CSR & Environmental Affairs Review

I had a fantastic placement year working at Toyota GB. All fellow colleges were extremely supportive and helpful, enabling the placement students (such as myself) to gain the most out of their placement. I enjoyed the work I completed throughout the year, especially the projects that I was given responsibility for. I also enjoyed being in the workplace due to the office atmosphere. HR hosted many events throughout the year to to keep spirits high and to ensure all employees feel valued. It also helped departments to mix so that you could meet different people from various departments in the business.

When I began my placement I was immediately told my 'status' as a student was irrelevant and that I would be treated as an equal within the workplace. This meant that I was not simply allocated administrative tasks, but had my own projects and responsibilities. My team became my workplace family. They took an interest in me and took time to get to know who I am as a person. This was reinforced by the social activities that we did as a team outside of work hours. I learnt that all members of my team truly cared about one another, both in and out of the workplace.

My team, and manager especially, offered support throughout the year for both work and personal matters. I was given projects that I had responsibility for but was not left to complete these alone. My team offered continual support in a variety of ways, such via our weekly team catch up meetings and daily meetings with my manager. If I was ever in need of help I felt I could approach any member of my team, knowing they would offer me both their time and guidance.

Due to being given responsibility for my own tasks I found I never had time to be bored. I had the perfect number of tasks to fill my time, without being rushed off my feet. Throughout the year workloads were reviewed, if new tasks had been taken on, the team would look at where we could cut back to make this manageable. In addition to this, at busier times of the year, my team ensured that I took breaks and/or would help me to manage my workload.

My role as a student was treated as a 'proper' job and not simply as an administrative role. After being trained up on my day to day tasks I was left to complete these independently unless I asked for help/guidance. As well as this, during the year I was given several projects to work on that were entirely my responsibility. My team offered ongoing support and guidance but I was given the freedom to execute them myself.

The diverse nature of my role meant that over the duration of my placement I have both developed and gained a huge number of both hard and soft skills. These skills will be invaluable when both returning to university and when applying to jobs in future. I was also given the opportunity to attend further training sessions hosted by HR, such as excel training and public speaking workshops. Without this placement I would not have been able to develop as many skills in such a short space of time.

The atmosphere in the office is fantastic. Everyone is friendly and knows one another, making it an extremely enjoyable place to work. My team worked hard but were also able to laugh and enjoy each others company. HR also hosted many events throughout the year where the entire company would come together such as prize giving, innovation days and even an ice cream van on site in the summer. These additional events keep the moral high and ensure staff continue to feel valued.

The placement scheme at Toyota is very well organised. They have run and refined the placement scheme for several years and this shows in the great execution. From the assessment day to the placement itself Toyota provided a great experience. HR have meetings to review your progress both during and at the end of the year. My manager was also very supportive with the assessments required by my university and during my placement tutors visit.

HR offer serval additional optional training sessions that you can choose to attend such as excel and public speaking.

The prospect of working with Toyota in the future is extremely appealing and I hope that I will return to work with TGB after I have completed my final year at university. The placement scheme offered me an great insight into what it is like to work for TGB. The diversity of the roles hosted at TGB means there is the opportunity to get involved in many different areas of the business. The placement scheme offered also allows you to rotate between departments, enabling you to identify where you would like to work in the future.

The student cohort became extremely good friends, socialising both in and out of the office. I believe many of us will now remain friends for life. Toyota GB offered us opportunities to bond as a group via the 'sports and social club' where you can purchase reduced tickets to a variety of events such as the races and the theatre. Furthermore, as many of the students had relocated to Epsom we were able to meet up easily outside of work.

I lived at home and commuted to my Toyota GB, Espom.

There are a few bars/cubs in Epsom but it is also very close to Clapham which hosts a great nightlife for all ages.

Toyota supported all departments/divisions to have away days during the course of the year where we were able to get to know each other better in an informal setting. The also have a 'sports and social club' which hosts serval annual events such as rounders, as well as enabling members to buy reduced tickets to a variety of events such as the theatre and the Epsom races. Toyota also have their own sports teams that anyone can attend.