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Machining firm banks on helping apprentices to save

A Manchester based engineering company has set up an ‘Apprenticeship Bank’ to help its young workers save money for future plans.

Ian Griffiths chief executive officer of Eaves Machining said: “Overall, we have two main objectives – to be the employer and supplier of choice in our sector. We want to attract more apprentices and were looking for ways to differentiate ourselves from other employers.”

The sub-contracting machining company saves £20 per week on behalf of each apprentice for the duration of their time with Eaves and then gives the youngster the money saved when they have finished their apprenticeship.

This new scheme comes as the company prepares for future growth.

While Eaves has invested heavily in new machines and is pushing its overseas sales, Mr Griffiths cautioned that “it’s still early days”.

“Less than 5% of our business is export, but we expect that to rise by quite a bit in the coming years. We’re always looking for people who have worked on machines of our scale and they’re often not out there, so we’re hoping to appeal to those for the future.”

The ‘bank’ starts the moment an apprentice joins the company, usually aged 17, and lasts until they reach 25. By this time, over £8000 plus interest will be available for them.

Eaves, which currently employs six apprentices, says it would like to increase that number to eight in the short term and eventually to have ten apprentices on its books.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .