Fleet management specialist’s approach to apprenticeships pays off
A leading salary sacrifice and fleet management specialist is backing National Apprenticeship Week after revealing that 75 per cent of its staff started out their working lives as apprentices.
Tamworth-based 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 Chambers of Commerce award for people development linked to its apprenticeship programme.
National Apprenticeship Week this year runs from February 5 to February 11. 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 said: “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.
“We were also thrilled to receive recognition for our apprenticeship scheme from Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, part of an award scheme which is intended to recognise and celebrate individuals who are current apprentices or have completed apprenticeships, as well as those who support apprenticeships.”
Apprentices have played a major part in the development of Fleet Evolution which has grown its workforce by 100 per cent in the last three years, and is forecast to increase by a further 100 per cent 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.
Thanks to its young and dynamic workforce, Fleet Evolution has become one of the UK’s leading salary sacrifice specialists with schemes that focus on battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
Its schemes offer a whole array of cost saving benefits for employees who wish to go down an electric route, including all servicing and repair costs, road fund licence, fully comprehensive insurance, corporate discounts and no deposit.
The benefits also include a 30-day no quibble clause through which an employer can hand back a car where an employee leaves for whatever reason and provide further protection for when employees fall below the minimum wage, normally as a result of maternity or sickness.
Pictured from left to right: Former apprentice, now sales manager Jordan Hastelow with founder and managing director Andrew Leech
