National Grid The power of action

Engineering our Future

National Grid’s Engineering our Future report was commissioned to provide an assessment of attitudes towards engineering among young people and identify how we can encourage the next generation of engineers. Key findings included that young people often struggle to visualise what professional engineers do, and teachers are often unable to explain engineering.

As a result, in the UK, we have bolstered our existing employee volunteering in local schools through Imagineering and School Power – a new programme of activities to enrich the teaching of energy, forces and materials. We are also working with the Royal Academy of Engineering to create a new residential work experience offering and programmes for engagement with teachers and career advisers.

In the US, we have launched Engineering Pipeline – a six year development programme that creates a recruitment pathway to inspire promising students to pursue an education and career in engineering. We are also maintaining our school engagement programmes through our partnership with Junior Achievement where we have approximately 150 employees volunteering each year to teach business courses, leadership development programmes and introduce students to engineering.

Innovative learning

As we strive to create the future of learning, we are exploring new and innovative ways to impart knowledge and skills. Our 3D virtual learning facilities are already enhancing the learning experience of our employees allowing them to step into a real world environment by interacting virtually with our network, plant and components. Through showcasing this technology, we are generating interest and increasing the potential pool of new talent to the Company.

Learning and development

Investing in training and development is vital to ensuring our employees have the right skills both now and into the future.

In the US, we are standardising and improving the quality of technical training. As a result of operational changes, best practice implementation and new hiring, we increased the overall amount of training by approximately 30% in 2009/10.

In the UK, Ofsted’s inspection in January 2010 saw our apprenticeship scheme retain a grade 1 rating – the highest available. The scheme maintains a retention rate of more than 90% since 2004. The excellence and innovation of our training was separately recognised by the Learning and Skills Improvement Service with the award of Beacon status. We continue to work to expand and develop our programmes based on the needs of the business. In 2009, we launched a new construction engineer training programme that combines academic and on-the-job training through a scheme lasting five years.

Leadership

As National Grid continues to grow and evolve, it is critical that we have a talented and diverse population of leaders. These leaders will play an important role in leading the change required to deliver the low carbon and energy security requirements of the future.

In order to provide our leaders with the support they need to be effective, we launched a global development programme in May 2009 – foundations of leadership. Approximately 740 employees have already started on the course. The 15 month programme focuses on providing participants with business fundamentals and leadership skills.