Quooker UK MD Stephen Johnson calls on the industry to invest in young people and address the skills crisis, in the latest Mover and Shaker film from Simon Acres Group.

Stephen said that the industry needs to attract and train more young people, for the collective benefit when he talked with Simon Acres Group MD Simon Acres.

“ We must work together to improve the routes into industry, promote the rewards that are on offer, and support young people with first class training and support.” says Stephen. 

 “We developed our own in-house training scheme because of the lack of focused schemes available and have found that bringing young people into the business brings huge benefits to us.

“Young people bring a fresh energy and new ideas.  When partnered with a mentor they learn quickly and absorb the business culture and heritage.  It provides a solid commercial return when a business invests in their staff in this way, as they gain a happy, motived and productive employee that wants to stay and build a long term career.

“As a company we are working with others, such as the BiKBBI to support the development of the new apprenticeship scheme, and the Kbsa to grow their retailer membership and build a stronger voice for the retailer.

“Everyone recognises that the skills shortage is a real threat to our future, there is no more time to keep talking about this, and we must all take action and do what we can to address the problem.

 “It is for all of these reasons that I supported the Simon Acres Careers Day by taking part in the live panel discussion.  By sharing good practice, demystify procedures and addressing the ‘How to Hire’ questions, we can break down obstacles, increase knowledge and move forward to success.”

The interview with Stephen Johnson can be seen here.