23.11.2020, 20:44
Investing in a Generation
UK hard services provider Artic Building Services is the latest organisation to join The 5% Club which promotes recruitment of apprentices, graduates and sponsored students.
The initiated, which was launched by Leo Quinn, Group CEO of Balfour Beatty, is a movement of more than 500 employers who have committed to providing ‘earn and learn’ opportunities to develop the skills and talents people need to become more employable and create meaningful careers.
Companies joining The 5% Club commit to raising the number of apprentices, sponsored students and graduates on formal programmes to 5 per cent of their total workforce within five years. Members are also asked to publicly report their progress in their Annual Report. Existing members range from SMEs to FTSEs and cover a number of diverse industries, from engineering through to the legal sector.
Artic joined the club to further enhance its ‘grow their own’ policy in promoting apprenticeships within the Facilities Management sector. The company’s director-led strategy focuses on creating the next generation of engineers.
Colin Trowell, managing director, explains: “Training the staff of the future is vital, so that we ensure our onsite teams have apprentices to gain experience in live environments and also with our mobile engineers out on the road. Whether they are developing engineering skills or administrative competencies we believe in growing our own team from the ground up. We aim to improve skills and support our team with the direction of their career.”
Gill Cronin, operations director for The 5% Club, adds: “We’re delighted to welcome Artic into membership. The 5% Club provides a fantastic network of HR professionals, sharing and learning from each other.
“All our members share an ethos of creating a skilled workforce through earn and learn development programmes, helping people develop meaningful career paths.”
Artic currently employs three apprentices who are studying full time, as well as two sponsored students who are currently being funded by the business to study for an NVQ Level 6 in Occupational Health & Safety. The company aim to recruit 8 employees to its apprenticeships or graduate schemes in the next 5 years.
Additional information about The 5% Club is available at www.5percentclub.org.uk.
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