BGEN commits to ‘earn and learn’ by joining The 5% Club
BGEN, one of the UK’s largest engineering firms, driving the energy transition has showcased its commitment to developing its people by joining The 5% Club.
The 5% Club is a movement of more than 950 employers providing ‘earn and learn’ opportunities to develop the skills and talents people need to become more employable and create meaningful careers. Companies joining The 5% Club commit to raising the number of apprentices, sponsored students and graduates on formal programmes to 5% of their total workforce within five years. Members are also asked to publicly report their progress in their Annual Report. Existing members range from SMEs to FTSEs and cover all sectors including engineering, transport, and financial services.
Member companies now also have the opportunity to achieve accredited Gold, Silver and Bronze membership status through the annual Employer Audit.
The Club was founded in 2013, and during the 10th Anniversary year will continue to use its platform, and record of success to engage with policymakers and influencers on issues of concern and relevance, specifically increasing awareness and activity that links skills investment with discernible social impact. Michelle Stott, HR Director at BGEN, explains
“We joined the 5% club as we are committed to the ‘ethos’ of learning and developing young people on their career path. As part of our corporate reputation and responsibility at BGEN, we want to enhance our investment in skills/training and development.”
Michelle also highlights BGEN’s commitment to support apprentices to support the growth plans of the company, where she highlights:
“We will continue to develop our apprentices as they are the talent pipeline for the future of our business, we also want to show our commitment with the investment in our young people’s future. Being part of the 5% club we will be able to network and gain insights into emerging talent trends and share and learn best practice.”
Michelle Stott
BGEN has always advocated apprenticeships and it stems back to when the company began. Now you can walk into many of the offices / sites and see apprentices who have developed into senior positions from designers, site supervisors, engineers, directors all branching out from the apprenticeship programme. A programme developed over the years to deliver the highest level of service for clients, provide skills for life and support our local colleges and schools.
Now, BGEN have an apprenticeship programme developed to teach skills that you cannot get from the traditional education system complemented by hands on learning and industry experts / mentors. Open, to people of all ages whether you’re looking for an early apprenticeship career, upskill or cross skill BGEN has an avenue open for you. With further investment in the apprenticeship programme and endless opportunities to work on projects for clients in the pharmaceutical, utilities, FMCG, energy and industrial there is no better time to be involved.
Michelle Stott, HR Director at BGEN, said: “We’re widely recognised as being an employer of choice for both skilled tradespeople and office-based professionals, which is why many of our employees have been with us for over three decades, during which time we’ve supported their career development within the organisation.”
She also adds:
“We’re committed to supporting all 1000 of our employees, working at all levels and in all business areas, to grow with us. We’re looking forward to increasing our apprentice headcount – giving all employees the opportunity to learn and develop their skills, knowledge and experience whilst working with a wide range of world-class engineering solutions and some of the largest blue-chip clients out there.”
The 5% Club works with UK employers and key influencers to inspire, educate, and retain a growing body of people into “earn and learn” placements in order to increase the number of apprentices, sponsored students and graduates. The goal of The 5% Club is to increase the employment and career prospects of today’s youth and equip the UK with the skilled workforce it needs to safeguard Britain’s economy. The 5% Club was launched in 2013.
Members sign The 5% Club charter. As a member of The 5% Club, employers state they are: Committed to helping the UK’s growth agenda and acknowledge the importance of developing people as both a business and social imperative; Playing their part in addressing youth unemployment and skills shortage; Pledging to work towards having a minimum 5% of their UK workforce enrolled on formalised apprentice, sponsored student and/or graduate development schemes within five years; Measuring and reporting on their progress annually against the above metric in their Corporate Social Responsibility section of the Annual Report and Accounts or equivalent document; Committed to encouraging other employers to participate in the campaign. Membership of The 5% Club numbers more than 950 businesses from across a broad range of sectors, size of company, including large corporations as well as SMEs and across the length and breadth of The United Kingdom.
