The British Gas Award

As part of the British Gas Apprenticeship Programme all apprentices, irrespective of age, will embark on the British Gas Award Programme, which is aligned to the coveted Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award. The DofE is an enjoyable, challenging and rewarding programme of personal development, which is of the highest quality and widest reach. DofE programmes are made up of five sections: Volunteering, Physical, Skills, Expedition and Residential. Some of the benefits to those taking part include developing self-confidence and selfreliance; gaining a sense of achievement and a sense of responsibility; discovering new skills, interests and talents and developing leadership skills and abilities. Participants can also discover exciting opportunities; make new friends; experience teamwork, problemsolving and decision-making; increase their motivation; enhance their self-esteem and develop their communication skills. They will also, of course, have fun!

The Gold Award why is it part of the British Gas Apprenticeship?

The Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award fits perfectly alongside the vision and values of British Gas: - We wear out customer's shoes. - We take pride in what we do. - We keep our promises. - We are stronger together. It encompasses the behaviours and attitudes that we want in the people that work for British Gas.

Your Award with British Gas what is it all about?

The Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award is available for 16-24 year olds. As part of the British Gas Apprenticeship Programme all participants, irrespective of age, will participate in the British Gas Award Programme and work towards achieving: - A British Gas Award. Those who are under 25 will work towards achieving a Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award. - It is designed to be a non-competitive, personal challenge that demands persistence and commitment and cannot be completed in a short burst of enthusiasm. - British Gas has tailored the DofE to create Modules which develop skills that will benefit you while working for British Gas.

Meet Neil (British Gas Award case study)

"The expedition was a weekend spent in a different place, doing a different thing with different people. We were out of our comfort zones and we all survived!" Residential My British Gas Award experience started on my first day with British Gas. I had been informed by letter that my first week with the company would be spent as a residential week at the Wetherdown Centre in East Meon but I knew little else of what was happening. The week was spent with the ten other people starting their Apprenticeship, carrying out team building exercises, meeting British Gas staff, finding out about the company and the forthcoming apprenticeship. We discussed the Award scheme and how it linked in with the vision and values of British Gas. This allowed us to plan our involvement in a way that would provide us with skills and experiences that would develop us around those values. We were all encouraged to set specific goals for ourselves that we would work towards during our involvement with the Award. The residential week was a fantastic way to start the apprenticeship. As a group we were thrown together in unfamiliar surroundings and had to live, eat and work together. We naturally developed as a team under those conditions aided by the various tasks, games and competitions we were set. By the Friday morning it felt like we had known each other for a lot more than four days. Without exception, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the week and together we brought out the very best in each other. The week was extremely well planned and ran with precision, filling me with confidence that I had made a good decision in coming to British Gas. The week gave a great insight into the vision and values of the company and how the Award would help to develop us around them. Physical When I discovered I had to embark on a physical recreational activity I immediately signed up for a paragliding course with the Butterfly Paragliding School on the Isle of Wight. I had just completed a paragliding acquaint day and the Duke of Edinburgh Physical Recreation module was just the excuse I needed. Unfortunately winter time is not the greatest for learning to paraglide however, before the bad weather set in I had already progressed to taking flights of about three minutes duration from heights of around four hundred feet. Despite this being only a start, it still feels pretty high when you look down. I started running to keep up my fitness whilst the weather was bad, so when the good weather returned I was a bit lighter and feeling much fitter. The paragliding is fantastic, there are a lot of theory lessons to get through and even a couple of theory exams that have to be passed. The real fun comes when your feet first leave the ground. It is true flying and is freedom at its highest level.
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Paragliding is something that I hope to continue with for the foreseeable future. My participation in the award scheme focused my attention on gaining this new skill and improving my fitness. Volunteering I decided to work with the homeless as part of my volunteering module, as homelessness is something I have never really understood. I thought that if I volunteered to work with the homeless it would improve my understanding of the reasons why people become homeless and the problems such people face. It would also allow me to put something back into the community while gaining experience in dealing with lots of different people from different backgrounds; a skill and an experience that would help me as an engineer when dealing with different customers. At first it proved difficult to find a suitable organisation and get myself onto their volunteering books until I went for an interview at the Winchester Churches Night Shelter. This charity has accommodation for twelve residents and provides food, shelter, washing facilities and clothing every night of the year between 6:00pm and 8:00am the following morning. I volunteered there as an evening helper, usually for three hours (6pm until 9pm) once each fortnight. The shelter needs an evening helper to accompany the full time staff member in the building before they can legally allow entry to the residents. I usually washed up for the volunteer cooks after the evening meal. I would then sit and chat with the residents as they watch television. I was surprised to find some very well educated, professional people in the shelter that just seem to have fallen on hard times. One resident used to be an accountant, as we all watched Mastermind one evening he answered practically all the general knowledge questions without hesitation. This has taught me that being homeless is not a persons only trait; they are everyday people that just happen to be homeless. I will definitely do volunteer work again some time in the future, as I gained great satisfaction from it. Expedition The Personal Leadership Expedition Module involves the planning and execution of an adventurous journey as part of a team. In my teams case this will be a four day walk through the Brecon Beacons in Wales.

We have already received ten, three hour training sessions from an outdoor pursuits instructor on subjects such as cooking on a Trangia stove, putting up a tent, suitable walking clothing, map reading and navigation. The expedition is planned for early October however we did complete a practice expedition on the last weekend in June. It is safe to say that not everybody was looking forward spending their weekend walking across Exmoor with loaded rucksacks, sleeping under canvass, however we knew that it would be an experience and we would need to use all the skills we had gained as a team throughout our apprenticeship to pull together and support each other.
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The expeditions bark was much worse than its bite. Most of us would say we enjoyed aspects of it, if not all of it. It got us away together and we certainly worked well together to successfully complete the walk. There were parts that were great fun and there were parts that were extreme hard work. At the end of the day it was a weekend spent in a different place, doing a different thing with different people, we were out of our comfort zones and we all survived! We all gained confidence from this experience and a sense of satisfaction on completion. Skills The skills module takes the form of finding out about the company and completing a work book outlining the customer service aspects of being a British Gas Engineer. To help me gain a greater understanding of the Customer Service aspect of the award, my Technical support manager arranged to take me to the Leicester Area Service Centre. I met some of the faces behind the voices on the phone. I sat with our dispatcher and saw exactly what he did. Having heard a few complaints from some of the engineers I have worked with, it was enlightening to see the problems faced in the office. The job is not as simple as it seems, I now realise that working in one localised area all day, although desirable, is simply not possible and we really do need to work together to keep homes working. I spoke to the customer relations department about how they deal with long standing complaints, it was interesting to hear the types of complaints that get to this level and how they are dealt with by the team. The overriding lesson for me was that, as an engineer dealing with customers, excellent customer skills could reduce a vast number of these complaints. The module undoubtedly focuses your attention on the importance of excellent customer service as a British Gas Engineer. The workbook leads you to find out about the roles of different members of the team and gives you a wider view of the company. Talking to customers out on patch about their experiences with British Gas, both good and bad, also brings its importance to light. Overall the Award has given me lots of new experiences throughout my apprenticeship, which will culminate in the final expedition in October. It has better equipped me in the behavioural skills required to be a successful British Gas Engineer.