Nissan has launched a specialist learning centre at its Sunderland plant in
an effort to promote voluntary personal development
The centre is open to all 5,000 employees at the plant and offers a wide
variety of learndirect courses, both on and off-line, covering a range of key
business topics including productivity improvement, skills for life, business
management and ICT.
Training is run by Assa – the training organisation set up by Nissan in 1997
to support automotive and manufacturing workers in the North East.
The centre is open between 7am and 11pm every day, with Assa staff on hand
for support.
Steve Pallas, training and development manager for Nissan, said the centre
is already proving a success in the four weeks since it opened. More than 550
staff have used it already, with computer courses being the most popular.
He said the company is also building up a stock of laptops to allow staff
and their families to learn from home.
Nissan has given staff up to 12 hours a week off of work to use the centre –
which has 16 PCs – to encourage people to get into the habit of using the
facility.
Ann Limb, chief executive of Government-backed learndirect, which helped
fund the project, said: "Nissan requires adaptable, accessible learning to
develop the skills of its workforce. I look forward to hearing of the success
of learners and the contribution made by learndirect to Nissan’s efficiency and
productivity."
By Quentin Reade
