This document is an application from Ringway Infrastructure Services Ltd. for their Trainee Highway Worker Scheme. The summary is: Ringway employs over 3,500 people maintaining highways across the UK. They have identified an aging workforce and need to recruit new workers. Their Trainee Highway Worker Scheme partners with local colleges to provide a 9-month apprenticeship program for young unemployed people, teaching construction skills. So far they have employed 33 apprentices, improving retention and the reputation of their industry. The application describes the leadership and management processes behind the successful scheme.

1. Application form for the Talent Award
Name of company: Ringway Infrastructure Services Ltd.
Contact name: Steve Scawthon
Telephone: 01522 502100/07703 107177
Email address: Steve.scawthon@ringway.co.uk
Name of entry: Trainee Highway Worker Scheme
Entry ID: (do not
complete, for BITC use)
1. Description of your company
Ringway is a national company, which employs approximately 3500 people,
specialising in highway maintenance. We have contracts stretching from Devon and
Cornwall to the Highlands of Scotland. The majority of our work is for local
authorities in the form of term maintenance contracts.
On a local scale, here in Lincolnshire, we employ a workforce of 260 manual workers
and staff on a contract with an annual turnover of around £40 million p.a. We are in
the process of re-tendering for the Lincolnshire contract, which will run from 2010-
2020.
2. Summary
The Challenge
We have identified that over 30% of our manual workers are over the age of 50.
Consequently, we accept that we need to replenish the workforce to counter the
effects that retirement will have on our company resource and our ability to provide
the quality of service that our clients expect from us.
The difficulty facing us is a recruitment pool that is:
 unskilled
 lacking in construction experience
 predominately over the age of 40
 not always attracted to an unfashionable industry
Business drives and target routes
An apprenticeship scheme was established in 2005 to provide new recruits with the
necessary skills for us to continue to provide a quality service to our clients and to
meet our business objectives.
Supported by The Co-operative Financial Services, Company
of the Year 2008
Official media partners: Financial Times

2. We targeted those young people on the NEET register between the ages of 16 and
24. We felt that those who had become disengaged with education would benefit us
and would benefit themselves from the scheme.
We are currently on our fourth intake of apprentices having already employed 33
from the previous 3 years. This has helped to work towards dealing with an ageing
workforce and has also significantly improved our retention rate.
Key partnerships
The scheme was devised in partnership with the Lincoln College who for their part
provided the Construction Diploma Level 1. After two years with Lincoln College we
decided to partner Boston College so that the benefits of the scheme could be
spread further round the County. Additional work with the colleges and schools in
the County has raised the profile of the company and the industry.
Key Benefits
In the 3 years up to 2008 we have:
 employed 33 young people from the NEET register
 increased our staff retention
 involved members of the workforce in the development and training of the
apprentices
 improved our reputation with our client and other stakeholders
 improved the reputation of Construction
3. Quality of management
a. Leadership and purpose
Challenge of an ageing workforce
At Ringway we have a workforce of 260, of which 200 are manual highway workers. Out of
that 200, 9% are over the age of 60 and 24% are between 50 and 59.
In addition to this, 75% of the 55 – 60 age group is eligible for local authority pension and
could opt for early retirement.
Retirement alone means that we will lose 5 workers per year for the next 5 years, rising to 10
workers per year over the following 10 years, all of which we need to replace for us to
continue to function effectively.
To achieve this in Lincolnshire we require an additional 10 – 20 people as well as replace
those due to retire each year.

