The Work Programme & Greggs Plc Karen Walker Resourcing Manager Greggs Plc

About Greggs 1,585 shops across the UK Ten regional bakeries 1 central savoury production plant 1 specialist confectionery bakery 2 distribution centres 20,000+ employees A growing business – we will recruit 800+ new people in next 12 months

Our company Values define what we do… We will be enthusiastic and supportive in all that we do, open, honest and appreciative, treating everyone with fairness, consideration and respect

Since June 2011… 44 voluntary work experience placements offered via JCP 7 graduate and 4 undergraduates on 2-year programme 5 work placements for young people through BBC3 ‘Up for Hire’ programme 10 young apprentices recruited in 2011 Employed 4 people from Business Action on Homelessness Recruited 27 people in London and the South through A4E and Avanta, giving jobs to long term unemployed people 3 women ex-offenders employed from HMP Styal and HMP Low Newton

Partners help drive success

Why tackling unemployment is absolutely critical to us… Young people form 1/3 of our workforce, circa 7,000 18-24 year olds at Greggs People tend to stay at Greggs for a long time once they have joined us Unemployed people are our customers as well as potential employees New people add quality, vibrancy and richness of ideas to our workforce We have a wider pool of available candidates to choose from This is high on our agenda

The Greggs experience Firstly, we believe that there is definitely a place for Work Providers (experience, knowledge and access) Too many Providers out there – all offering the same thing It makes it appear confusing It wasn’t easy to tune in at first ... We wanted a simple process and one way of working throughout our business We have developed a close partnership with JCP We decided to work with one main Work Provider and consolidate other partners

The Greggs experience We had many unsuitable candidates put forward that we were unable to progress We then knew that we needed to spend time setting up the partnership We looked at: what we are looking for in a candidate the type of work they would do our culture v best fit our recruitment process We now have a good relationship with our Provider

The Greggs experience They tailored their process to meet our needs They are extremely responsive to our needs Small trial initially - now moving to a national roll-out Funding process isn’t as smooth / timely (Youth Contract) Funding for Providers is about getting someone into work, but not necessarily with the same employer Sustainability is our agenda We have recruited 64 people (10% of our new recruits) via Work Providers in the last 12 months – lots of successes and great feedback

Challenges and opportunities of private sector engagement We need the best talent available – job-ready candidates with the right attitude We need to seek out talent and engage with people who might not progress through normal channels It’s a tough climate for businesses – there are not as many opportunities available We therefore need to be efficient, effective and work as a team A single point of contact helps (and possibly a database so other Providers know who our partners are) Clarity re: funding