Facilities services company ISS aims to promote 1,600 staff to managerial
positions by 2005 through a programme of training and development.
The organisation, which employs 40,000 staff in the UK and 265,000
worldwide, needs 4,000 new managers in the next three years to keep up with
expansion plans and wants 40 per cent to come from internal promotions.
Peter Spinney, group HR director at ISS UK, speaking at the CIPD’s HRD
conference, said: "Finding these future managers is not a ‘nice to do’, it
is a business imperative. To make this successful it is important that we are
able to find the right people for the right jobs. If we are able to get the
selection right then we are half way there."
The company will use its annual appraisal system to identify 350 potential
managers in the UK and then chart their development needs.
ISS aims to develop this next generation of managers by fast-tracking them
to challenging positions in all areas of the business, to give them a crash
course in management. Once on the scheme, the company will monitor their
progress and help fill in any skills gaps.
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Prospective managers will be able to sign up to study for a management
degree at the company’s university in Copenhagen, where all the organisation’s
strategic management courses take place.
Aspiring managers will also shadow existing company managers for up to three
weeks at a time to learn about different parts of the business as well as
additional management skills.
