Leeds supermarket supports apprenticeships in store and beyond, boosting careers through training
The company, which has helped over a thousand colleagues improve their skills and career prospects through apprenticeships in the last six years, said it recognised the value of apprenticeships.
It uses them to invest in colleague training and development, which helps to build critical future skills for its colleagues, equipping them for the fast-changing needs of the retail sector.
Last year 71 colleagues gained promotions after completing their apprenticeships and said the learning had given them more confidence as well as more knowledge and skills.
People like Rebecca Davidson, who is now a store manager.
Rebecca Davidson
When I started my degree apprenticeship, within a year I had progressed 4 levels to a deputy manager. Upon completion of my apprenticeship I was promoted to operations manager and I am now a general store manager. I can’t wait to see how far I can go.
Sunhil Khan completed a Business Analyst Apprenticeship to go from junior to senior business analyst.
“I firmly believe it was the driver in my recent promotion,” he said.
Asda said: “Our business is competitive and fast changing. Our apprentices are instigators of positive change, identifying opportunities and acting whilst gaining invaluable experience on-the-job, dedicated training, and support.”
Asda’s Senior Vice President - Chief People and Corporate Affairs Officer
At Asda we are incredibly proud of our current apprenticeship scheme and we know that apprenticeships are vital in providing young people with opportunities for growth, employment and to build new skills.
Investment
The company currently has 558 colleagues on an apprenticeship and since 2017, has invested over £14m of the Levy to help over 1,200 colleagues to achieve their apprenticeship, supporting a further 890 colleagues in the Devolved Nations to achieve.
“We now offer more than 60 apprenticeship programmes and last year, added 13 new apprenticeship programmes, including Sustainability, Marketing, Engineering, Supply and Software Testing.
“We’re always striving to do more and in 2023, we saw overall applications increase by 13% to 723 total, as well as 71 promotions upon completion of apprenticeship. “
As a large employer, Asda also transfers up to 25% of its levy funds each year to other businesses to fund their apprenticeships, training and development.
Supporting other organisations
It committed £1.36m in levy transfer funds last year, and to date, has transferred over £1.3m to small and medium sized business (SMEs) and public sector bodies to fund more than 350 apprenticeships.
These range from plumbers and electricians to Police Community Support Officers and adult care workers. For example Asda has supported West Yorkshire Police to train nine emergency contact handler apprentices and 10 police community support officer apprenticeships.
Headquartered in Leeds, ASDA is the UK’s third-largest supermarket by market share, employing more than 150,000 colleagues and serving over 18m customers every week in its stores and online. You can read more about the Asda story here.
And you can read more about Asda and apprenticeships in their impact report here.