As part of Scottish Apprenticeship Week, Emerging Talent Manager Michael Gillies writes about how apprentices play an important role in the future of the energy industry and why we need to develop their emerging talents.
Attracting and retaining talent is a challenge, particularly within the energy and utility industry. It’s predicted that 20% of this sector’s workforce will retire within ten years, which means around 221,000 new recruits need to be secured during the same period.
Our apprenticeships have provided us with an effective solution to this dilemma, allowing us to grow and develop our own future workforce. By providing apprentices with a structured learning programme and a career pathway, we can boost employee retention and company loyalty. We’ve already found that our programmes have started to contribute to a wider culture of learning within SGN, with existing employees now taking up apprenticeship offers to retrain and upskill. Taking these opportunities helps to grow their own long term career prospects with us and allows us to draw upon their existing knowledge.
It's something Mark Wild OBE, our CEO and Chair of the Energy & Utility Skills Partnership, is also passionate about. Just last month, Mark said: “Apprentices are important to us because they’re the future of our workforce. The value of what we do every single day is all about the quality of our people – their training, their competency, the culture, their commitment – and having apprenticeships of all different types is the bedrock of the future, so we’re very committed every single year to take on our share of apprenticeships and it’s great to see the young people today coming through who I’m sure will have fantastic careers.”
Elaine Ekhaese, Early Careers Adviser, agrees with Mark and believes our apprentices are a vitally important asset, not only for the long-term sustainability of the business, but the added diversity and innovation apprentices bring, something she says is hugely important in the energy and utility industry.
With over 150 apprentices now in our business, we’re demonstrating our commitment to developing our workforce of the future. We’ve seen our apprentice population rise since October 2022 through a concerted effort across recruitment, the emerging talent team and our depot colleagues.
We already have lots of great examples of people who started with us an apprentice progressing into senior roles. The talent we’ve recently seen joining us shows there is undoubtably going to be lots of future success stories and we can’t wait to see their career journeys with us.
I’m excited to see what SGN holds for me after my apprenticeship. There is lots of room for progression to management positions or to different areas of the business. After my apprenticeship I see myself focusing on building as much experience and relationships as I can.
Abdullah Sheikh
Apprentice
I want to stay at SGN and see how far I can go with my career. I want to progress and develop my knowledge in the gas industry. Apprenticeships are an excellent opportunity you can’t turn down, especially in a big company like SGN. Working at SGN is a huge advantage as it gives you the incentive to try and be better as the progression opportunities are there if you want to better yourself.
Kerr Scott
Apprentice
We’re looking forward to welcoming more apprentices in 2024 across our Scotland network, with 13 apprentices expected to join us across our Scotland regions and Scottish Independent Undertakings. Working closely with our academic partnership Fife College to grow and develop our programmes, we’re ensuring the future success of our apprentices and making sure we’re SGN is fit for the future.
