WITH a growing pipeline of talent being developed from the ground up, cosmetics manufacturer Meiyume in Trowbridge is reaping the rewards of its apprenticeship programme.

Talent and Reward Manager Janna Baker says support from Wiltshire College & University Centre’s Business Relationship Managers has been invaluable in developing the company’s apprenticeship programme.

“If we hadn’t had the college’s support to help deliver our first apprenticeships and the tutors coming on site every single week to have the meetings with them so it’s really visible to the teams, we wouldn’t be where we are now,” she says.

She first began talking to college three years ago and, after a presentation to senior staff and managers at the company’s White Horse Business Park base, they enrolled eight apprentices.

The Business Relationship Managers work closely with employers to advise on setting up apprenticeships and guiding them through the process.

“We identified the apprenticeships we thought were best suited for our cohort then I spoke to managers, and the ones who took the opportunity were in the factory, warehouse, production and engineering teams,” said Janna.

“They work in an agile environment, an area of continuous improvement so they’re already a step ahead. The college came and did a presentation for us, the managers identified the teams and we enrolled our first eight people studying Team Leader and Supervision apprenticeships.”

The impact on the business was immediate. “Once we had them on board, the rest of the business started to see the benefits,” said Janna. “Suddenly I had managers from other departments asking ‘how do I get my team on board with it?’”.

Now the business has 16 apprentices studying with the college. “We have more team leaders, business administration apprentices and apprentices doing the operations department manager training – plus others with other providers,” says Janna.

“The workplace apprenticeships have been a success because our staff get paid while they learn, they can blend that learning with their job and they feel invested in. Wiltshire College & University Centre has a real beacon of hope for us.”

She said the company is benefitting from the staff development in a number of ways. “We’re seeing those first eight apprentices, who are coming towards the end of their apprenticeships, stepping in for their supervisor or manager at meetings,” says Janna.

“Their confidence is higher and they are able to deal with situations in a much more measured way. As a business we’re becoming more agile and more able to deal with situations as well.

“We have seen our staff develop flexibility, the ability to think outside the box and look at a process and think ‘I can make this loads better’. They’re continually improving our processes as they work through them and they’re coming back to the table with suggestions. They’re actively taking part in shaping the department, coming to interviews and getting more involved.”

She says the benefit to the business, formerly known as Peter Black, isn’t just being felt now, but will be in the future as well.

“We’ve now got people ready to move into more senior roles when they become available,” she says. “For us it means we can develop our teams and bring people in at the bottom level rather than always bringing people in above. We have succession planning with a pipeline of people who’ve got a good idea of what it’s like on the ground floor.”

Back in the present Meiyume is working with the college to provide work placements for T Level Business students and is developing its own apprenticeship to train laboratory staff so that it won’t have to rely so heavily on expensive chemists from overseas.

“It’s a win-win situation for us and the key to it has been the support from the college in getting that mindset shift from the managers,” says Janna. “They have seen the positivity in supporting their staff into apprenticeships, understanding they might lose them one day a week but seeing the long term gain for their departments. We are developing an agile workforce and it has been really fun.”