APRIL 2018

OPINION:
Why big business needs to be in the classroom
OPINION
PIPPA WICKS,
DEPUTY CEO
CO-OP GROUP
on how the organisation
is nurturing co-operative
skills and ways of
thinking
As a business executive it’s tempting to sit back and
take the view that it’s the job of the government
to educate the future workforce – and the job of
business to create employment.
But that’s starting to look very ‘old school’.
Every business is part of society and should have
a social and not just commercial purpose to their
existence. The Co-op Group has always thought
like this. However, in 2018 it’s something every
business should be doing.
When it comes to education, the idea that it’s
the sole responsibility of the government doesn’t
make much sense. You only have to consider how
the world of work has been changing in the last
25 years.
We also know that the skills a successful business
needs to remain relevant and competitive are
changing. At the Co-op Group we want colleagues
who can think competitively while also behaving
collaboratively. To create the co-op we want it
makes sense to encourage and nurture co-operative
skills and ways of thinking. We do this through our
work with our Co-op Academy schools and through
our apprenticeship programme.
In March, we started sponsoring our 12th Co-op
Academy School. Through these, we’re touching
the lives of over 10,000 children. We encourage
our senior managers to become school governors;
we create work experience opportunities for the
students; and we’re building a route into the Co-op
through our apprenticeship programme.
Most importantly, we’re helping the schools
to build a culture of co-operative values. In the
classroom you see that coming through in how
lessons are taught, how pupils relate to each
other and how a sense of responsibility and
independence is nurtured. When these students
join us as colleagues, as they are beginning to
do, they arrive with the values we believe in and
enhance our workplace from day one.
Since we relaunched our apprenticeship
programme in 2011, we’ve had more than 4,000
colleagues either start their working life with us or
begin a new chapter in their careers. This year we
hope to take on 1,000 new apprentices. By building
up our apprenticeship programme we’re not only
teaching the skills we need as a business, we’re
also creating a pipeline of co-op minded talent that
will operate at every level of the business, from our
store managers, to our support functions, and up to
executive level.
We’re now also offering our first Co-op degrees,
enabling apprentices to achieve their qualification
debt-free while also earning a salary. We have 33
apprentices taking our chartered manager degree,
which we’re running in partnership with Anglia
Ruskin University.
The Co-op Group is getting into the classroom
both at school and at work because we believe any
business of our size and scale and national standing
has a responsibility to contribute to the education
of the next generation of employees. It’s not in the
interest of any business to exist in a society that’s
willing to let a whole generation be left behind, or at
the very least be left ill-equipped to enter
adult life.
42 | APRIL 2018