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the apprentices – they get the satisfaction
of passing on skills and knowledge that
they have developed over the years and as
a result they are more engaged with the
wider business.”
Sandra Rogers:
“Our initial experience of
hiring apprentices has been very positive.
We found that our apprentices were very
engaged in training, gaining hands on
experience and getting involved in the
company overall.
“In our experience, hiring new bright
talent in the form of apprentices can’t help
but impact on the rest of our workforce, as
apprentices bring fresh enthusiasm, ideas
and attitude which really helps to add to
our existing teams.”
Sarah Coates:
“We have gained a
tremendous amount from our apprentices
who are vital to our growth as a business.
Feedback from existing engineers is that
the apprentices bring new ideas and new
energy to the team and the benefits also
extend to our experienced engineers who
gain personal development as they coach
and mentor the apprentices. We find
that our apprentices are always highly
motivated and productive.”
Andrew Marchant:
“Our experience has
been and continues to be, a very positive
one. We work with the NAS and our training
providers to deliver and continuously
develop our apprenticeship programme.
We have a retention rate of over 80 per
cent; apprentices that have finished their
apprenticeship have moved into a varied
number of roles including customer service
engineer, pre and post sales analyst, our
sales graduate programme, service delivery
executive, customer support specialist and
bids executive.
“This talent was identified, grown and
is being retained as a direct result of the
apprenticeship programme. The effect on the
existing workforce is very positive as all who
interact with the apprentices are keen to
support their development by sharing their
experience in order to help them grow.”
PITR:
83% of apprentice employers
believe that they are investing in
the future of their business. What
are your views on developing
apprenticeships to build key skills
within your company?
Louise Marshall:
“I would agree that
apprenticeships are a key building block
of skills development within the Brother
UK business – as part of our ongoing
work on learning and development, which
led to our Investors In People Platinum
accreditation and to being awarded the
first ever Platinum Employer of the Year
award at the recent IIP event.
“We strongly believe that diversity is
key to our future and apprenticeships allow
us to combine a unique blend of academic
and practical skills, which perfectly
complements the other L&D activities we
have, including volunteering, recognition
of working in kinetic teams and more
traditional training routes.
“Key to the success of this is choosing
the right apprentice provider – we work
with a number of providers from the very
traditional routes via local colleges and
universities (who we are working with
on some adult apprenticeships), through
to the academies who are providing a
range of services that help to prepare
young people for the world of work (like
bootcamps).
“Each provider brings a different
approach that is relevant to the specific
apprenticeship and it is important to
have that variety so you can consider
apprenticeships in all areas of the business
– from marketing, electronic engineering,
IT and digital, through to administration
and customer service.”
Sandra Rogers:
“We absolutely believe
that developing apprenticeships is key to
building core skills within our company.
While there are many people with the skills
already out there, there are benefits to
building the skills in house and sometimes
effort and attitude are far more important
than having those skills in the first place.
“This again fits in perfectly with our
company philosophy, as helping people
to gain skills to enable employment is
beneficial to not only the individuals,
but also their families and the wider
community. Often young people find
it difficult to break into the industry,
especially when they don’t have a lot of
previous expertise. Many of our current
employees themselves started out their
careers on an apprenticeship programme.”
We find
that our
apprentices
are always
highly
motivated
and
productive
Continued...
VOX POP
Louise Marshall,
Infrastructure &
Shared Services Director
, Brother UK
Sandra Rogers,
Human Resources
Manager,
KYOCERA
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