years we have given our employees access to an extensive range of learning and development resources via an on-line facility. This has recently been expanded and redeveloped into a new website which now includes on-line language training in more than 30 different languages. A communications skills initiative across our UK businesses is being expanded into mainland Europe.

We have devised a strategic leadership profile, identifying the behaviours which are most important in helping Arriva meet its strategic objectives, and expressed in terms which translate across all the countries in which we operate. Our performance management process is designed to support the development of our people, improve business performance and support Arriva’s leadership agenda. We also have a succession planning process in place for senior managers and assess the development needs of those managers who have been identified as having good potential.

Graduate recruitment

In 2005 we launched the first phase of our Graduate Development Programme, an innovative recruitment drive to encourage graduates to work in the passenger transport industry. Applicants in the UK were encouraged to apply through our dynamic new graduate website, www.wheredoyouwanttobe.com. In 2006 the programme was rolled out to Germany, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Italy.

Our graduate development programme, now operating across Europe, includes an 18-month development programme, off-job training, coaching from a mentor and regular performance/development reviews. So far we have recruited into graduate schemes in Denmark, Germany, Italy, Sweden and the UK.

Continuing development programmes

These include:

• 'Mastering People Skills' for supervisor and middle managers in UK bus operations
• The Institute of Leadership and Management programme for middle managers in Arriva Trains Wales
• Management Development Programme for head office managers
• Arriva's National Vocational Qualification in Customer Care
• A year-long development programme in Denmark to train bus drivers to be managers

Arriva across
Europe

View a Flash interactive map of our operations across Europe