Britain’s leading pub company and brewer, Greene King, announces new recruitment programme for ex-offenders and training for 20,000 apprentices
Local MP, Philip Davies, has welcomed Hungry Hourse apprentice, Hayden Broadbent, to Parliament to celebrate the launch of a new report and set of social mobility commitments by Britain’s leading pub company and brewer, Greene King.
Hayden, who works at The Noble Comb , is included in the report as a key case study, highlighting how completing an apprenticeship with Britain’s leading pub company and brewer helped him take the all-important first steps of a career in hospitality.
As a carer to his sister, getting the balance right between work and home is very important for Hayden. He is currently studying for his level 2 apprenticeship, and so Greene King has worked with him to make sure that his timetable is shaped around commitments at home, so that background needn’t be a barrier to a successful career.
At a reception supported by the Education Secretary, Haden spoke with Philip Davies MP about his experience of the Greene King apprenticeship programme.
Greene King launched The Stepping Up Report as part of efforts to challenge the barriers of social mobility and to create opportunities in the hospitality sector for all individuals from all backgrounds.
It comes as the prominence of social mobility as an issue continues to rise in the UK. The 2018 Social Mobility Barometer, a survey of 5,000 people carried out by The Social Mobility Commission, showed that 40% of respondents think it is getting harder for people from less advantaged backgrounds to move up in British society, almost twice as many as those who think it is becoming easier. Nearly half of respondents believed that where you end up in society is heavily influenced by who your parents are.[1]
Commenting, Hayden said: “Often people wrongly see hospitality as a low-skilled industry but actually it requires a great deal of training and development and I feel I’ve really benefited from my apprenticeship.
“It’s really important for me that I balance my career development around my other important commitments outside of work. The flexibility of an apprenticeship has helped me develop my career and made this so much more than just a one-off or temporary job. I’m really pleased to have been included in the report and I hope that people will look at my story and see how they too can benefit from an apprenticeship and training and really overcome the odds to create a successful career path for themselves.
“An apprenticeship isn’t a one-off, it’s a continual process of learning and development and I’m proud to be here today for the launch of this report. It really sets out some important goals and aims to encourage greater social mobility.”
Philip Davies MP for Shipley, said: “It was great to meet Hayden and to hear about the difference that Greene King apprenticeship programme has made to his life. Local employers play a crucial role in supporting social mobility in Shipley, and so I welcome the important steps that Greene King has announced in The Stepping Up Report”.
Launching the report, Rooney Anand, Chief Executive Officer of Greene King said: “Having served the nation for over two hundred years, we’ve witnessed the hospitality industry’s ability to propel social mobility time and again. Starting and growing careers from the pub floor to senior leadership, it backs individuals from all walks of life and offers them the chance to turn a short-term shift into a life-long career. Of course, social mobility has no single solution - we all need to play our part and I hope that through sharing our efforts, we can encourage others to step up to the challenge.”
Damian Hinds MP, Secretary of State for Education, who provided a foreword for the report and gave a keynote address at the reception, said: “Social Mobility is, ultimately, why I’m in politics. It’s a simple concept; that everyone should have the chance to fulfil that spark of potential that exists in all of us. However, in practice, we find it much more difficult to deliver. This report demonstrates the critical role that more and more businesses like Greene King are playing in promoting social mobility; whether through apprenticeships, inhouse training or by helping ex-offenders get back into work. I hope the positive case studies here will encourage more companies to step up.”
[1] Social Mobility Commission, Public attitudes to social mobility in the UK, December 2018: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/766797/Social_mobility_barometer_2018_report.pdf