Learning at the Royal Pavilion
The new learning centre at Brighton’s iconic Royal Pavilion is giving behind-the-scenes staff new opportunities to develop themselves at work.
When the future George 1V had the Royal Pavilion built for him in Brighton, he was convinced a royal palace by the seaside would change his life for the better.
And now, over 200 years later, the people who help run one of the city’s major tourist attractions have the chance to change their lives for the better since the GMB opened a new onsite learning centre and signed a learning agreement with the council department that looks after the iconic building.
While the building itself is famous for exotic interiors, the learning centre occupies a room in the plainer surroundings of a former town house next door, originally purchased by the council in the 1980s to house the visitor’s shop.
Already, staff are using the IT skills drop- in- sessions on Fridays to help them find their way round a computer, and once they’ve done that, they’re able to drop in anytime to work on laptops supplied by the union through their Union Learning Fund project.
The learning centre and agreement had its roots in discussions late last year between the management and the union about to improve industrial relations and offer staff the opportunity for personal and professional development at work.
“There’s no disguising the fact we have has some issues here regarding staff relations, so I arranged a meeting with Acting GMB Convenor Richard Warren to see what we could do to move on rather than always than always having the same problems,” explains Duty Manager Maria Foy.
“I’m passionate about learning because it means people can work their way into other jobs in the same area, and without learning staff can’t really move on – and we thought this might improve relations between the staff and management.”
After seeing the GMB learning centre at Brighton Cityclean for herself, Maria then approached her own boss with the idea of launching a similar initiative at the Royal Pavilion and Brighton Museum.
“I’ve always been interested in learning and training, and for many front line staff it’s about looking at ways of making their jobs more interesting and giving them opportunities for development.” explains Visitor Services Manager Julia Hugall.
The clear demonstration of the business case at Cityclean meant negotiations for the agreement and centre were relatively short and sweet, says GMB Regional Project Worker Declan Macintyre (himself a former ULR at Cityclean).
The reduction in sickness absence and dramatic drop in disciplinaries for those involved in learning at Cityclean, plus the increase in staff morale measured in the employer’s own annual staff survey, demonstrated there was a financial benefit to the employer,” he says.
“After a very short negotiation period we drafted a model agreement which is extremely good for both sides and includes the facility for funding from the employer’s training budget to be funnelled directly into the centre.”
Two ULRs cover the Pavilion and Brighton Museum, while two more cover the three satellite sites: Hove Museum & Art Gallery, Booth Museum of Natural History and Preston Manor.
The new centre has definitely created a real buzz about learning among the staff, Declan says. With so many shift workers employed to keep the Pavilion running smoothly, having the learning centre on-site is the best solution.
“It’s the ideal way of doing it because staff can’t easily get on any other courses because they don’t fit in with their work patterns- having the learning centre on site means they can go and do bits in small chunks when they’re free,” says Julia.
The union is looking into setting up courses in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), Skills for Life, with many staff interested in learning other languages, which is always useful in a tourist attraction!.
