Car Giant describes itself as 'Europe's largest car supermarket' and specialises in used car sales. Founded in 1977 it employs over 600 staff from the local community and has been highly commended by the Learning Skills Council (LSC) for its commitment to staff development.

We have been working with Car Giant for three years.

Training Need

Joe Pinto, training manager for Car Giant, realised that there was poor literacy and communication within the company. This was a consequence of a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds including Polish, French, Italian.

Programme

Five entry-level literacy and communication courses were offered to 40 employees over a two-year period. Attendance was strictly voluntary.

Impact of training

There has been a high success rate - 86% employees achieved a nationally recognised qualification on the final course. Participants said they felt more confident and able to communicate more effectively with customers and work colleagues.  Some have been motivated to train independently and are seeking promotion within the company in the future.