Learning and development
The success of our business depends on investment in the learning and development of our employees.
All our North American operating companies run professional development programmes to build the leadership qualities of management and supervisory staff.
Leadership development
- First Student has a three-day leadership training course to develop core management competencies. The annual management conference provides the forum for senior management training, where two days are allocated for formal training around issues such as financial management, customer relations, safety and employee retention. This year this programme has been supplemented by training on safety leadership.
- The First Transit professional development programme for managers and supervisors provides peer instruction on a range of topics including safety, operations, human resource issues and customer relations. In addition there are ongoing workshops and larger forum that managers can attend on topics such as managing labour and employee relations, legal compliance and contract compliance.
- First Vehicle Services provide a programme of training and development to employees as part of a continuing development programme. A key part of this is a three day workshop for new, existing and potential contract managers and office managers. The training covers all functional areas such as operations, safety, accounting, finance, people management, leadership and worker compensation.
In addition we use regular briefings and teleconferences to keep managers up-to-date with evolving issues. Where people are spread across large geographical areas, this has proved a particularly effective way of information sharing and promotes consistency of approach. The nature of these communications varies across the businesses but may take the form of briefings on issues such as safety or human resource issues. They also provide regular contact between management teams.
Our programme to enhance talent management commits us to introducing standardised performance reviews for all staff. Performance management training for senior staff will therefore be introduced in the coming year.