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Story URL: http://networks.silicon.com/mobile/0,39024665,39170172,00.htm

Vodafone boosts apprenticeship scheme
Get the skills - and pay the bills...

By Natasha Lomas

Published: Monday 25 February 2008

Mobile giant Vodafone has committed to boosting its involvement in an apprenticeship scheme to help young people gain qualifications while learning on the job.

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The government-backed scheme offers young people a mixture of on and off the job training at employers in a variety of industries, enabling them to gain qualifications such as an NVQ while drawing a wage of at least £80 per week.

By 2009 Vodafone UK has committed to having 2,000 apprenticeships up and running - with around 700 or 800 of those being new recruits to the programme. The rest will be existing apprentices who progress onto a higher qualification, said Vodafone UK accreditation manager Stephen Robinson. Vodafone apprentices are paid between £14,000 and £20,000 a year.

Robinson told silicon.com Big Red has been running apprenticeship schemes in partnership with the government's Learning and Skills Council for around four years - and currently has about 1,600 apprentices across the business.

Apprentices at the company work in different areas across the business and one of the biggest programmes is retail operations covering all of the company's UK stores. There are also apprenticeships in customer service and customer management, and also a small tech programme.

The apprenticeship scheme feeds into Vodafone's social investment strategy. Robinson told silicon.com: "Part of this is an attraction tool. It's also a retention tool. We've been doing this for a number of years now and we definitely see a trend that shows that those employees that are engaged in qualification programmes in the workplace tend to be more engaged and we tend to retain them."

Vodafone also supports 450 other employees on similar apprenticeship programmes for which it doesn't draw any government funding, he added.

Big Red's UK HR director, Matthew Brearley, added in a statement: "The continued expansion of Vodafone's apprenticeship programmes will further strengthen our recent commitment to the UK government skills pledge. Apprenticeships offer a valuable learning and development opportunity and we actively encourage and support our people to gain the skills and qualifications that will support them throughout their careers."

Mobile retailer Phones4U is a recent recruit to the apprenticeship scheme and will be taking on 227 apprentices this year in retail and contact centre management, according to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. From next month, all new staff at the company will go through an induction programme from which they will gain a level 2 qualification after four months on the job.

Other companies committing to take on more apprentices by 2009 include Sainsbury's and Superdrug. The government has dubbed this week 'Apprenticeship Week' in England - in an effort to raise the profile of the programme and encourage more employers to sign up.