‘Training gives us great people and inspired leadership’

Rok training leader Billy Sweeney is based at the company’s Inverness office. Here he talks about the role training plays in their ambitious expansion plans.

Q  Tell us about Rok. 

A We have a strong national presence in the building and maintenance services industry but we like to operate from local offices that use local teams.  That’s why we’ve adopted the phrase The Nation’s Local Builder™. Over the last seven years we’ve developed from a small regional company with half a dozen offices to a nationwide business with more than 5,500 employees and sales in excess of £950m.

Q Why is training so important to the company?

A Our plans to build the business significantly over the next five years wouldn’t be  possible without great people and inspired leadership, so we put a lot of effort into  developing our workforce. It’s a simple equation: you get out what you put in. 

Q What is Rok’s particular approach to training?

A Basically, anyone who joins Rok is given the opportunity to develop themselves. This  means it is absolutely possible for one of our apprentices to end up at board level.  Training is structured to support individuals at every stage of their career, so we offer  everything from half day in-house training to degree courses.

Q You’ve achieved industry recognition for your training. Tell us more.

A I am pleased to say that our apprentices regularly receive awards at both college and  federation level; we also run our own annual awards scheme which always achieves significant national exposure. Last year we won two coveted National Training Awards.

Q What would you say to any business unsure of investing in training?

A I’d say it’s about future company growth and development; it’s also about confidence. Having a highly trained workforce means that you know you have the skills in place to meet industry demands. That has to be worth investing in.

Q And finally – what does a good day at work mean to you?

A It’s all the things that go into achieving a quality result – knowing that you’ve met  your own standards as well as those of the customer, and at the same time helped maintain a happy and productive workforce.