Skills 4 was established in 2006 by recent winner of the Northern Power Women: Agent of Change Jayne Little, in response to the UK Government report, “Shaping a Fairer Future”. After the success of our pilot programmes, demand for the training from employees at our initial client organisations was high. Jayne recognised the unique challenges within the STEM sector, particularly Construction & Engineering, and was committed to improving gender balance in the male-dominated STEM sectors.
Jayne and her passionate team deliver award-winning diversity and inclusion training programmes, giving thousands of women and people from other under-represented groups the confidence and skills they need to advance their careers and become role models for others. Jayne’s passion for inclusion and fairness is what prompted her to start Skills 4 and the company vision is the same now as it was then: to live in a world where everyone brings their true self to work. Our programmes improve proactive ownership, authenticity and confidence, enabling participants to seek and achieve progression opportunities. The EMPOWER programme has been successfully delivered to over 10,000 women and an increasing number of men, with over 66% being promoted within a year of completing the training.
Our THRIVE programme builds on our award-winning EMPOWER programme, drawing on the experiences of our sector-specialist Mentors who have all worked extensively within the STEM sector, whilst working to create inclusive, psychologically safe workplaces where everyone can bring their true selves to work. THRIVE is our Positive Action Career Development Programme created to help minority groups realise their true potential and is designed to level the playing field to enable diverse talent to thrive in their organisations
We also devised the groundbreaking ‘Moving the Dial’ Reports which analyse business performance against criteria known to affect the retention and progression of diverse talent, sharing benchmarking, and helping organisations to build more inclusive workplaces.
Since the company’s inception, the emphasis has been on the need for continued learning with this in mind, we launched the Skills 4 Alumni which is a free membership for all delegates providing the opportunity to network and share best practice, building a community where we can continue to learn and share our work on diversity and inclusion.
