08.07.09

YOU'RE HIRED! THE B&Q APPRENTICE PROGRAMME

Seventy year-old, Terry Robinson from Oxford and 18 year-old Adam Wilson from Chesterfield are two of 150 B&Q colleagues who have signed up to the retailer's apprenticeship scheme this month. With employees aged from 18 to 70 the scheme is believed to be the most diversity-friendly apprenticeship scheme in the industry.

The Apprenticeship is a 12 month programme of learning and qualifications that they will complete while doing their job giving them the skills, knowledge and confidence to progress their career in their chosen field.

The retailer announced earlier this year an investment of £1 million in improving the skills of its store teams through three skills qualifications pathways with the retail apprenticeship programme being one of these

Later this month hundreds of employees will graduate with a City & Guilds accredited qualification when they achieve their NVQ in Retail Skills and customers will be able to recognise these employees in store as they will be wearing a badge saying they've got one of the City & Guilds qualifications.

Euan Sutherland, CEO says; "Investing in qualifications will help B&Q further achieve its aim of having friendly expert staff of all ages, and give our customers confidence that they are being advised by staff who are knowledgeable and able to offer trusted advice."

"If you walk into B&Q and meet a friendly person with a badge saying they've got one of our City & Guilds qualifications, you're going to know you're getting expert advice. City & Guilds is a powerful brand and employees can't achieve the qualifications unless they meet the full criteria as approved by City & Guilds."

There are three skills pathways for B&Q's City & Guilds qualification offer this year:

* NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) Retail Skills Level 2 - a nationally recognized qualification, City & Guilds approved and audited externally;

* Home Improvement Knowledge Qualification (HIKQ) - product knowledge and project selling in decorating, gardening, building and room solutions


* A Retail Apprenticeship Programme.

Rob May of City & Guilds for Business says; "We're very excited about the investment and focus that B&Q is giving to its qualifications programmes. Their attitude to diversity and their commitment to qualifying tens of thousands of their employees makes their scheme one of the most innovative and refreshing in the industry. Companies who continue to invest in their people even during the most economically challenging times will be the ones who win at the end of the day."

The qualifications are open to all non-management colleagues of all ages. B&Q employs 33,500 employees and 28 per cent are over 50 and around 8 per cent are over 65. Most company apprenticeship schemes are only open to ages 18-25 which also makes B&Q's scheme unique as there are no age limitations -even B&Q's oldest worker, Sid Prior, aged 94 who works at the chain's flagship New Malden eco-store could be eligible to apply for an apprenticeship. The investment in skills offers real opportunities across all ages of employees to get an externally recognised qualification.

In April of this year, B&Q picked up the Global Gallup Great Workplace Award. It is the third consecutive year it has won the award and is the only UK business awarded. The Gallop Great Workplace Award is based on the most rigorous workplace research ever conducted and honours organizations whose employee engagement results demonstrate they have the most productive and engaged workforces in the World.

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