Sitting Pretty is one of many furniture makers based in the Midlands looking for the right skills to produce quality furniture made to last. They believe their strategy of investing in people and skills is part of their success and the reason they have a team of passionate people. As one of the first companies to benefit from the government’s apprenticeship bonus scheme, they will be welcoming two more apprentices into their team in the coming weeks.
We found out more about why they felt now was a good time to take on new staff and why the bonus scheme is important.
Jim Henderson, company director and founding partner, told us how apprenticeships have helped him invest in his staff and ensure he can create quality pieces of furniture for his customers, now and in the future. He said;
“Upholstery is a big industry in the Midlands and there are a lot of manufacturers who are looking for the right skills. We are proud to have excellent skilled craftsmen and women who share our passion for the products we produce. We have developed that over time and it has paid off.
We’ve always put the emphasis on trying to train young people who are new to the trade to make sure we have the skills we need in the business in the long term. We believe that we can encourage loyalty of our staff if we invest in them. We want to hold on to our talented workforce by developing them. Apprenticeships help us to do that.
We have had a steady stream of apprentices over the last 10 years who have joined us in many areas of the business. We have developed sewing machinists, upholsterers and office administration workers. All except one of them are still in the business and we are keen to take on more.”
“Apprenticeships give us what we need to develop our business. The apprenticeship bonus scheme the government are offering ties in really well with what we are doing. We were delighted to take advantage of it to build our team to meet new customer demand.
We have doubled our order book post lockdown so it is vital we can expand our team.
Obviously, you can’t hit the ground running with new apprentices because you need time to train and develop them. It is a long term strategy, but it is a good time for them to join the business to experience the manufacturing process during times of high demand.
Apprenticeships are needed to give young people the chance of a good career and fill the skills gap we have. Whilst the bonus scheme exists to encourage manufacturing companies to take on more young people, it is a no-brainer for businesses to take advantage of it. With the extra financial help out there to take on more apprenticeships I think it is well worth taking the plunge.”
Find out more about how your business could benefit from the apprenticeship bonus scheme here.