Corporate Responsibility Report 2010

Learning and development

To achieve our aim of being the employer of choice in the property sector, we must attract, recruit and retain exceptional employees who will add value to our business and those of our customers, and help every one of our 680 employees to reach their full potential.

Training and career development

We encourage all our people to achieve their goals for career development, and deliver relevant, flexible and value-added learning and development solutions that benefit individuals, their teams and the organisation as a whole.

Our comprehensive learning and development offer covers a range of internal and external programmes designed to support the personal development of our people. They include:

• bespoke business-focused programmes for individuals and teams
• a resource library containing books, DVDs and audio products for employee use
• support for vocational and professional development courses
• e-learning programmes on health and safety, diversity and IT skills development
• coaching and mentoring support
• assessment tools for developing greater self-awareness and team effectiveness.

We also review our employees' performance every year against personal key performance indicators, to drive individual activities and align them with our wider business strategy, and the vast majority (86%) of our people have a learning and development plan in place, to ensure they develop the core skills and behaviours we need to be successful.

As measured by our 2009 Employee Engagement Survey, 65% of employees agreed with the statement that they have good opportunities to develop their career at Land Securities.

Work experience and mentoring

We give many graduates interested in pursuing a career in property a new perspective of the industry through secondments with Land Securities, and we also provide work experience for young people as well as sponsor students. By March 2010, Group Services had hosted a range of work shadowing placements.

Many of our senior executives and managers also support a variety of mentoring schemes. For example:

• Alison Carnwath, our Chairman, mentors the Head of Westminster Academy
• Donal McCabe, Head of Corporate Communication, helps a new business, Carbon Retirement, to understand how the media works and how to use it to communicate and raise their profile
• Angela Williams, Director of HR, is a non-executive Director of Central & Cecil Housing Trust, a housing association and care provider that we have a long association with; she recently helped to recruit a new CEO and provides ongoing business support and advice
• Ashley Blake, Head of Retail Portfolio, is helping to pilot a new mentoring programme, Pilotlight, where a panel of people provide business advice to charities and business start-ups.