Building tomorrow’s workforce, today  

As we deliver the energy transition, we’re developing and upskilling more colleagues than ever before.  

We also undertake strategic workforce planning, analysing the future skills and capabilities we need for the longer term and putting in place plans to achieve our projections. This will ensure we have the people and leadership needed for a clean energy future.  

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Attracting the best new talent

Our employer branding “Superpowered” marks National Grid as a leader for sustainable energy and an employer of choice. It leverages our brilliant internal people stories to attract a wide pool of candidates.

The attraction strategy is now tailored to the needs of the business using data insights to understand where to find the right people and leveraging the correct avenues to promote our roles - whether through job boards, social media, panel events or career fairs to attract those people, using our Superpowered branding.  

Retaining the best people

We depend on our colleagues to deliver success for the business and our stakeholders, and we seek to retain the best people by striving to be recognised as an employer of choice.  

We were named to Forbes World's Best Employers list for 2025, demonstrating our commitment to employee wellbeing. As one of only 15 utility companies to receive this award, it shows that we are respected globally as an organisation that people want to work for. This year we also joined Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work 2026 (United States) list and the Financial Times UK’s Best Employers 2026 list, which are powered exclusively by employee voices.

Investment in training

Attracting, developing and retaining a qualified and competent workforce requires training programmes that are robust, comprehensive and in line with local regulations. Our training programmes create a career path built on safety and competence. Group Technical Training programmes are delivered across ten training centres in the UK and US and in operational environments local to the point of work.

Apprenticeships

We offer a range of advanced and higher apprenticeships in commercial, engineering and IT and digital programmes, and we make it our mission to ensure the quality of training.

For 2024/25 we were proud to be voted 22nd in the Best 100 Apprenticeship Employers to Work For on Rate My Apprenticeship and more recently we're proud to announce that our latest Ofsted inspection has once again confirmed our status as an Outstanding Provider- a recognition we have consistently held for the past 20 years. We ensure that our apprenticeship programmes include a blend of academic study and on the job learning.

Graduate and Intern Schemes

Our UK graduate scheme features three distinct pathways aimed at enhancing graduates' capabilities while emphasising leadership development for future leaders. We utilise our market leading supplier Cappfinity to lead the development of our graduates to meet the needs of our graduate population.

We also offer a coaching mechanism, EZRA Focus, which supports graduates throughout their development programmes and as they make the critical transition into their first role. This reflects our commitment to retaining and progressing our early careers pipeline.

In the US, our Graduate Development Program continues to be a success. In 2025, we further enhanced the programme by partnering with Cappfinity to support graduate development through a series of comprehensive in-person and virtual training focusing on handling early career situations, conflicts, and scenarios often found at the professional level.

We also continue to run a strong internship programme, which offers a structured and immersive opportunity designed to provide current students with practical work experience and exposure to a professional environment in the energy industry. The primary goal of the programme is to offer participants a chance to apply their academic knowledge in a real-world setting, gain industry specific skills, and explore potential career paths within National Grid. 

Additional development solutions for colleagues

• Coaching- digital coaching solutions that support intentional behavioural and mindset shifts aligned to development goals
• LinkedIn Learning- a digital-first development platform with on-demand courses available, including on leadership and management
• MindGym- an external learning provider that specialises in psychology and behavioural science to transform how people think, feel and behave
• Team Effectiveness- sessions designed to foster cohesion and positive collaboration among teams
   

Identifying and developing future leaders

Our Future Leaders Programme is one of our pioneering programmes across the company which aims to identify colleagues who display high potential talent in the early stages of their leadership career and accelerate their development. It brings together colleagues from the US and UK via our social learning platform for fireside chats, peer led discussions and coaching to really drive our leaders into the future.  

Our First Line Leader programme has been designed to support colleagues who have been newly hired or promoted into their first manager or supervisor role. This three month programme equips managers with the tools and techniques needed to be an effective people leader, providing them with the practical knowledge and skills needed to develop in their careers.

Enterprise Leadership Advantage  

The Enterprise Leadership Advantage Programme is designed to enhance the capabilities of our experienced leaders to achieve strategic ambitions. 

This programme provides targeted learning experiences that support leadership development across three key areas: enterprise-wide collaboration, change leadership, and personal leadership signature.

Next Generation  

Our executive potential programme ‘Next Generation’ is designed to support our most senior leaders who enable the energy transition and drive the vision of the future. This programme develops the elite skills of our future executive teams to thrive in a dynamic environment.