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Sainsbury's

What

This case study describes how Sainsbury’s has brought all its recruitment and skill development initiatives under one inclusive umbrella brand called You Can and how it works to inspire its people to develop their full potential. As its workforce is 57% female the programme has had a positive impact on female colleagues. For a number of years the company has worked with the government, charities and local employment agencies to give people from all walks of life the chance to join Sainsbury’s and succeed. It has always offered a variety of schemes covering two main areas; the provision of new job opportunities for people in its local communities who wish to enter or return to work and secondly, programmes to provide skills development opportunities for new and existing colleagues. An impactful DVD and briefing was produced to ensure HR and store managers understood the tangible benefits of these two areas and how the different initiatives could work together for greater impact.

Why

Sainsbury’s sees its You Can programme as a way of reducing turnover, enhancing the employer brand and making a difference within the communities it serves. It helps to create a smooth transition from unemployment, right through to gaining a new job within the company. It also gives new and existing colleagues opportunities to gain a nationally recognised qualification and develop more personal or employability skills. This helps to boost colleague engagement and increases loyalty.

 

 

How

The company has always run a variety of skills development opportunities. By bringing them together under the You Can brand it was able to clarify its offer and   ensure   colleagues and managers understood the tangible personal and business benefits of work in this area. Examples of activity include creating new job opportunities by partnering with organisations such as Mencap and Remploy (which work with people with disabilities); encouraging ex-offenders back into the workplace, creating an in-house apprenticeship scheme and promoting job related qualifications and skills for life. The company produced a DVD explaining its work and this was rolled out to 800 stores across the UK. The DVD was complemented with a detailed briefing to all store and HR managers, as well as a specific website with additional video material and detailed examples of its work. The company aims to ensure that 25% of colleagues have gained a qualification by 2012.

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Sainsbury’s

Recruitment and Skill Development Initiative

Contact: Gary Tovey,
Qualifications and Skills Manager
Email: gary.tovey@sainsburys.co.uk

 

Impact
  • You Can has allowed Sainsbury’s to gain buy-in from key stakeholders and bring together the work it has done with many different organisations, effectively “hiding the wiring”.
  •  The launch of You Can gives the business a platform on which to develop and offer further opportunities, for example, working with partners to help the long term unemployed into work.
  • The  You Can has helped Sainsbury’s to meet its internal targets and the business is now working towards ambitious targets for 2009, including 7000 job related qualifications and 4000 skills for life qualifications.   
  • 64% of learners have been female and over 140 women ex-offenders have joined the business.