Grounds Maintenance, Landscape Creation, Arboriculture, Sports Surfacing, Parks management, IOS Managing Safely Training, Ecology & Biodiversity, Grass cutting, Horticulture, Street Cleaning, Soft Landscaping, Hard Landscaping
idverde provides a wide range of green services, including grounds maintenance, landscape creation, and advice services, to both private and public sectors across the UK.
National Apprenticeship Week, which takes place between the 7th and 13th of February, shines a light on how apprenticeships can benefit both learners and employers. This year’s theme, ‘Build the Future’, focuses on how apprentices gain the skills and knowledge needed to develop a workforce with future-ready skills.
We spoke to Elaine Callaghan, Head of Learning & Development at idverde, to learn more about the apprenticeships we offer and how they benefit the business.
As a business, we have always supported apprenticeships. Prior to the Richard review and subsequent Government reform, we had always outsourced this to colleges and training providers. We trusted that they would deliver a good experience for our colleagues.
Unfortunately, we haven’t always had good experiences. Reflecting on this and in line with the latest Government reform, we decided to deliver the Level 2 Horticulture/Landscaping Apprenticeship as an employer and engage our own Learning & Development Specialists. This has allowed us to be more in control of the apprenticeship and ensure key messages about idverde are built into the programme.
We partner with a training provider who supports us with the compliance aspects, as well as supporting learners with their Maths and English. Additionally, we believe apprenticeships are open to all colleagues (not just school leavers), and we work with other providers offering additional apprenticeships.
To offer a wider range of apprenticeships, we still partner with other providers. We are always looking for new programmes to broaden our fields of expertise. This is especially important to idverde, as learning and development are pivotal in our DNA.
Other apprenticeships on offer include: Business Administration, Sports Turf, Land Based Engineering, Arborist, Digital Marketer, Operational Manager and more.
Taking on apprentices that are new to the business means that we can offer people the opportunity to work and learn simultaneously. By the end of it, they also attain a recognised qualification, which is good for them as individuals and shows us as a progressive company who invests in our people.
As mentioned earlier, apprenticeships are available to existing colleagues (age is no limit) – allowing attaining new levels of skills and knowledge and the confidence to try new things and propel our industry forward.
Attraction and retention are difficult across our industry, and with recent pandemic events even harder – we genuinely want to support people during their employment with idverde and for them to be the best version of themselves. Apprenticeships can help to achieve this. All parties need to commit to the learning, but once attained, it is there for life, and colleagues can then move on to the next thing!
I would definitely recommend an apprenticeship to other businesses. Having been part of the trailblazer group (employer lead group that helped develop the current apprenticeships within our industry), I feel apprenticeships can bring huge benefits to an organisation. However, the organisation needs to invest time and resources to support those on the programme and ensure they remain engaged to enable the learning to be transferred back into the workplace by creating the right opportunities for learners.
