Corporate Responsibility Report 2008 - Mitie

Sharingour skillsThe local community is important to MITIE. It’s where our peoplelive and where our businesses work. In 2007/08 the value of ourcommunity investment amounted to nearly £600,000. As we continueto grow into a world-class company that delivers world-class services,our commitment to the wider community grows with us, and we nowplay our part in communities across the world, as well as at home inthe UK.Skills CentresOur Skills Centres are particularlyclose to our hearts, and are our mostimportant and visible commitmentto supporting the development ofyoung people. The first Skills Centrewas opened in Portsmouth in 2001and was hailed at the time as arevolutionary new way to tackle thevocational skills shortage facing theUK by bridging the gap betweeneducation and employment. Thecentres give school children anintroduction to construction andbuilding skills. Over 500 studentsare currently studying on nationallyrecognised construction vocationalcourses in the MITIE Skills Centres.During 2007/08 we opened a furtherSkills Centre at Caldervale HighSchool in Airdrie – the first of its kind inScotland. It comes at an importanttime for the country, which is facingits own vocational skills shortage:Scottish Enterprise, the maineconomic development agencyfor Scotland, is predicting a skillsgap that would amount toa 100,000 job deficit each yearover the next decade.We worked closely with CaldervaleHigh School to convert a spaceinto the dedicated constructionSkills Centre and provided tools,equipment and personal protectiveequipment. This is the first time abusiness partner has funded avocational centre in a Scottishschool, and we’re proud to bethe pioneers. Furthermore, we arepleased to announce that our SkillsCentres have recently received BigTick re-accreditation for 2008.“I am delighted that CaldervaleHigh is home to this terrific newSkills Centre and that our pupilsare among the first to benefitfrom such a high quality facility…It has given our students a realfeel for a professional buildingenvironment and a taste of lifein the construction industry.”Caldervale High’s Head Teacher,Colin Bulloch.Employee volunteering strategyMITIE’s people have a wealth of skillsand experience that we can sharewith the community. Since 2005,over 1,000 students have benefitedfrom our ‘World of Work’ days,which are designed to increasetheir employability skills.1,000students have benefited fromour ‘World of Work’ days.We are keen to expand theunderstanding of opportunitieswithin the workplace to moreyoung people, and in 2008/09we’ll build upon the ‘World of Work’programme. This initiative will bedesigned to help young peopleto understand the roles that couldbe available to them when theyleave school.In 2007, we also ran two environmentawareness days to showcase energyconservation and renewable energytechnology. Over 100 MITIE volunteersparticipated in these events, acrosssix of our eight Skills Centre schools.54 MITIE CR Report 2008