For Chris Limb, apprenticeships are a win-win offer. He is head of learning and development at furnishings company DFS and is currently designing a two-year programme that will see participants end up with a City & Guilds level 2 diploma in upholstery and soft furnishings – and, providing they successfully complete the scheme, a guaranteed job.
It's a good deal for the apprentices, Limb says, and a good deal for DFS too. "We're proud to be able to offer jobs to people who may be struggling to find work, but we gain as well," Limb explains. "The upholstery manufacturing industry is declining and the numbers of people that have these skills is decreasing. That's why we feel our best strategy is to grow our own talent."
Government money
With the government pumping £1.5bn into apprenticeships and creating more posts at levels 4 to 7 in professions that include people management, accountancy and financial services, smart businesses are making sure they harness the opportunities offered – which go far beyond the funding available for training.
Whitbread started piloting its apprenticeships in hospitality services in 2009, launching fully in 2010, and has already taken on 660 apprentices. By 2018, it aims to have increased that number to 2,000. It already offers intermediate apprenticeships at level 2, is currently rolling out an advanced, level 3 version for earlier cohorts to move on to, and will also develop a higher apprenticeship at level 4.
The benefits are numerous, says its education and skills manager Sandra Kelly. "What we're finding is that our apprentices are more likely to progress and stay with us, are more engaged with their work and develop a more emotional connection with our organisation," she says. "For any organisation that has a really strong vision, it's incredibly helpful to be able to unlock that connection."
Apprenticeships also play a key role in the sector's development, Kelly explains: "It's about the professionalisation of an industry that's going to be hugely important for UK plc in terms of job creation and career progression. You can't set yourself up as a professional sector without underpinning it with nationally recognised qualifications.
"For years, people have had careers in hospitality that were probably unplanned, because they started working in the organisation while looking for a different job. Now we have a new generation of people coming in who are planning their careers in the industry and actually looking for organisations that can help them do that."
People skills
DFS's scheme, which has been in development since late last year, will kick off this summer, with between six and 10 apprentices set to be recruited in its first year. As service managers, they will go out to customers and carry out on-the- spot repairs on furniture that has developed a problem – so training in people skills as well as workshop and on-the-job technical training is important.
There are no minimum qualifications for entry. "We are recruiting more around the right personality and attitude," Limb says. "We want to be able to offer opportunities for people out there who are prepared to work hard and demonstrate their ability to look after our customers."
Lindsay Brown: 'I'm putting what I've learned into practice'
Weightmans LLP has 13 members of staff working on apprenticeships between levels 2 and 4, in the firm's finance, marketing and legal teams.
But in the human resources department, it has also created an internal apprenticeship, with the aim of developing a home-grown HR adviser who has not only learned the profession in the post but also gained a first-hand understanding of Weightmans as a business.
Lindsay Brown, 22, started in the role six months ago after finishing a degree in business management, during which she particularly enjoyed a module on HR management and development. She gets coaching from Weightmans' learning and development department, and has recently been on a two-day Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development course. "I had no experience in HR at all before I came into this position," she says. "The company is really good at supporting me and my ambitions."
Brown's day-to-day duties include monitoring the HR team's extremely busy inbox and other administration tasks. But she also sits in on HR managers' meetings, giving her the chance to see processes such as the handling of grievances from start to finish, and now has a caseload of her own.
"I've been here nearly six months and I do feel I've developed a lot in myself and in the work I'm doing," she says. "I've taken responsibility for flexible working requests and maternity notification. I feel like I've become a lot more confident, because I'm putting what I've learned into practice. I never would have thought when I started that I'd be holding meetings on my own, but now I am."
