Get to know Learning & Development Specialist, Claire Adam, and find out what makes her a Castle Water Expert.
Bio
- Name Claire Adam
- Occupation Learning & Development Specialist at Castle Water
- Ready to... welcome our new starts to the Castle Water Team!
- Passionate about... helping people develop. It’s a huge part of a successful business and it’s great to see our employees gain new skills.
- Unpopular opinion... cold coffee is MUCH better than hot coffee.
- Guilty pleasure… treating myself! Saving just isn’t for me – any tips? Send them my way!
- You may be surprised to know… I’ve played the guitar for 12 years.
- Ask me about… what we do to upskill and develop our employees, and how we identify our training needs.
Tell us about your role at Castle Water
I work as part of the Human Resources team as a Learning and Development Specialist. I help design, conduct, and organise training programs to help improve employee performance and ensure organisational productivity. I liaise with all areas of the business to identify and implement external training opportunities. I’m also heavily involved in the development of our Modern Apprentices and the induction of new employees!
What is the initial training for new Castle Water employees like?
Since working from home we have had to adapt our Induction for new employees which is now all done online!
In their induction new employees are introduced to managers from many different departments across the company, who give an overview of the main functions of their area – it’s good for them to see how they all fit together. They then receive an in-depth departmental induction, helping them learn everything they need to know to become Castle Water Experts.
Tell us about ongoing training for Castle Water employees?
At Castle Water we offer a wide and varied range of training opportunities to our employees. These range from Excel, Time Management and Business Writing courses to MBA Essentials courses with the London School of Economics. We are always identifying new training opportunities to help develop our workforce. We are developing support for professional qualifications for some areas, for example in Finance, IT and HR, and have a small cohort of managers progressing with MBA’s.
We also employ Customer Service, Business Administration and IT Modern apprentices, helping them gain new skills and qualifications whilst working full time. We are proud of our track record with Apprentices: 95% of our Apprentices remain in the business post-qualification, and in September 2020 we took on a further 10 Modern apprentices, all of whom are working well towards their qualification.
Why is it important to invest in training?
- Develop the business – responding to training needs quickly helps us stay ahead of the curve and offer the very best service to our customers. We don’t want our employees to be good at what they do, we want them to be the very best at what they do, hence Castle Water Experts.
- Better employee performance – any employee who receives training to help them further their skills will be able to perform their job better for the benefit of our customers.
Through regular training programmes the confidence of our employees improves as they are gaining a stronger grasp on the Water Industry, the purpose of the business and the responsibilities of their own job. With advances in technology and the sudden need for the majority of employees to work from home, we have had to focus on supporting and developing employees in technology they perhaps would not have been required to use previously.
- Employee Engagement and Job Satisfaction – we want our employees to feel appreciated and valued, and we do this by investing in their development. Employees who feel appreciated and challenged through training opportunities tend to feel more satisfaction towards their jobs, which in turn has a positive effect on retention of employees we have invested in.
“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."
How are you making a difference for Castle Water customers?
Although my role is not customer-facing, I’m here in the background helping make sure our employees are equipped with the skills they need to provide the best Customer Service. I’m always looking to see how we can make improvements!
Switch To Us
With Castle Water, we make switching business water supplier clear and simple! Find out the benefits of switching today.
Switch To Us