Apprenticeships are just the job

While business may be sweet for confectionery giant Nestle, with its global reputation for producing the UK’s number one biscuit brand, and its Haxby Road factory turning out more than one billion Kit Kats and 200 million Aero bars every year, the business is facing a major challenge, which if left unaddressed will see things turning sour.

Over the next 15 years Nestle is set to see more than 50 per cent of its current 5,000 UK employees retire.

In a bid to overcome its ageing workforce the chocolate brand has launched its Nestle Youth Employment initiative, to create 1,900 employment opportunities for young people, with apprenticeships playing a major role.

This year Nestle will recruit 50 apprentices across its business, including three engineers and six food operations apprentices in York, building on a 40-year heritage of providing apprenticeships in the business.

Steve Colquhoun, apprentice training co-ordinator at Nestle in York, said: “It’s a new way of training and employing people at Nestle.

“We have got an ageing workforce, and with a good pension scheme where people can retire at 55, we have little turnover of staff.

“It’s great quality for a business to have, but the downside is when people do retire we have lost that 40 years of experience.

“In an attempt to capture that we have launched a scheme where we take our apprentices through four differently departments through a two-year scheme. They come out as a pretty well-rounded plant operator with good skills.

“Historically we have just taken people on off the street to fill gaps. This is more of a planned progression, it’s a structured approach. It gives them the range of experience they probably wouldn’t have.”

It’s not just Nestle that benefits from the scheme, apprentices see their studies funded by the company, as well as receiving a wage, finishing with a recognised qualification and no student debt.

In fact, the average engineering apprenticeship represents an investment of £200,000 by Nestle, with the student paid £15,000 in their first year to go to college, and a finishing salary of between £35,000 and £45,000 after their four years.

As you’d expect, competition for places is therefore high. When 21-year-old Sara Barker secured her engineering apprenticeship at Nestle she was one of only two successful candidates from more than 200 applicants.

Apprentice Sara Barker: “No two days are the same. You have no idea what you are coming in to on a morning. You are always learning”

Now Sara is in her third year, studying at York College, and has been offered a place to study a degree from September in manufacturing and engineering.

Sara said: “I grew up on a farm and have always played around with engines and machines. It’s always something I wanted to do but didn’t think about it as a career.

“I was getting all A grades at school, and was told what A Levels I should be doing. I started doing my A-levels, but didn’t enjoy them. Schools still show apprenticeships to those that are getting C/D grades, like it’s not a second option, but it’s not.

“I’ve now got a chance to go and study an engineering degree. If I knew about this when I was 16 I would have come straight here.”

With a minimum age requirement of 16, and a request of five GCSEs including English, maths, and science, engineering apprentices at Nestle will have access to world class machinery, as the company uses to the same robotics to pack Kit Kats that are used in the car industry.

Sara said: “No two days are the same. You have no idea what you are coming in to on a morning. You are always learning.

“I couldn’t imagine sitting at a desk and being at a computer all day. I like getting stuck in.

“I spoke to one colleague who started at Nestle when he was 14 years old and he knows so much. I hope I end up like that one day.

“They are really passionate about their jobs here, so it inspires me.

“We want to make sure that when they leave that passion is passed on to us. We don’t want them to retire and that to disappear.”

Alongside engineering, Nestle also runs a Food Operations apprenticeships, with a minimum age requirement of 18, due to shift work.

Having only been introduced this year, 19-year-old Charlotte Mitchell is one of the first apprentices to study a Level 3 NVQ in Food Industry Skill at Nestle.

Apprentice Charlotte Mitchell: “I love the people that I work with, and I enjoy the job as well. Some things are the same day to day, but then other days you can see something you have never seen before. It’s never boring.”

As part of the placement programme ensuring apprentices work across all areas of the business, Charlotte is currently working in the Polo department, joining the team in processing 165 tubes a minute, and a million minty tubes a day.

Charlotte said: “It’s a massive industry and there’s plenty of places you can go with it. I was studying A levels before I came. All my friends had gone to university, but I didn’t like the thought of that so I looked at apprenticeships.

“I came to Nestle and had a look around. I liked the look of where the apprenticeship can lead and there’s lots of opportunity at Nestle. I do safety checks and quality checks, and general running of the machines and making sure that we send quality products out. Also there’s general house- keeping, making sure we keep things clean.

“While we are doing our work we are always linking it in to the units we are studying. There’s a bit of essay writing too.

“I’ll finish my apprenticeship as a plant operator, and then will have the chance to work my way up. I would like to be a shift manager eventually.

“I love the people that I work with, and I enjoy the job as well. Some things are the same day to day, but then other days you can see something you have never seen before. It’s never boring.”

Applications are still being accepted for this year’s intake of apprentices at Nestle. To find out more visit www.nestleacademy.co.uk before March 31.