11 January 2007

Bakery workers ‘train to gain’

Rising to the challenge of cooking up a tailor-made course to inspire workers from a leading bakery is all in a day's work at Stourbridge College.

After taking over Firkins, new MD Ian Bolderston approached the college in a bid to revitalise the somewhat 'tired' brand and bring it firmly into the 21st century.

Ian Bolderston and Sue Ellwood of Firkins Bakeries.

Recognising staff had bags of potential, he felt they needed to come out of their shells and given the chance to build on retail skills already gained on the job.

"Many of Firkin's employees have been with the company for more than 10 years," said Mr Bolderston. "

The change of ownership has resulted in a complete review of strategy, tactics and operations."

Searching for a way to harness his workers' potential, Mr Bolderston discovered the new national Train to Gain service, offered by Stourbridge College.

Through the scheme, the West Midlands firm, which caters for the bread, sandwich and patisserie market, could get flexible training tailored to its needs through courses such as the NVQ in Retail Skills.

This not only provides flexibility, but enables employees to engage in the process of work based learning. Initially programmes are piloted with up to 30 learners, but the plan is to make Retail Skills available to all workers who need it.

Thanks to the new training, Firkins, which has 300 employees, is now offering staff more challenging opportunities.

It is hoped this will improve employees' confidence, increase productivity and, ultimately, enhance Firkins reputation as a front runner in the bakery market.

"We're all very excited. The service will make Firkins Bakeries even more competitive, while offering our employees fantastic opportunities for personal development," he said.

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