Communities work smarter with Heron Bros - Business In The Community

Communities work smarter with Heron Bros

Heron Bros Ltd is a leading project development and construction company operating across the UK, Ireland and Europe.

Background

Employing over 200 people and a turnover of £50M, Heron Bros Ltd has combined its traditional values with an advanced innovative approach to construction that delivers excellence in project value, quality and client satisfaction.

What Heron Bros did

Heron Bros ‘Work Smart’ employability campaign was born out of the need to help create a new channel of skilled professional and trades within construction. This derived from the recent economic downturn in the sector which led to less school leavers choosing construction as a career and the experienced; qualified construction trades and professional emigrating to find work and not returning; and an increasing numbers of those who were long-term umemployed and those Not in Education, Employment or Training who were actively search for employment.

Heron Bros viewed this as an opportunity to help employ and retrain the economically inactive through a structured strategy that not only provided direct business benefits and met targets within the company’s corporate social responsibility strategy but also engaged and motivated its own employees to become more involved with issues that affect them and their communities.

The programme involved implementing, monitoring and reviewing construction project specific Targeted Recruitment and Training (TRT) plan on four pilot construction sites. The programme activities included promotion of careers within construction at post-primary level, site visits for career guidance professions, CV writing and application completion workshops, information sessions and demonstrations to job seekers/trainees.

Impacts and outcomes

  • Engaged 3,000 NEETS and long-term unemployed people
  • 2,600 resource hours invested equating to £39,000 in employee time
  • £3,000 of direct/benefit in-kind support
  • 200 school children engaged in construction curriculum support activities
  • Six graduates employed and internship role created
  • To find out more, email shauna.young@heronbros.com