Romec further pushes its commitment to apprentices

Facilities management services company Romec has reaffirmed its commitment to its apprenticeship scheme by investing in 31 trainees this year alone.

It now means there are around 60 apprentices within the business at various stages of training, which is the highest figure since the financial year 2005/06.

Trainees usually join straight from school at the age of 16 or 17, splitting their time between college and on-the-job training in year 1; increasing their time on-the-job in year 2 and working full-time in year 3, but with regular assessment by the college.

John Fisher, Romec's Director of Human Resources, said: "Romec is justifiably proud to have flourishing apprentices throughout the business. With large numbers of placements filled every year, they are integral to our future achievements.

"Apprentices are also the company's future leaders, and by the time they are signed off, they have a nationally recognised NVQ Level 3 in their chosen engineering discipline.

"However some of our qualified apprentices continue with their training and development and eventually go on to become operations managers within the company."

Second year apprentice Karl Johnson left school at 16 and trained to be a car mechanic, eventually realising that he wanted to do something that offered more variety, and had better promotion opportunities.

He joined Romec last year, and now at the age of 21 is an apprentice service engineer with the company's Fire & Security Product Group in Liverpool, splitting his time between the service and installation teams.

He is classed as a mobile worker because he doesn't have an actual depot to go to each morning, meaning his workload is assigned to him via an online "scheduling tool". Karl works on installing and maintaining security alarms, access systems and CCTV, all of which is overseen by a designated mentor.

In his first year his training was split between three weeks' practical work and three weeks in the classroom at Warwickshire College, in Leamington Spa. This has now shifted to spells of six weeks' work followed by three weeks at college; and by year three he will be working full-time with the college visiting him periodically to assess his progress.

He said: "As much as I enjoyed being a car mechanic the opportunities for progression are pretty limited, and I eventually realised that I didn't want to go to the same workplace every day.

"Joining Romec means I now have a lot more variety in my job, and I'm learning a real depth of skills. I'm also working with some really great people that are keen to pass on their experiences."

The company also recognises its trainees with its Apprentice of the Year Awards which form a part of Romec's own Excellence Awards.

John Fisher said: "The awards, which are open to all current apprentices including those who completed their training the previous year, is a great way of recognising the fabulous work and effort they put in.

"All our apprentices also get to go on a development week in Ambleside, in the Lake District, at the end of their first year and this is unique to Romec.

"It is designed as a bridge between their 1st and 2nd year to give the apprentices the time to reflect on their experience and develop essential interpersonal skills such as ownership, responsibility, teamwork and effective communication. The week is a lot of fun, with experiential learning through outdoor activities."