CORUS' Steel Service Centre in Caldicot has offered 20 alternative jobs to Corus employees facing the axe after the struggling steel group's latest upheaval.

Employees faced tough decisions when Corus decided to cut jobs in the UK.

About 20 from Llanwern, Port Talbot and other sites grasped the opportunity to stay with the company.

General manager Paul Burke said: "The offer we made meant that a third of our workforce at this site were essentially new recruits with no experience of the job.

"But the management team was confident that by using a focused training programme we could re-train them with the skills required within a short time.

The centre distributes about 90,000 tonnes of strip steel every year and boasts a turnover of about £22 million. It employs 62 people.

Mr Burke and his team achieved their training goals by adopting the Investors in People (IiP) framework and the DNV international safety and risk management system.

The IiP award, administered in Wales by ELWa, encourages organisations to develop their own staff as the first step towards achieving business goals.

ELWa manager Jane Leek said: "This company needed a highly-skilled workforce within a very short time.

"So it implemented IiP to address this specific business issue. "In these circumstances the results of the programme are much clearer for everyone to see."

Monthly planning meetings are held to check each aspect of the business fulfils its role in the company.

And with regular appraisals and monthly coaching sessions, the company is continuing to look for links between business and individual performance.

Training adviser John Hathaway from G & J Partnership in Pontypool advised the company during its IiP assessment.

He said: "The IiP programme came at just the right time."