Last updated 09/02/2011
Morrisons, Britain’s 4th largest food retailer, today announces it will train more than 12,000 apprentices in 2011 making the company the largest provider of apprenticeships in the UK.
This investment aims to build on Morrisons’ commitment to have more skilled butchers, bakers and fishmongers than its rivals and to have the best service offering to customers.
With 30% of senior management having originally started working for Morrisons without a university qualification, Morrisons has a heritage of taking employees careers from the shop floor to the top floor of the company and will be working to ensure that this generation of apprentices build long term careers in the business.
This training programme will also contribute significantly to the government’s apprenticeship target. The Department for Business Innovation and Skills is targeting that 200,000 adults in the UK will be able to start an apprenticeship by 2014-15.
Dalton Philips, Chief Executive of Morrisons, said: “Having skilled people serving customers is vital for Morrisons’ success. We are investing millions of pounds in skills such as butchery, bakery and customer service and we will train more than more than 12,000 apprentices in 2011 alone. It’s a big investment but we believe that we’ll get a great return from growing our own people.”
Coinciding with the launch of National Apprenticeship Week, Morrisons commitment to offering their staff the skills and training to realise their own potential will also see the retailer invest more than £3 million into training bakery and butchery apprentices in 2011.
To date, Morrisons has successfully trained 1,500 butchers and bakers, and last year 3,500 employees gained a retail apprenticeship.