Investing in our people

At Bensons, we understand the importance of finding solutions to challenges for our customers. It’s why they come to us when they’re in need of high-quality, bespoke electrical control panels. They also value our experience, insight and expertise in resolving problems with their existing control panels – often before they realise there are any issues!

In order to maintain this level of quality and service for our clients, it’s essential that we continue to invest in the assets and resource that allow us to deliver these solutions – our people. Over the final quarter of 2022, we’ve seen two training initiatives come to a conclusion and a third has started.

NVQ Level 3 Panel Builder

An important element of the Bensons value proposition is the support that we can provide to our clients in the up-grade and modification of our control panels.

We have a highly capable team of engineers who go to customer sites in all parts of the country. Key members of the team are Richard and Gareth, who both have over fifteen years’ experience of building and modifying control panels and are well respected by all of our customers.

In mid-2021, we committed to a training programme facilitated by Humberside Engineering and Training Association (HETA), to allow Richard and Gareth to gain a Level 3 NVQ in Panel Wiring. This was a work-based programme that relied on Richard & Gareth to independently develop a portfolio of work to evidence their capabilities and expertise.

Often taking up to 3 years to complete, our two engineers completed theirs in a little over 12 months, allowing them to up-grade their existing ECS cards to Gold standard.

Help to Grow

A constant challenge for any leader in an SME is creating the time to work on the business, as opposed to in the business. In conjunction with this, it’s essential to have the relevant skills to work effectively on the appropriate areas.

To aid the development of our Manufacturing Manager Mathew Orme who recently joined Bensons, he was enrolled in the Leeds Beckett run Help to Grow scheme in September of this year.

The Help to Grow programme is a 12-week, 95% government funded scheme supporting senior managers of SMEs to boost their business’s performance, resilience and long-term growth.

It is an intense programme, covering a wide range of subjects which demands a lot of its students in a short space of time, whilst rewarding them with valuable knowledge and insight to progress their careers.

Matt successfully completed the programme in December 2022, joining MD Helen Culloden and Operations Director Matthew Barton as successful graduates of the scheme and its predecessor, the Small Business Leadership Programme.

Engineering Manufacturing Technician - L4 Apprenticeship

As all members of the team at Bensons have individual strengths, we have an individualised development plan for each of them.

For one of our estimating team members, Jake, we identified that increasing his technical knowledge and skills would be valuable in developing his career within Bensons. To facilitate this, in September of this year, Jake embarked on a four-year Level 4 apprenticeship to equip him with the capabilities that will support his personal progression within the team, and beyond.

The apprenticeship is run by HETA and requires Jake to attend a full day at college each week and whilst this keeps him away from his day-to-day activities, Bensons view this time as a valuable investment in the future of a key member of the team.