Jane James, Employment Regeneration Director at MITIE, has won the prestigious Directing Diverse Talent Award from Opportunity Now, the membership organisation for employers who are committed to creating an inclusive workplace for women. 

The award is a collaboration between Opportunity Now and the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) to recognise an exceptional individual who has demonstrated a real commitment to inclusive talent management. 

Jane was nominated for her ongoing work with MITIE’s Real Apprentice scheme, which helps to get disabled and long term unemployed people back in to the workplace. Since it began in 2005, the programme has helped more than 81 people back in to full time employment, as well as giving hope and self confidence to all those involved in the scheme. 

In addition to the Real Apprentice programme, Jane has also been responsible for establishing two IT and seminar suites within community centres, to help target disengaged youth and their families as well as delivering career awareness programmes at job fairs in the community and local schools. 

Suzanne Baxter, Group Finance Director for MITIE commented on Jane’s success; “We are thrilled to see that Jane’s hard work and dedication have been recognised with the Directing Diverse Talent Award jointly presented by Opportunity Now and the CIPD. MITIE and its people strive to provide the best opportunities for talent to develop in our business and Jane’s enthusiasm and passion for people demonstrates these core MITIE values in action.” 

Commenting on her win, Jane added; “I am honoured to have been nominated for this award and am absolutely delighted to have won. The Real Apprentice scheme has been a great success, with other companies choosing to mirror the programme. A hugely prestigious award such as this demonstrates the impact that dedication and passion for talent can have.” 

For further information contact: 

John Telling, Group Corporate Affairs Director, MITIE Group PLC
T: 020 3123 8673 M: 07979 701006 E: john.telling@mitie.com 

Erica Lockhart, Investor, Public and Media Relations Manager
T: 020 3123 8675 M: 07979 784488, E: erica.lockhart@mitie.com

Notes for editors

What is MITIE?
We’re the strategic outsourcing and asset management company.

What does that mean in practice? Providing everything from strategic consultancy, to world-class delivery on the ground. From long-term infrastructure planning, to facilities management, property and engineering services. Our strategic input can add value at the highest level, while our practical management expertise can save customers money and maximise their returns.

At the same time, it’s not just what we do, but how we do it that makes us different. Our people are passionate about what they do, committed to working in partnership with their clients, and will always look for a fresh answer to a new challenge.

We work with our clients in three ways; some take full advantage of our whole range of expertise by buying the whole suite, others may only need one aspect of what we do:

Strategy and consultancy

+ Facilities and project management

+ Service delivery

In other words, we think, we manage, and we deliver.

The thinking phase is all about finding strategic answers to long-term challenges about assets and resources. Facilities and project management puts those plans in place, and our unrivalled range of services is one of the best in the business.

There’s a lot more to MITIE than you probably think. We’re a big company with big ambitions - a leading FTSE 250 support services business, with more than 54,000 people, revenues in excess of £1.7bn, and a reputation for being the best