Staff working for any of the 300 companies based at Gatwick airport could
soon have access to all benefits on offer from other businesses based on-site.
The airport’s operator BAA, wants to create an employment hub to encourage
staff to move jobs between employers based at Gatwick, rather than leaving the
airport altogether.
Under the shared benefits scheme staff would be rewarded with items such as
flights, meals and discounts from all of the companies, instead of just their
own individual employer.
Cathy Wilcher, BAA HR director at Gatwick, said she wants to stop internal
competition for staff and build a community of employers within the airport.
"It needs to become an employment hub so people in the local community
want to work here instead of travelling to London," she said.
BAA is also trying to centralise job advertising by all employers based at
the airport on to a single website to help build the community.
The idea stems from workshops held at the cross-sector Employment Forum,
which was set up to look at challenges facing the airport’s expanding labour
market.
The last forum, which included economic advisers from local businesses and
representatives from the council, met in July and agreed to reconvene in
October to consider the proposals further.
With £16bn earmarked for the expansion of Gatwick over the next 12 years
Wilcher is confident the shared benefits scheme will help build and retain the
28,000-strong workforce.
"We need to encourage employers to buy into this but it will require a
lot of work over the next two years," she said.
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