The Work Programme
& Greggs Plc
Karen Walker
Resourcing Manager
Greggs Plc
About Greggs
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1,585 shops across the UK
Ten regional bakeries
1 central savoury production plant
1 specialist confectionery bakery
2 distribution centres
20,000+ employees
A growing business – we will recruit
800+ new people in next 12 months
Our company Values define what we do…
We will be enthusiastic and supportive in all that we do,
open, honest and appreciative,
treating everyone with fairness, consideration and respect
Since June 2011…
• 44 voluntary work experience placements offered via JCP
• 7 graduate and 4 undergraduates on 2-year programme
• 5 work placements for young people through BBC3 ‘Up for
Hire’ programme
• 10 young apprentices recruited in 2011
• Employed 4 people from Business Action on Homelessness
• Recruited 27 people in London and the South through A4E
and Avanta, giving jobs to long term unemployed people
• 3 women ex-offenders employed from HMP Styal and HMP
Low Newton
Partners help drive success
Why tackling unemployment is absolutely
critical to us…
• Young people form 1/3 of our workforce, circa 7,000 18-24
year olds at Greggs
• People tend to stay at Greggs for a long time once they have
joined us
• Unemployed people are our customers as well as potential
employees
• New people add quality, vibrancy and richness of ideas to
our workforce
• We have a wider pool of available candidates to choose from
• This is high on our agenda
The Greggs experience
• Firstly, we believe that there is definitely a place for Work
Providers (experience, knowledge and access)
• Too many Providers out there – all offering the same thing
• It makes it appear confusing
• It wasn’t easy to tune in at first ...
• We wanted a simple process and one way of working
throughout our business
• We have developed a close partnership with JCP
• We decided to work with one main Work Provider and
consolidate other partners
The Greggs experience
• We had many unsuitable candidates put forward that we
were unable to progress
• We then knew that we needed to spend time setting up the
partnership
• We looked at:
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what we are looking for in a candidate
the type of work they would do
our culture v best fit
our recruitment process
• We now have a good relationship with our Provider
The Greggs experience
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They tailored their process to meet our needs
They are extremely responsive to our needs
Small trial initially - now moving to a national roll-out
Funding process isn’t as smooth / timely (Youth Contract)
Funding for Providers is about getting someone into work,
but not necessarily with the same employer
• Sustainability is our agenda
• We have recruited 64 people (10% of our new recruits) via
Work Providers in the last 12 months – lots of successes
and great feedback
Challenges and opportunities of private
sector engagement
• We need the best talent available – job-ready candidates
with the right attitude
• We need to seek out talent and engage with people who
might not progress through normal channels
• It’s a tough climate for businesses – there are not as many
opportunities available
• We therefore need to be efficient, effective and work as a
team
• A single point of contact helps (and possibly a database so
other Providers know who our partners are)
• Clarity re: funding