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Ainscough Crane Hire, the UK’s leading lifting solutions company, has showcased its commitment to developing its people by joining The 5% Club, an industry-led initiative focussed on driving momentum into the recruitment of apprentices, graduates and sponsored students.
The 5% Club, initiated by Leo Quinn Group Group CEO of Balfour Beatty in 2013, is a movement of more than 500 employers providing ‘earn and learn’ opportunities to develop the skills and talents people need to become more employable and create meaningful careers.
Companies joining The 5% 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.
Ainscough has joined The 5% Club as part of its dedication to developing the next generation of talent within the crane industry. This has so far resulted in numerous new initiatives and programmes, such as the launch of its first-ever crane operator apprenticeship programme last year.
Darren Thompson, Ainscough Crane Hire’s head of HR said: “At Ainscough, we’ve long been committed to helping young people develop long and rewarding careers within our industry. Joining The 5% Club is a way of formalising those ambitions within our business, and we look forward to continuing to develop innovative training, skills and employment opportunities that will support the next generation of talent.”
Gill Cronin, Director of Operations of The 5% Club said, “We’re delighted to welcome Ainscough Crane Hire into membership. 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.”
• The 5% Club works with UK employers and key influencers to inspire, educate and retain a growing body of people into “earn and learn” placements in order to increase the number of apprentices, sponsored students and graduates. The goal of The 5% Club is to increase the employment and career prospects of today’s youth and equip the UK with the skilled workforce it needs to safeguard Britain’s economy. The 5% Club was launched in 2013.
• Members sign The 5% Club charter. As a member of The 5% Club, employers state they are: Committed to helping the UK’s growth agenda and acknowledge the importance of developing people as both a business and social imperative; Playing their part in addressing youth unemployment and skills shortage; Pledging to work towards having a minimum 5% of their UK workforce enrolled on formalised apprentice, sponsored student and/or graduate development schemes within five years; Measuring and reporting on their progress annually against the above metric in their Corporate Social Responsibility section of the Annual Report and Accounts or equivalent document; Committed to encouraging other employers to participate in the campaign.
• Membership of The 5% Club numbers more than 500 businesses from across a broad range of sectors as well as the size of the company, including large corporations as well as SMEs.
• For more information about The 5% Club visit https://www.5percentclub.org.uk
