Work-based Learning

Sometimes without us noticing, the majority of our learning is done through our day-to-day. That’s why work-based learning is a great option.

Apprenticeships provide structured learning combined with on-the-job experience. As a large employer, we pay into the UK Apprenticeship Levy. This means we’re able to draw down funds from the government to support apprenticeship training for new and existing employees in the UK. There are almost 700 apprenticeships available to choose from, and we support employees on apprenticeships in leadership, engineering, maintenance, IT and more.

Further apprenticeships and short-term work experience are available in Germany and India, with our US sites offering a range of internships and co-ops too. Our site in China is looking to expand into apprenticeships and internships, particularly for individuals at the start of their career.

LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning is an e-learning platform that offers a wide range of courses, learning paths and collections surrounding business, technology, creative fields and personal development. It is available to our employees, and we see it being used regularly to practice having feedback conversations, watch bite-sized videos, and set career goals to get personalised recommendations.

Internal Development Programs

Leadership development is a key priority. Our Existing Leader Programme provides employees with the knowledge and behaviours to continue being successful people leaders. This programme covers key principles of self-awareness, developing others and situational leadership. In recent years, cohorts have doubled, or even tripled, as we see many more leaders taking charge of their development.

Values and Competencies

The Doncasters values and competency framework outlines the behaviours that are essential to effective performance in our organisation. They form the basis of our people management processes and provide a common language for how we go about our daily work.

At Doncasters, our values are Excellence, Commitment, Integrity and Teamwork. They shape our core principles and beliefs, decision-making and behaviour. Our competencies are Strategic Thinking, Resilience, Leadership, Developing Self and Others, and Drive and Determination. These focus on how we perform our roles, how we apply our technical knowledge and meet our performance objectives.

Psychometric Tools

At Doncasters, we use the DiSC tool to better understand employees’ behaviours, communication styles, and motivations. The team runs facilitation sessions whereby teams can explore their typical working styles, helping to improve team dynamics and productivity.

Further, our psychometric platform offers a wide range of tools, including personality profiling and 360° feedback. This helps leaders and employees to design more personalised development plans which are tailored to individual’s development areas.

Together, these tools support more informed, strategic people development across our teams.