Asda pledges to help women get into apprenticeships

Emma Finamore
19 Jul 2016

The retail giant has signed up to commitments set out by the Young Women’s Trust, supporting women aged 16-30 struggling to live on little or no pay.

Placeholder — The retail giant has signed up to commitments set out by the Young Women’s Trust

Supermarket giant Asda has said it is committed to increasing the numbers of female apprentices, with the news that it is to sign a pledge making apprenticeships better. The supermarket is partnering with the Young Women’s Trust, which supports women aged 16-30 struggling to live on little or no pay.

Asda’s pledge focuses on providing equal opportunities for young women starting apprenticeship programmes, is the latest employer, after Barclays and the Builders Merchant Federation, to sign the pledge with the Young Women’s Trust.

The Trust says those signing commit to: joining a growing campaign of top UK businesses who want to make apprenticeships work for young women; being invited to participate in seminars and workshops to share best practice and learn from the work other organisations are doing; being offered tailored media support to publicise their involvement in the campaign; and having the opportunity to contribute to a progress report in March 2017, highlighting good practice as well as any challenges that employers continue to face.

Young Women’s Trust chief executive, Dr Carole Easton, said: “Asda already has a formidable reputation as an inclusive employer with an excellent apprenticeship programme and it is encouraging to see that they are committed to doing so much more,” she said.

“We hope Asda’s support will encourage more retailers to come forward and improve apprenticeships for young women.”

Easton said it was “fantastic” to see one of the UK’s biggest retailers sign her organisation’s pledge.

Nick Green, Asda’s senior director for talent, said creating a diverse workforce was good for business: “We believe it is important to encourage the top talent into our organisation and apprenticeships are just one means of doing so.”

“We hope Asda’s support will encourage more retailers to come forward and improve apprenticeships for young women.”

Easton said it was “fantastic” to see one of the UK’s biggest retailers sign her organisation’s pledge.

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