Peter Duffy Limited, has recently launched their sixth Skills Academy programme, a venture jointly established with local Jobcentres. The Company has a positive track record with the Skills Academy which provides unemployed people with up to five weeks work experience and the potential of permanent employment with the Company.
HR Manager Gillian Dack said: “Our approach provides not only work experience but intensive on and off the job training which leads to industry specific qualifications and certification as well as the trainees gaining valuable experience of the work we carry out.”
This is the sixth academy programme run by the company and means that improvements have been made on previous programmes, from how the Company recruits candidates to the programme and focussing on one skill area rather than seeking to recruit people to a range of job roles. These latest recruits will be employed in the specialist division of DrainsAid.
Gillian added:
“We became involved with Skills Academies because the people come with previous work experience and are keen to get back in to work which saves our business time and improves our success rate. Working in this way we have been able to recruit and retain people who have shown the investment we made in their early development was the right decision for the business. We have successfully retained 78% of those people who attended previous academies and some are now leading their own teams in complex work schemes.”
West Yorkshire Jobcentre Plus District Manager, Ian Hunter said
‘We enjoy a really positive relationship with Peter Duffy Limited and have done so over many years. The Skills Academies the business uses and supports, continue to be really successful in helping more people to get back to and stay in work. Job retention rates are a testament to the approach and to the company’.
In addition to working with Jobcentre Plus, Peter Duffy Limited is addressing skills shortages by employing apprentices and also trying to attract young people in to the industry by working with schools as an enterprise advisor.
Managing Director Peter Duffy comments:
“The construction industry is suffering from a skills shortage and indicators are that this will only get worse if we don’t take responsibility and do something about it now. We want to inform young people, both boys and girls that there are many exciting and varying roles in the industry and for them to consider a career in construction.”