Greencore
Hayley White, Early Careers Manager at Greencore, explains that apprenticeships are a vital element of their holistic approach to organisational development and how they help to future-proof their operation.
Read more below to learn the short and long term impacts apprenticeships have had on their business.
Why did your company choose to offer apprenticeships?
Apprenticeships are a vital element of our holistic approach to organisational talent management and development at Greencore.
Apprenticeships enable us to meet the needs of our business, both in the immediate and longer term, helping us to future-proof our operation. They enable us to both support and address anticipated skills gaps across the Greencore landscape. We utilise apprenticeships to provide an opportunity to recruit new and emerging talent, as well as develop our existing colleagues, so that they can continue to develop and grow their careers.
They provide a structured programme of learning, that fits in to our culture to provide opportunities that enable our people to fulfil their potential and develop a sustainable pipeline of talented and skilled colleagues.
When did you start implementing apprenticeships?
Our first cohort of early careers degree apprentices joined our business in September 2018.
What impact have apprentices had on your business?
We have seen the confidence of our apprentices grow in terms of both their personal and professional development. Our colleagues on these programmes return to the business with new knowledge and skills that they are able to apply to their day-to-day roles.
Longer term, as the programmes mature, we see our apprentice alumni strengthening our succession pipelines across a number of key business roles, therefore providing a rolling provision of skills and capability crucial to business growth.
Has the partnership with NTU enhanced your apprenticeship program? If so, how has it done this?
The regular contact we have with NTU supports us to ensure we understand how our apprentices are performing and what progress they are making in their academic studies.
In our eyes, this partnership is key to ensuing success, both for the apprentice and for Greencore.
Would you recommend apprenticeships to other businesses? If yes, why?
Greencore is a keen ambassador for apprenticeships at all levels, across a variety of roles. Apprenticeships are great way to develop new and existing talent in support of delivering strategic business objectives, organisational growth and enabling career progression.
Apprenticeships enable learners to not only learn theory applicable to their role and industry of employment, but they enable the activation of this learning in a real-world environment, meaning the learner develops a holistic set of skills and knowledge which they can apply throughout their career journey.
Would you recommend NTU’s apprenticeship provision? If yes, why?
We have worked with NTU for a number of years and continue to strengthen our partnership by keeping in regular contact and progressing our approach. We have seen some great results from our apprentices so far and know that the support NTU provide is a vital part of this.
To learn more about apprenticeships, please contact apprenticeships@ntu.ac.uk.