Greggs people and retail director Roisin Currie on the business’s new national apprenticeship programme

Greggs is passionate about supporting and developing people, and one of the ways in which we do this is by offering apprenticeships.

Open to current employees and external applicants between the ages of 16 and 23, the Greggs Apprenticeship Programme currently comprises retail and engineering apprenticeship schemes.

This is the third year running Greggs has launched a national Retail Apprentice Programme inviting 140 apprentices on to the programme, which started in September. Our apprentices will be based across Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England, and training providers have been selected for each nation to support them with their programme.

The 12-month programme will consist of each apprentice learning the skills they require to excel in a retail management role in Greggs. The programme is therefore offered at two levels: Level 2 – training to be a senior team member; and Level 3 – training to be a supervisor or assistant manager.

Every apprentice will complete a number of modules including customer service, selling and the importance of team work. Level 3 apprentices also learn and develop skills in managing a team and becoming a retail manager. At the end of their programme, it is expected Greggs apprentices will be ready to take on either a senior team member, supervisor or assistant manager role in one of our shops.

We appreciate how much value apprentices add to our workforce and therefore ensure they receive Greggs’ standard employee benefits. We also pay our apprentices in line with all other team members and significantly above the national apprentice minimum wage of £3.50. Benefits include 50% discount on a number of our products, and all employees with more than six months’ service receive a share of 10% of our annual profits. Apprentices are also entitled to holiday share and incentive schemes.

As well as retail, we also have engineering apprenticeships for a number years in our north east supply sites, and would like to see this move to a national programme in coming years.

At Greggs, we see a great future for our apprentice programme and plan to develop apprenticeships in other areas of the business in the coming years. This includes management and supply chain, with the first Greggs apprenticeships of this type being launched in 2018.

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