3. Difficulties of a limited recruitment pool
The county of Lincolnshire:
 Is England’s second largest
 Is a rural county with agriculture as the main industry
 Has a short supply of highway maintenance workers
 Has the 7th
lowest population density
 Has a population of 670,000
 16 – 24 year old age group has suffered a net loss
 The majority of people moving into the county are of ‘non-working’ age
 23% are retired
Challenge of skills shortage
Consequently this creates a skills shortage for companies such as ours. It is our preference
to self-deliver work (i.e. do it in-house, not sub-contract) as much as possible so that we may
provide consistent, quality workmanship and this is a key selling point for existing and
potential clients, which can give us a competitive advantage. The vast majority of applicants
are without suitable skills as they have worked in agriculture, be it driving, warehouse work,
farming, food processing. Not in construction related areas.
With the county being so agricultural and with the limitations of employment and good pay,
many people either work or move out of the county where careers and financial rewards are
greater.
Drivers from our key stakeholders
Clearly succession planning is a key issue for us and also for our clients who want to see our
future plans for resourcing long-term contracts. They do not want a contractor who has no
plans for business continuity, but one who sees the future with its associated problems and
takes a pro-active approach to deal with them.
Lincolnshire County Council is our main client and it is looking on with interest at this
scheme and our commitment to it as we continue to take on young people from the county.
Our parent company Vinci S.A. is committed to the promotion of employment among the
disadvantaged and disengaged and this local scheme goes some way to help achieving their
business plan.
Solution
Our solution to these drivers was to develop an apprentice scheme which we could tailor to
suit our business needs; the emphasis being on creating a trained resource that could blend
in with our existing work structure. We chose to focus on youth and especially disengaged
youth that education has let down. The industry is not a ‘sexy’ line of work to be in yet it
requires a high level of practical skills, which can often be a good fit for those young people
who have more of a practical slant to their abilities.
The scheme is lead by Steve Blackburn, the Divisional Director for Ringway Lincolnshire.
He is the driving force that initiated the scheme and, along with others, designed the content
and interviewed the candidates.

4. His principal assistants in this were:
 Dennis Skayman, Contracts Manager, whose practical skills and experiences were
used on a weekly basis with the apprentices. His work with local youth football
teams stood him in good stead for dealing with young people in the workplace and
for acting as mentor.
 Claire Hindley, Divisional Director’s P.A., has a background in training provision and
again, her experience in devising course programmes and producing material for the
scheme was vital.
 Eight Ringway Team Leaders whose daily role was to run/supervise road
maintenance gangs. Those who wanted to be involved and had the necessary skills
and experience would assist Dennis in the practical skills teaching once per week
with a four week rota devised for the eight of them.
The Ringway Group Managing Director, Scott Wardrop, wholeheartedly endorses this
course and to show his personal commitment to our stakeholders will be part of the official
opening of out training centre.
b. Management processes
The Trainee Highway Worker Scheme:
 Started in 2005 with Lincoln College and in partnership with the College designed the
course
 Recruited from the NEET register targeting at people between 16 – 24
 It’s a nine month programme – 3 days per week college and practical work, aiming at
a Construction Diploma Level 1 and highway construction techniques. In addition to
this there is a two weeks work experience programme with a road maintenance gang
managed by Ringway
 All apprentices will be offered positions with Ringway. They aren’t told this, but
believe that there are only limited places available when interviewed. The reason
behind this approach is so that none of the apprentices become complacent, thinking
that they will get a job however hard they work.
 Once we take them on they are on a six month probationary period so still need to
prove themselves among their peers.
 Interim appraisals/reviews take place after three months with improvement targets
agreed if necessary. The process is lead by the local Contracts Manager with
feedback from the apprentices’ Team Leaders and Site Agents. Training for
appraisals has been provided by the HR department to assist us with the process.
 We took on a dedicated Trainer from within to actively manage the course and he is
assisted by six other Team Leaders who work throughout the year on a rota basis to
deliver practical skills

5. To date the intake numbers have been:
 2005/06 12 apprentices from 25 applications (Lincoln College)
 2006/07 15 apprentices from 65 applications (Lincoln College)
 2007/08 12 apprentices from 34 applications (Boston College)
 2008 - 16 apprentices from 36 applications (Boston College)
2007/08 also saw the recruitment of our first female roadworker.
Course review & improvements
After the first year’s course a debrief was held with the stakeholders to discuss the pros and
cons of the scheme. As a result of this, the programme has undergone a number of
changes and improvements including:
 We are more particular about applicants. Initially we took people to fill the course
even if they weren’t as suitable as we’d like however thanks to a larger pool of
applicants we can be more selective and accept those who show they have the
qualities to succeed.
 The practical element has increased so that what they are taught in the classroom
can be carried out on the ground. A work experience element along with mentors
has been moved forward so that there is a greater understanding of the role, health
and safety implications and the practical knowledge required.
 We now have a more closely structured course in line with the business, which has
the curriculum mapped out for the duration of the training.
Improvement benefits
Through these improvements the new programme:
 Delivers better people with greater practical skills into the existing workforce
 Has lowered recruitment costs. We now recruit only once per year where previously
it was three times. Though difficult to establish costs for recruitment, the time taken
up by advertising, reading applications, interviewing, responding to applicants, etc.
would add up to a considerable sum for the managers involved.
 Retention has improved dramatically to 99.5%
 Increased employee diversity

