UK’s supermarket major Morrisons has announced that it will train more than 12,000 apprentices in 2011, making it the largest provider of apprenticeships in the UK.
With 30 percent of senior management having originally started working for Morrisons without a university qualification, the retailer has a heritage of taking employees’ careers from the shop floor to the top floor of the company and will be working to ensure that this generation of apprentices builds long-term careers in the business.
This training programme will also contribute significantly to the government’s apprenticeship target. The Department for Business Innovation and Skills is targeting that 200,000 adults in the UK will be able to start an apprenticeship by 2014-15.
Dalton Philips, chief executive of Morrisons, said, “Having skilled staff serving customers is vital for Morrisons’ success. We are investing millions of pounds in skills such as butchery, bakery and customer service and we will train over 12,000 apprentices in 2011 alone. It’s a big investment, but we believe we’ll get a great return from growing our own people.”
Coinciding with the launch of National Apprenticeship Week, Morrisons’ commitment to offering their staff the skills and training to realise their own potential will also see the retailer invest more than £3 million into training bakery and butchery apprentices in 2011.
To date, Morrisons has successfully trained 1,500 butchers and bakers, and last year 3,500 employees gained a retail apprenticeship.
– IndiaRetailing Bureau
