Recent research from Barclays banking found that more than half of young people are not aware of apprenticeship opportunities in the hospitality and leisure industry, but SSP UK, the food travel experts, is bucking this trend with 800 Apprentices already recruited onto its Apprenticeship programme in 2013.
Award-winning Apprenticeship programme
SSP UK introduced its award-winning Apprenticeship programme in July 2010 and currently has 1540 colleagues enrolled onto the scheme. Unusually, the programme is open to all new SSP UK colleagues, whatever their age, academic or professional background. Colleagues join the bespoke programme at Level 2 as a Team Member, progressing to a qualification in Team Leading, culminating in Level 3 – Management.
On completion of their Apprenticeship, colleagues then have the opportunity to progress their careers to Level 4 as a Unit Manager and Level 5 with a Diploma in Leadership as a Multi-Unit Manager. At Level 5, they can also complete a Foundation degree accredited by Coventry University. Each Level forms part of a nationally recognised qualification, with Levels 2 and 3 including qualifications in Maths and English.
Doubly positive results for SSP UK
The programme has achieved extremely positive results for SSP UK, with 55 per cent of completed Level 3 Apprentices promoted to management roles. Furthermore, the turnover among Apprentices is 20 per cent lower than the SSP team member average, demonstrating that those on the scheme are more likely to stay with the company for the long-term to progress their careers.
In 2010, the Level 3 Apprenticeship programme gained SSP a National Training award for the North West Region. The current business strategy is focused on partnering with schools and colleges to engage and drive recruitment of young people into full time roles, whilst also offering Management Trainee programmes to college leavers.
Learning while working – and earning
Rasa Raskeviciute, Team Leader, Upper Crust, London Bridge railway station has recently completed SSP UK’s Apprenticeship programme. She comments: “The Apprenticeship programme didn’t just help improve my skills within my day job – because the programme includes a functional skills module, it also helped to improve my maths and English too. The fact that all the learning was done while working was particularly helpful for me. As a single mother, I can’t work a full time job and go to college in the evenings as I need to be there for my daughter. Thanks to SSP UK, I can earn money and work my way up the ladder at the same time.”
Martin Walder, Head of Learning and Development at SSP UK, adds: “The hospitality and catering industry is not always a young person’s first choice for a career, and yet we have a high demand for skilled teams. By providing a structured framework for training and career progression, our Apprenticeship programme allows young people to learn while they earn and has enabled us to recruit and retain a number of truly excellent colleagues.
He continues: “Thanks to the programme, our post 90 day retention for new colleagues has improved by six per cent, with Apprentice graduates confirmed as 50 per cent more likely to stay with SSP UK as a career.”
For more information about SSP UK’s apprentice scheme click here