News

SSP UK, a leading operator of food and beverage outlets in travel locations, has demonstrated its commitment to nurturing talent of the future by joining The 5% Club. The initiative was designed to help member companies improve the number, quality and range of ‘earn & learn’ opportunities across the UK.

The 5% Club is a movement of more than 700 employers providing opportunities to develop the skills and talents people need to become more employable and create meaningful careers. Companies joining the 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 a number of diverse industries, from engineering through to the legal sector.

Liz Phillips, SSP UK & I HR Director commented, “SSP recognises the importance of developing its people as both a business and social imperative and aims to address the issues of youth unemployment and skills shortages. With the recovery of the business after the pandemic, it’s never been a better time to reinforce our commitment to developing our teams and future leaders. By joining The 5% Club, SSP UK is able to demonstrate our commitment towards the UK’s growth agenda and tackle the skills shortage, while executing our ongoing plan to create opportunities and careers for the future.”

“Over the next few years, we aim to increase the number of apprenticeship opportunities for our colleagues currently working with us, and work towards creating future openings into the business where new colleagues can join us directly via formalised and recognised earn & learn programmes.”

Gill Cronin, Director of Operations of The 5% Club said, “We’re delighted to welcome SSP UK as a new member. The 5% Club provides a fantastic network of HR professionals, sharing and learning from each other. All our members share an ethos of creating a skilled workforce through ‘earn and learn’ development programmes, helping people develop meaningful career paths.”

Over the next year, SSP UK will be launching new apprenticeship programmes within the business, as part of its membership of The 5% Club. The goal for the programme is not only to employ staff from more diverse streams, but to make support for their development transparent and swift, encouraging them to increase their knowledge and skills within the organisation.