The Loughrea based Neylons Facility Management has gone from strength to strength in recent times, adding 400 new employees over the past five years.
Neylons Facility Management was founded by Sylvester Neylon in 2004, beginning as a humble cleaning service in Loughrea and now employs more than 500 people in everything from catering to caring, cleaning to security.
The company has said that the balance of its workforce is a key factor to its success, with the management team being 53% female and 47% male.
This, they say, has been one of their focuses in providing opportunities for all employees through gender equal leadership, role models, and promoting a healthy work/life balance.
A massive part of this has been the Neylons Academy for Growth, created in 2014, which invests in staff development and promoting people from within the company.
This academy, the only one of its kind in Europe in a business of this size, teaches skills ranging from operational elements such as project planning and budgeting, to soft skills such as performance and behavioral management.
In the first year five staff went through the academy, with interest growing as people saw the benefits and promotions the pilot programme offered.
All participants qualified and became managers for some of the most prestigious facilities in Ireland. Year two they took on 12 staff, and now in its sixth year they have 25 participants. Over 95 in total.
In 2018 Neylons was awarded Top prize for Workplace & People Development at the European Business Awards.
Minister of State for Business Pat Breen attended the graduation of the 2019 class at a special event at Neylon’s Loughrea HQ on April 5.
“It is great to return to Neylons headquarters in Loughrea and be able to report of an incredible increase of 400 jobs over the last 5 years,” Minister Breen commented.
“This impressive growth for an Irish SME in such a competitive industry such as Facility Management and It is clear it’s down to the culture of leadership and investing in the training of people.”
He finished by saying that Neylons are especially good at helping those who do not go down the typical third level education route achieve their potential
