SALARY sacrifice and fleet management specialist Fleet Evolution is backing National Apprenticeship Week after revealing that 75% of its staff and four of its current six-strong leadership team started out their working lives as apprentices.
Fleet Evolution, which specialises in EV salary sacrifice schemes for businesses of all sizes, has followed a strong apprentice-based approach since its formation 12 years ago.
Appointing apprentices wherever possible in a successful bid to encourage young people to join the fleet industry, the company now has an average age in the mid-to-late 20s. It achieved recognition last year when it won a Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce award for people development linked to its apprenticeship programme.
National Apprenticeship Week this year is from February 5th to February 13th. It is the 17th annual celebration of the event which is intended to shine a light on the positive impact that apprenticeships make to individuals, businesses and the wider economy, with a theme this year of ‘Skills for Life’.
Fleet Evolution founder and Managing Director, Andrew Leech“We took on our first apprentice in 2012 as our first member of staff. Twelve years later, that apprentice, Charlotte Brooks, is still with us and has just been appointed as our general manager. We are delighted that so many of our staff started out with us as apprentices and are still with us, with some going on to play a leading part in our leadership team and the successful running of the business. As a consequence, we are a very young and energetic company with a positive can-do attitude.”
Apprentices have played a major part in the development of Fleet Evolution which has grown its workforce by 100% in the past three years, and is forecast to increase by a further 100% over the next three. All Fleet Evolution apprentices undergo higher training to level 4, the equivalent of the first year of a degree or Higher National Certificate (HNC), and level 5, the equivalent of a foundation degree or Higher National Diploma (HND). In addition, the company is currently in consultation with Aston University to develop a degree-level apprenticeship programme.
