32 business focus
Apprentices driving Grundon’s success
Faced with an ongoing nationwide shortage of some 60,000 Large Goods Vehicle (LGV) drivers, Thames Valley-based Grundon Waste Management has been working hard to “grow its own” new recruits through a specialist driver apprenticeship training programme
Eight trainees recently successfully completed their apprenticeships at the first attempt and have since joined a team of some 400 drivers serving customers across the region.
Keen to support and train future drivers, Grundon has a further 17 apprentices – with ages ranging from 21 through to 50 – currently studying for their qualifications.
Recently, the success of the company’s apprenticeship programme was recognised when it was highly-commended at the prestigious Apprenticeships 4 England Employer Awards 2016, held in London in February.
The Awards recognised outstanding examples of quality, best practice, innovation and excellence in Apprenticeship Delivery.
“Congratulations to Grundon Waste Management in becoming a finalist.
“These awards are a celebration of everyone who is involved in apprenticeships. They showcase and celebrate the achievements of those who have exceeded expectations and shown a dynamic approach to training, demonstrated initiative and enterprise, innovation and creativity. In addition, they have shown an understanding of, and commitment to, the improvement of quality and skills development in the delivery of apprenticeships.”
Overall, Grundon invests more than £7,000 in each apprentice before they become a fully-fledged member of the driving team, including training and ongoing employment costs.
The apprenticeships, undertaken in partnership with Banbury- based JLD Driver Training, and part-funded by Activate Learning, take an average of 12-18 months to complete and the Grundon drivers’ pass rate is over 90%, well above the industry average of 50%.
Collecting the award, from left: Darren Merridan, LGV driver; Anthony Tattersall, logistics support manager; Lee Dickson, LGV driver
Anthony Tattersall, Grundon’s logistics support manager who is in charge of the training programme, said: “We were thrilled to reach the final stages of the awards and to be highly commended in what was an extremely tough category, where we were up against organisations such as Siemens, VISA and the RNLI.
“We work extremely hard and invest a great deal of time and money into ensuring our apprentices receive the essential training they need to do well in their future careers and it’s great news that our efforts were recognised by the panel of judges.”
Lindsay McCurdy, CEO of Apprenticeships 4 England, said:
www.businessmag.co.uk
Lisa Dixon, managing director at JLD Driver Training, said: “We have
been training Grundon drivers for over four years, the new apprenticeship scheme has worked really well and has encouraged younger drivers into the industry. The trainee drivers gain valuable skills during the apprenticeship including maths and English qualifications. We are pleased with the success of the scheme and hope it will encourage other companies to look at trainee drivers.”
In the past five years, Grundon has recruited 39 apprentices across different departments, with the vast majority going on to be permanently employed by the company.
Details:
www.grundon.com Learn to present with
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Details: Diana Richards 01491-418767
exec@henley.ac.uk www.henley.ac.uk/ influence
Follow us on twitter: @HenleyExecEd
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – APRIL 2016
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