6. c. Resources
Business costs
Such has been the success of the scheme that we have created our own training centre at
Sutterton near Boston. The cost of this is approx. £6,000p.a.
In an effort to reduce the costs of the training centre, the external work, e.g. kerbing,
slabbing, laying of tarmac for footpaths and access road, fencing, etc is all being carried out
by this years students as part of their training, therefore the cost for these works other than
materials is nil. Had we not had this benefit in kind it would have costs somewhere in the
region of £30,000 for plant and labour.
The cost for our dedicated trainer is £24,000pa.
The Team Leaders acting as mentors costs £5,100 but provides a training opportunity which
is invaluable for their and the company’s development.
How employees are incentivised
The scheme has led to a change in our operational structure as we’ve created another level
of Team Leader with additional pay and status as an incentive. Those Team Leaders who
are taking on a teaching qualification are receiving an extra £2,500p.a. Therefore we’ve
engaged HR to facilitate these changes - job approval, pay and amendments to job
descriptions, etc.
Resources from partners
There are recruitment and advertising costs for the scheme but these costs are borne by the
respective colleges.
The partnership between Ringway and the respective college means we receive funding for
the course from the Learning Skills Council and our share of that (£20,000) covers most of
our costs.

7. d. Communication and dialogue
Stakeholder involvement
Around this process we’ve had to identify the stakeholders:
 Schools
 Colleges
 Ringway HR
 Business Development Manager
 Group M.D.
 Local councils
 Our workforce
For our part, we have used several events to promote the company, highlight the work we do
and provide information on employment opportunities:
 The Lincolnshire Show – included various activities aimed at youngsters, such as
block paving and bridge building and attended by Managers, Site Agents, office staff
and Team Leaders over two days.
 National Construction Week – local construction companies put on a demonstration
of their particular line of work and many Lincolnshire schools attend to participate
The scheme has been highlighted to the workforce as many have had involvement with the
students either as part of the work experience or as new members of the gang. The latest
intake actually includes the son of one of our roadworkers – a good advert!
The scheme has also been promoted across the rest of the Ringway Group and received
recognition in the form of an Innovation Award for Management. As a category winner it will
be entered in to the Vinci Innovation Awards which are global.
As previously mentioned, the annual debrief offers the opportunity for stakeholders of the
scheme, be it working on it directly or receiving new workers into their areas, to discuss
problems, good points, bad points, suggestions for improvements, quality of students, etc.
These are open and frank discussions through which the overall quality of the training and
the participants of the scheme have improved markedly year on year thereby producing a
better resource and an improved retention of skilled workers.
4. Impact
a. Business benefits
Developed an new recruitment process for Ringway
This scheme is now our chief source of new workers and so successful that a new
recruitment process for the company has been created. Not only has it created a new
source of workers but it is a new source of young workers that promise to be the future of the
company.
Applicants for vacancies have previously had a 50:50 split over and below the 40 age group.
We no longer need to advertise or take on employees on spec., which would beforehand
cost us £1,500 per person. Based on the 33 new starters we’ve had, that equates to a
saving of £49,500

