Morrisons won a national IGD Award for its outstanding achievement in addressing the employability challenge by introducing a high quality and inspirational work experience and development scheme.
It has tackled youth unemployment head on with the ‘Our Club’ initiative, a six-month programme designed to give young people the confidence and skills they need to build a career. After two successful pilots in Bradford and London, Morrisons now plan to roll the programme out nationally – to operate across six centres by 2014.
Morrisons collaborated with sports clubs to develop a more engaging programme combining sports coaching with traditional work experience and teaching the life skills of health and wellbeing and community. Morrisons also guaranteed that every young person that completed the training was offered an interview with an employer.
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This programme led to Morrisons being awarded the Employability Award sponsored by Asda.
Paul Dowd, Head of Employability and Education, Morrisons, said:
“We are extremely proud to have won this prestigious award. As one of the UK’s largest employers (129,000) of which nearly 50 per cent are between the ages of 18 to 24 we had a duty to take up the Government’s call for employers to act to address the real issue of youth unemployment.
“Our Club is unique and has delivered amazing results. We would like to thank our industry peers and look forward to working with them further on the Our Club journey.”
Claire Fuller, Senior Resourcing Manager at Asda, sponsors of the Award, said:
“Morrisons has achieved success rates well beyond the norm for getting young unemployed people into work.
“Their ‘Our Club’ initiative is an excellent example of a business taking ownership and tackling youth unemployment head on. Their holistic programme is both inspirational and innovative. What made a real difference was the transformation in young people’s way of thinking and teaching them long-term life-skills, such as health and wellbeing.”
Commenting on the IGD Industry Awards, Joanne Denney-Finch, IGD Chief Executive, said:
“We were overwhelmed with the calibre of entries and winners this year. It’s great to recognise and share in the successes of people in our industry.
“The IGD Industry Awards recognise the best-in-class and demonstrate some of the most exciting new thinking and developments in our sector
“This year we’ve seen small and large companies across the food supply chain giving consumers what they want and delivering for them on the things that matter – like making great strides in efficiency, sustainability and service.
“We congratulate all of the nominees and winners of the 2013 IGD Awards and wish them every success in the future. Let’s celebrate the companies and individuals that are leading the way in our sector.”
The winners of the IGD Industry Awards were picked by some of the industry’s top personnel, including representatives from IGD, Diageo, Fairtrade Foundation, and Marks and Spencer.
The winners were announced at the Awards ceremony last night, hosted by television and radio presenter Gabby Logan.
IGD is a research and training charity that helps the food and consumer goods industry deliver a secure and sustainable future.
Winners of the IGD Awards and sponsors:
- Morrisons won the IGD Industry Award for Employability, sponsored by Asda.
- P&G and Tesco won the IGD Industry Award for Business Transformation, sponsored by Boxwood.
- Burton’s Biscuit Company won the IGD Industry Award for Consumer and Shopper Excellence, sponsored by General Mills.
- Peter Barr, former Vion Chairman, won the IGD Industry Award for Lifetime Achievement, sponsored by IGD.
- Patrick Coveney, Chief Executive Greencore, won the IGD President’s Cup, sponsored by IGD.
- Asda won the IGD Industry Award for Digital Innovation, sponsored by Infosys.
- Charlotte Bearn from Charlie Bigham’s won the IGD Leading Edge Leading Light Award, sponsored by Mondelēz International.
- Innis & Gunn Brewing Company won the IGD Industry Award for Outstanding Small Business, sponsored by Morrisons.
- Sainsbury’s won the IGD Industry Award for Health and Wellness, sponsored by Nestlé.
- CPM won the IGD John Sainsbury Award for Learning and Development, sponsored by Sainsbury’s.
- Tesco won the IGD Industry Award for Supply Chain Innovation, sponsored by IGD Supply Chain Analysis.
- The Co-operative won the IGD Industry Award for Environmental Sustainability, sponsored by Tetra Pak.
- Nestlé won the IGD Industry Award for Ethical Responsibility, sponsored by The Co-operative.
- Morrisons won the IGD Industry Award for Enhancing Livelihoods, sponsored by Unilever.
