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Why Apprentices Have Paid Dividends for Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water

Pam Mae Prentisiaid Wedi Talu ar eu Canfed i Dŵr Cymru

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Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water’s head of talent and inclusivity, Annette Mason, tells Business News Wales why it champions apprentices and how apprenticeships can benefit all businesses.  

At Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water our Apprenticeship Programme is extremely important to us. We recruit apprentices because they allow the business to grow its own talent, ensuring we develop employees who are motivated, skilled, and eager to learn and develop.

We have a diverse range of apprenticeships available across different fields and skill sets, with many of our front-line and customer-facing roles being delivered or developed through apprenticeships. We recruit around 30 apprentices each year – some who start at 16, as soon as they leave school, as well as those who have studied in further education. The latter may have done A-levels and come to us on a higher apprenticeship, or they are people who want a change in their career later in life.

We also use apprenticeships to upskill some of our existing employees with our programmes, using degree-level apprenticeships.

One of the main advantages for us is that apprentices help us build a loyal and dedicated workforce that helps boost productivity. We can tailor recruits to meet specific job roles and because apprenticeships are flexible, they meet our business needs. We can develop new employees who are young, ambitious, keen to learn and have not picked up bad practices from working elsewhere. However, we are always keen that our apprentices are given the opportunity to get involved in the wider business so that they can build a holistic overview of the organisation and make their own decisions about their pathways and the skills they’d like to develop. We’ve seen that, as an apprentice, people will grow their careers from day one, and the entry-level knowledge and core skills they learn stay with them as they progress through the business.

We are very lucky that here at Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water, we have colleagues that have been in the business for 30 or 40 years – it’s really important to us that we retain talent. But, bringing in young talent is also important as they bring new ideas and fresh perspectives to the workplace.

Apprenticeships also help improve the range of skills within an organisation because it encourages businesses to look at the way they do things. Apprentices work with people who are more experienced, in order to learn – but their presence can make business areas take a closer look at what they are doing – and that can lead to improvements and increased efficiency.

Another way apprenticeships add value to the organisation is with on-the-job training. The training is valuable for the apprentice, but it is also valuable to the business because we are working together from the start, and support each other through shared experiences, challenges and opportunities.

Growing your own talent also allows employees already within the business to develop new people, which is great motivation for them, too.

The levy Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water pays every year is utilised for the Apprenticeship Programme. As an accredited living wage company, we pay all apprentices the living wage, and believe this contributes to the success of the programme. Employees are valued and set up for success, which delivers long term and sustained results for our business.

Once apprentices are fully trained and qualified, they are guaranteed full-time employment with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water. When they pass the qualification, they have that job. This supports our workforce planning and the talent pipeline. It is an effective long-term investment because it creates loyal employees, increasing staff retention rates.

To find out more about apprenticeships, visit Business Wales.

Business News Wales