Our colleagues need to have the skills to do their job to the best of their ability, but we are also keen to develop individuals to achieve their true potential.

We recognise that the planned training and development of colleagues is fundamental to our increased success and the satisfaction of our colleagues and learners. We are highly committed to training all colleagues to be effective in their jobs, but believe in sharing the development responsibility with the individual.

All new colleagues begin their development on their first day with us through our colleague orientation programme Welcome to Protocol. This generic programme will ensure that colleagues receive all the information they need to do their job, as well as meeting the other members of their team.

The majority of our colleagues have a structured induction development programme via the Job Ladder, the purpose of which is to give them the tools and knowledge they need to do their job. The Job Ladder is a seven stage programme that will help colleagues through the first few months of their employment, until they feel confident in their role.

Some of our roles do not have Job Ladders, but a structured induction programme will be developed on an individual basis for such colleagues.

Once a colleague has completed their Job Ladder, we continue to encourage development and learning, through regular 1:1 meetings, quarterly performance reviews and annual appraisals.

For colleagues wishing to progress their careers, we have our Management Academy getting colleagues ready for line management roles and our Leadership Academy to help existing managers develop into senior management positions.