Richardson Roofing - BDC Magazine October 2018 Richardson Roofing - BDC Magazine | Page 6

ROOFING RICHARDSON ROOFING Ultimately, each of these benefits hinges on the company’s ability to deliver market leading expertise. On this note, the organ- isation is a very keen developer of skills within the organisation, which is primarily pushed through in-house training on a con- tinual basis. This has allowed for the or- ganisation to continue developing the skills within its team on a continued basis and has been, since the organisation’s establish- ment, a key focus for the company. On the note of apprenticeships, George Richardson also provided comment, ex- plaining: “We’ve got a lot of youth coming in, and we like to train as much as we can with- in the company and then bring them up. The way the industry is going now, you’re find- ing that we’re almost becoming mini-build- ers, because you have to have a SMSTS operative on-site, rather than the historical approach of some contracted foreman; be- cause of this we’re having to train all of the “It’s very important that you start by working at the low-level, across the trades, because then you start to gain the respect of people and understand what they have to do then make money.” Given Richardson Roofing’s focus on training and, indeed, on the problem-solving approach which it takes, the company is also known to try and train individuals in the Rich- ardson way of doing things from the very start. This has seen the organisation attempting to encourage youths to pursue apprenticeships with the firm, training them in the organisation’s way of doing things, but also providing ample opportunity for progression and multiskilling within the diverse operational base. 144 time, and every year we always have ap- prenticeships going on because you need to bring youths through.” Indeed, much of this focus on