Wilby Wins Top Training Award
Mar 25, 2011
Wilby Limited walked away with the top award at the annual Calderdale Training Employers Awards evening held at Berties in Elland. The award for Outstanding Contribution to Training was given for the exceptional approach the company takes to training and developing their workforce.
Over the past two years Wilby have invested heavily in staff development with many of their client facing staff working towards and subsequently gaining Certificate in Insurance qualifications as well as NVQ level 3 in Financial Services.
Richard Blackburn, Managing Director at Wilby, commented “We’re delighted that our investment in staff development has been recognised by such an award. We believe that the professional development of our staff is crucial to enable us to provide clients across West Yorkshire and beyond with superior levels of service and this investment in staff development, in conjunction with Caldedale College, has led to almost 40% of our staff gaining new professional qualifications”
Carl Hopkins, leading Yorkshire entrepreneur and star of Channel 4’s ‘The Secret Millionaire’ addressed the audience, speaking of his marketing and business experience spanning the last 25 years, before presenting trophies to the winning employers.
Carl emphasised the importance of preparing businesses for the possibility of difficult times ahead, including implementing robust training and skills development for staff. He praised the employers for their investment in the young people within their organisations: “You’re taking steps to get these people the skills and experience that they need so that they can grow as individuals”.
“It helps build their confidence, increases their earning power and it adds real value to the business, which is fantastic. As well as all that, it brings real value and real benefits to the area”.
Steven Porter, director of Calderdale Training, the Work Based Learning arm of Calderdale College, said “It’s fantastic that even in such difficult economic times organisations are still showing a strong commitment to training. It’s a source of great pleasure for the College that it is able to give some of those organisations recognition of their commitment through its awards evening”.
