Our people

This has involved embedding a high-performance culture based on the brand’s core values of customer service and teamwork. Colleagues have raised their skill levels to help meet the goal of technical excellence and used their experience to adapt to new ways of working. A simpler operating structure has improved accountability for delivering better performance.

Building skills and capabilities

Our training and development programmes are focused on building essential skills to meet our customers’ needs, making the most of new digital platforms. Technical skills are being upgraded across the Group, from data analysis to our in-house automotive service centres. Our apprenticeship and graduate programmes make a key contribution to this.

Graduates

A fifth cohort of graduates with a STEM degree joined our Technical Engineering Programme within Automotive Services. Graduate schemes are rare in the automotive industry and we offer a number of Institute of the Motor Industry accredited qualifications. Our programme is flexible, allowing graduates to experience different aspects of the business and pursue different paths, including data analytics.

A diverse and inclusive business

In the past year we've moved our Diversity & Inclusion ("D&I") partner into our Leadership, Talent and Early careers centre of excellence, as part of the People Partner and Organisational Effectiveness team. This ensures we take a holistic and pragmatic approach, using data to identify opportunities to improve equity and inclusion across all people processes. We’ve also aligned our D&l priorities with the new Group strategy, contributing to a high performing business.

Our shift in approach is driven by clear D&l objectives set by senior leadership and implemented throughout the organisation. Our commitment has been recognised by a jump from 17th to 12th in the 2024/25 Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers rankings.

The Group's focus has been on building talent pipelines, enhancing leadership capability, meeting regulatory requirements and achieving equitable outcomes in performance management. 

Ignite Apprenticeship Programme

The Ignite apprenticeship programme, launched in 2022, celebrated 159 completions in 2024 with standout results: 56% achieved distinction and 17% earned merit.

At the end of 2024, 257 colleagues were actively engaged in apprenticeships across the Group. Of these, 32% were focused on data and technology and 45% on vehicle repair, with the remainder developing vital business skills.

Among the 127 new apprentices in 2024, 68 were new hires with 62% of those joining auto services and a further 25% dedicated to Motability. We utilised 81% of our apprenticeship levy, with 10% of our spending supporting local communities and smaller enterprises.

We are working with The Schools Outreach Company to increase the number of female applications for our vehicle repair apprenticeship and have signed up to the Automotive 30% Club (aiming to fill 30% of key leadership positions across the Automotive industry with females by 2030). Targets have been set to increase the number of females in leadership positions within the Auto Repair Network. 

To find out more about our Group policies click here