We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded Gold accredited membership via The 5% Club’s 2023-24 Employer Audit Scheme.
This award recognises our significant contribution to the continued development of all our Employees through “earn & learn” schemes such as Apprenticeships, Graduate Schemes and Sponsored Students Course Placements. From an list of 180 members, the Shepley Group was one of the 120 Employers who met the Gold Standard.
The 5% Club is a dynamic movement of employers all of whom are inspired to take positive action for increased, inclusive, and accessible workplace training for all. With a membership which now exceeds 900 companies, The 5% Club represents over 1.6 Million Employees, 101,000 of whom are in “earn and learn” schemes. The Employer Audit is a unique scheme which validates the employers’ activities, explores their future plans and commitments, as well as examining their approaches to quality, social mobility, diversity and inclusion.
We know our people are our biggest asset, which is why we dedicate so much of our time to staff training and development, helping the next generation of local people learn invaluable skills that will last them a lifetime. We take great pride in our apprenticeship scheme, currently having 65 apprentices training with us, and several proven examples of how our Group can progress through the company – our Managing Director and several members of our Board of Directors started their careers as apprentices in the Shepley Group.
The previous two years have seen consecutive records broken in our apprenticeship intake, hiring 21 apprentices in 2022 – encompassing over 50% females – and in our 2023 intake we hired 23 apprentices across five trades, our largest yearly intake to date.
Alongside our apprenticeship scheme, we have recently launched our Improvership scheme – pairing employees who are not qualified in a specific trade, such as a labourer, with a supervisor to learn key relevant skills before placing them on a specific training programme in order for them to become suitably qualified in a specific trade.
Including apprenticeships, graduates, trainees and improverships, over 16% of our employees are in earn and learn positions!
Mark Cameron OBE, Chief Executive at The 5% Club said,
“Our Employer Audit scheme recognises the efforts of all those Employers who invest in their workforce through a broad range of workplace learning schemes. It is fantastic that in these challenging times so many are able to commit to the Employer Audit and to gain the credit for their efforts, and that the majority are striving to expand their schemes over the coming years. Their efforts and achievements are to be applauded.”
Gill Cronin, Director of Operations at The 5% Club added:
“Having seen The Club grow to more than 900 members, I am always impressed at the commitment, drive and energy our members channel into offering “earn and learn” skills opportunities. To now see 20 percent of these members gain Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum accredited membership of The Club is inspiring and demonstrates how these companies are all contributing to the future of skills in our economy.”
A full list of The 5% Club Member’s Awards can be found here.
