How does hiring an apprentice benefit my company?
Hear from Matthew Norris (pictured with Liam Major, one of our Construction Site Manager Degree Apprentices), Managing Director for Croudace Homes Ltd South Thames region, about why apprenticeships are beneficial for not only the company but the future of the industry.
“We put a huge amount of store in bringing people into the business and developing them through training and apprenticeships. And it works.
“Our company is a member of the five percent club, where employer-members commit to having at least five percent of their staff as trainees and apprentices. But we’re well above that figure – I’d say more than double. And a good proportion of our apprentices go right up to degree level. We often bring people through trade apprenticeships, then like Liam, they move into a management apprenticeship, and progress to running sites for us.
“In our industry, there’s a massive shortfall in skilled labour, and shortages on the professional side as well. We’ve all got to address this – it’s essential otherwise we won’t have an industry in the future.
“We are very fortunate as a company because our shareholders are the children and grandchildren of the founder and share the same philosophy around long-termism and looking after our staff. We put a huge amount of store into bringing people into the business and developing and training them, which works for both ourselves and our trainees.
“At a rough guess, I would say around ten percent of our apprentices stay on with us and go on to some kind of site management trainee scheme. Our apprenticeships range from trade, such as surveyors and engineering, to management apprenticeships, such as the one Liam is doing. We also have some apprentices on the sales and marketing side of the business, so as you can see, they’re really important for us as a company.”
Find out more about our apprenticeships in this sector:
(From left to right; Matthew Norris, Liam Major)
Alex Petrovic • 28/10/2022