8. It has been recognised as a success by the Group and has been adopted as best practise
for the recruitment of highway workers.
Improvement to the employee demographic
Three years ago the number of workers under 40 was 37%, it is now 42%.
This has also helped with the company’s pension costs, creating significant savings, an
extremely fundamental business benefit.
As a result of the scheme we have acquired 39 trained highway workers between 17 and 20,
though out of those only 33 remain with us. The six that left were from the first intake,
therefore the retention rate, thanks to improvements implemented, for the successive years
has been 100%.
Employee development opportunities
The scheme has provided development opportunities for 4 of our Site Agents and 8 Team
Leaders who “can share knowledge and experience….and can influence the ability of
people...” (Brian Mercer – Team Leader, Lincoln).
Six of our Team Leaders have taken up the challenge of becoming ‘highway teachers’ with
increased pay and status within the company. It has created a career progression which in
turn has led to job satisfaction “taught me to be able to manage younger people and see
them develop…..Good to set them into good habits before they’re taught bad ones…” (Tom
Roberts – Team Leader, Louth), a feeling of being valued and an improved retention.
Previously, these opportunities would only be provided through training courses with the
associated expense and removal from the business during the training. By using this
scheme we have made savings in our training budget (currently 0.5% of turnover), which
allows for additional training for other employees.
Improved morale & benefits
The fact that it has won an Innovation Award and that they have been part of that success is
a bonus that the Team Leaders and Site Agents are entitled to be proud about.
As the quote from Tom Roberts (above) implies, there is a real ownership amongst the
gangs to see the apprentices develop in the right way and to become a valued asset to them
and the company.
Improved positive perception by stakeholders
Clients are increasingly asking for us to broaden our recruitment pool and about our
diversity. Kirsty, the company’s first female roadworker is already ahead of her male
counterparts who trained with her. Until she joined us we had never had a female apply for
employment as a roadworker, but thanks to Kirsty we hope to get many more as she is an
excellent advertisement for Ringway and the industry.
A diverse workforce should broaden the appeal of construction generally and this in turn will
increase the engagement and satisfaction of our stakeholders, especially our clients
(Lincolnshire County Council), as we continue to provide training and employment for their
young people. This is of great importance to us as they provide us with approx. 80% of our
work

9. Such is the enthusiasm from Lincolnshire County Council that when asked if they would like
to be involved with our M.D., Scott Wardrop, in the official opening of the Sutterton Training
Centre on 31st
March, they proposed two Councillors – the portfolio holder for Highways and
the portfolio holder for Children.
And having their endorsement in this way is invaluable at a time when we are in the process
of re-tendering for the Lincolnshire Contract (worth £400 million over 10 years). The scheme
forms part of all of Ringway’s tender quality submissions as it gives us that competitive edge.
b. Society benefits
Improved the employability of NEETs
We have aimed the programme at NEETs (not in education, employment or training), which
stands at 5% in Lincolnshire (10.3% nationally) as we believe it will provide us with the
people that have a practical ability and who will benefit most from the opportunity.
Consequently we have:
 Given employment to 33 people from the NEET register. Research commissioned by
the Prince’s Trust charity and carried out by the Centre for Economic Performance at
the London School of Economics calculates that the cost for each new NEET is an
average of £97,000 during their lifetime. With this figure in mind, 33 people removed
from the register means a social cost avoidance of £3.2million.
 Improved the employability of the other 6 workers that left (from the first intake).
Each went into further employment though not necessarily in the construction
industry (Army, retail), so clearly they left us with the confidence to apply and be
interviewed for other jobs.
Improved the reputation of construction
Through the formal feedback sessions it was highlighted the fact that intake was
geographically skewed in the county. The majority of students were based around the north
of the county. This made further integration of apprentices into the workforce difficult and
also made us aware that we weren’t reaching as broad an audience as we’d intended.
Consequently it was decided to change colleges to address this and spread the opportunity;
hence Boston College has been the partner for the last two years to accommodate students
from the south of the county.
With some of our apprentices representing Ringway at National Construction Week and the
Lincolnshire Show we are presenting school children and the general public with the new
face of construction.
Improved schools and colleges ability to achieve employability
Due to the course, the colleges who’ve partnered us have been able to access additional
funding and to deliver on their construction diploma so that we are in a win-win situation.
We are working closely with schools to promote the company and to help show career
possibilities to young people. This usually takes the form of a presentation and
question/answer sessions. We have lately been arranging visits by our female roadworker
and one of our female Site Agents to highlight that women do work in the construction

10. industry. They have explained their roles and the kind of work they do and it has hopefully
broken down some barriers about a notoriously male-dominated industry.
Lincolnshire is a very agricultural part of the country and there are few choices for those
wanting to stay in the area. By broadening the employment options Ringway are helping.