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Wolseley has won the Best Talent Management Strategy award at the highly acclaimed HR Excellence Awards 2021.

The accolade was in recognition of Wolseley’s Talent Guild and how successfully it has been implemented since it launched in late 2020.

The Wolseley Talent Guild provides an industry-leading approach to talent management across a range of areas of colleague development. Vitally, the Talent Guild is inclusive and provides all employees access to a clearly defined, fairly applied, and transparent range of opportunities.

It has three key objectives: to improve the engagement levels of existing employees, to maximise their collective talents and ambitions, and to demonstrate to both existing and prospective employees that Wolseley is the ideal place for them to learn and thrive. Through their 9 Box Grid development tool, the business is able to identify high potential whilst providing transparency and career mobility,

Since the Wolseley Talent Guild was launched, 630 employees have expressed an interest in Wolseley Talent Boosters or development programmes that are delivered in-house by the Wolseley Talent Team, either virtually or in a face-to-face workshop. To support this, Wolseley have invested heavily in Training Guild sites around the UK to provide dedicated training and learning facilities.

Of those who expressed interest, 400 employees are currently in learning and 331 have registered an interest in completing one of Wolseley’s apprenticeship offerings, where 150 are currently in learning.

Receiving the award alongside the wider team, Stuart Lee, HR Talent Director at Wolseley, said: “Our people are at the heart of Wolseley, which actively encourages them to develop their careers.

“The HR Award recognises the success of the Wolseley Talent Guild, those who have or are taking part, and those who are working hard to make it happen.”

To date, Wolseley has invested approximately £100,000 in the Wolseley Talent Guild. Among the feedback from Wolseley employees is:

“The best thing about working at Wolseley is the ability to express my ambition and have a clear pathway on how to achieve it.”

“[The programme] made me more aware of some qualities in myself I hadn't thought about before.”

“A really good proactive course, something that I would highly recommend offered to internal employees. I think this will be beneficial to the business and expand knowledge across the organisation.”

To enhance the learning, each Wolseley employee undertaking a Talent Booster course has access to a range of resources. This includes workbooks, articles, videos and podcasts, books, and whitepapers. Additionally, the business also encourages the creation of, and participation in, online communities, enabling candidates to share ideas and best practices.

Stuart Lee added: “Whichever option an employee chooses, they will learn new skills, increase their knowledge and develop behaviours.

“Then, they can apply what they have learnt to support their current role or to demonstrate how they are building their skills in readiness for their next career step.”

Wolseley’s CEO, Simon Oakland, also added: “The Talent Guild has been a big part of our company vision and has provided a foundation for career mobility across all of Wolseley’s business units. We are very proud that our hard work has been recognised with this award.”