Think Again special issue Megan Robinson: Sodexo Rikki Slater: the Plough Inn, Nuneaton
Young people with a disability should not be put off applying Megan Robinson, who started her business administration level 2 apprenticeship with Sodexo in May and is hard of hearing, is the perfect example of why young people with disabilities should not be put off applying for apprenticeships in the hospitality industry. In fact, so successful has Sodexo’s collaboration been with publicly funded employment support programme Access to Work that often her colleagues forget the 21-year-old has any hearing problems at all. “We contacted Access to Work as soon as Meg had been offered
the apprenticeship and they’ve been brilliant,” says Sodexo’s learning planning, design and delivery manager Sue Davison. “They came to the site and did a full assessment with Meg, asking
her about her needs, where the gaps were, and what she was going to struggle with in work. Then they gave her access to a budget with stipulations of things she could have, which included a microphone pen and dyslexia training.” The support from Access to Work has allowed Robinson to carry
out all the roles her business administration apprenticeship requires, which are many and varied. “I work in the learning and development team, so I’m booking rooms, flights and hotels, working on PowerPoint presentations, inputting data into spreadsheets, looking after Springboard UK ambassadors, and organising training courses,” she says. She also meets with an assessor once a month for around two hours, who will either observe her at work or give her a test on an aspect of the course. Once she’s finished her apprenticeship, Davison hopes Robinson
will continue to work in the learning and development team, helping her with the company’s new apprenticeship strategy, which is set to evolve significantly due to the apprenticeship levy that will come into force from April 2017. “Three years ago we had 400 apprentices and today we’ve got
about 1,600, which is fantastic,” says Davison. “Most of these are level 2 at the moment, but part of our strategy will be to look into the higher apprenticeships and really look at our talent pipeline and how apprenticeships can help that.”
“Access to Work came to the site and did a full assessment with Meg, asking her about her needs... then they gave her access to a budget with stipulations of things she could have” Sue Davison, Sodexo
26 | The Caterer
www.thecaterer.com Louise Roberts: Lexington
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