Stagecoach named as one of the top five organisations audited for number of apprenticeship development opportunities
Stagecoach has been awarded Silver membership with the 5% Club, a UK-wide charity that aims to contribute to the alleviation of poverty through increased levels of employment, meaning that at 3.3% it is now more than halfway to reaching its goal of 5% of employees in ‘earn and learn’ positions.
The 5% Club works with UK employers to inspire, educate and retain a growing body of people into ‘earn and learn’ placements to increase the number of apprenticeships, sponsored students and graduate trainees. A total of 790 Stagecoach employees are currently in ‘earn and learn’ positions, with the majority carrying out apprenticeships, from its total UK workforce of 24,000.
The number of its employees undertaking apprenticeships places the firm in the top five of the organisations participating in this year’s Employer Audit, making it the only transport operator to been awarded silver membership this year. Stagecoach said it is committed to training and development and has recently launched its Sustainability Strategy which details its objective of having 40% of leadership roles occupied by women by 2026 and 25% of its workforce from ethnic minorities. Stagecoach’s commitment also includes offering more work placements for 16-24 year olds.
Stagecoach was also the first public transport organisation to offer a driver apprenticeship scheme as well as an engineering apprenticeship programme. It also offers a ‘trade-up’ scheme, giving existing employees the opportunity to undertake an engineering apprenticeship and is hoping to develop this further by introducing human resources, IT and learning and development apprenticeships in future.
Tracey Smyth, Head of People Services & Talent, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded Silver Membership with the 5% club. This shows our commitment to developing our people when they join us and helps us to attract the best people from our local towns and cities.
“’Earn and Learn’ positions bring huge value to our business in terms of talent and diversity and Stagecoach has for many years been at the forefront of championing apprenticeships and graduates in our workplace. Not only is it important for developing a healthy talent pipeline, but we also find it’s a great way of being able to engage with our local communities and make sure that our workforce represents the people we serve. This year we also published our new sustainability strategy, where we set out clear actionable aims of targeting 40% of females in leadership roles by 2026 and increasing the numbers of employees from ethnic minorities to 25%.”
