Case study
Employers:
No holds barred
The passion and enthusiasm of employer Gill Morris for the Diploma knows no bounds
and she is certainly shaking things up, asDorothyLepkowska found out
ill Morris is a woman on consumers tend not to make the connection
G
a mission. The co-director of between a beauty salon and the creams and
GMT Consulting, a training lotions they buy in chemists, drug stores
company and consultancy, her and supermarkets.
day-to-day job is to support employers in the The people behind popular names such
hair and beauty industries with issues such as as l’oreal or Garnier are always on the
marketing management. look-out for highly educated and skilled NVQ
Her clients include some of the biggest high workers to advance and perfect their levels 2 or 3,
street names and multi-million pound spas, as products, for example. and nine out of 10
well as organisations that supply, research and she is also concerned about the way that workplaces employ 10
manufacture products. the industry is perceived in the media and on people or less.
But behind the scenes, she has also been television. “At the moment, most
working hard to ensure the Diploma in Hair “No-one is ever really shown having senior managers, such as
and Beauty is a success and fit for purpose. a treatment in Tania Branning’s salon in managing directors or finance
Ms Morris was one of the first employers Eastenders or in Audrey’s hairdressers in directors, come from other fields. if we got
to become an employer “champion” in the Coronation Street, which are seen as places for more young people doing Diplomas they
development of the lines of learning for gossip,” Ms Morris said. would have a headstart over other applicants,”
Diplomas, a role she still holds and considers “But it is not about that, or pampering. it Ms Morris said.
a crucial part of her overall work. is not a luxury for the woman who needs to “For example, if you were interviewing
she said: “i was someone who represented have facial hair removed because of a hormone two graduates in accountancy but one had
the industry and was part of the employer imbalance, or the client whose hair fell out a Diploma in Hair and Beauty you would
champions network. This involved being due to chemotherapy and now needs to have know that one would hit the ground running
a member of the Diploma Development her eyebrows drawn on. straight away.”
Partnership, and having some input in the “This is where i see my role as changing As well as industrial chemists, the hair and
design and development of the Advanced perceptions about the industry being so very beauty industry also needs people trained in
Diploma in Hair and Beauty. important.” iT to develop programmes for carrying out
“As champions, we needed to be sure According to figures from the Hair and stock checks and keeping appointments.
that Diplomas were meeting the needs of Beauty industry Authority (Habia), it is “one of the reasons i got involved is to
employers and our industry in general.” a business worth £5.4 billion in the UK, change attitudes and demonstrate to young
Crucially, however, she also wanted to excluding spas, employing almost 250,000 people and their parents that the industry is
change the whole public perception of the people – or about one per cent of the total bigger and more diverse than they think,” Ms
hair and beauty industry. workforce. Morris added. “if i was a mother with a 12-
“Too many people think that it’s all about There are almost 36,000 hair salons, 13,100 year-old son who was interested in chemistry
luxurious salons and expensive pampering, beauty salons, 950 mobile beauty therapists, i might advise him to do a Diploma in Hair
but it is more than that,” Ms Morris said. “For and 1,500 nail bars in the UK. and Beauty. it doesn’t mean he has to go
example, we really need A level students doing Almost six out of 10 – 57.7 per cent – of into the industry but he will have skills that
chemistry because we need industrial chemists the workforce are employed, while 42.2 per make him more employable. i want people
to research and develop the products. cent are self-employed which is very high in to consider the industry as a career option for
“We need people to manufacture, make entrepreneurial terms, Ms Morris said. their children and for the kids themselves to
the bottles, print the labels and do the Almost four out of 10 work full-time. see the number of opportunities available.” DD
distribution. This requires a constant stream About one in 10 is a manager and fewer than
of workers being trained in various new three per cent have a degree, though not • Gill Morris will be a keynote speaker at the
technologies.” necessarily in a related subject, as the industry Fifth National Delivering Diplomas Conference
This lack of understanding of the industry attracts many career changers. taking place on Thursday, March 18, in
goes even further. Ms Morris believes many The majority of the workforce is qualified to Birmingham. Visit www.deliveringdiplomas.com
16 Delivering Diplomas • Volume 2 No 1 Spring 2010
16-17 case study.indd 2 5/3/10 11:15:07
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