UK building materials provider Tarmac has been awarded Gold accredited membership via The 5% Club’s 2022-23 Employer Audit Scheme.
The award recognises the company’s significant contribution to the continued development of all its employees through ‘earn and learn’ schemes such as apprenticeships, graduate schemes and sponsored student course placements.
The 5% Club is a group of employers set up to take positive action for increased, inclusive, and accessible workplace training for all. With a membership which now exceeds 750 companies, The 5% Club represents over 1.6 million employees, 93,500 of which are in ‘earn and learn’ schemes. The employer audit scheme validates the employers’ activities, explores their future plans and commitments, and examines their approaches to quality, social mobility, diversity and inclusion.
Tarmac says it is one of just 107 employers UK-wide to have met the Gold Standard. Graeme Boylen, HR director at Tarmac, said: “We’re delighted to become a Gold member of The 5% Club, as it supports our commitment to attracting more young people to the construction industry. Our apprenticeship and graduate programmes are growing in strength year on year and, in 2022, we welcomed our largest apprentice and graduate cohort to date which is something we are hugely proud of.”
Mark Cameron OBE, chief executive at The 5% Club, said: “Our employer audit scheme recognises the efforts of all those employers who invest in their workforce through a broad range of workplace learning schemes. It is fantastic that in these challenging times so many are able to commit to the employer audit and to gain the credit for their efforts, and that the majority are striving to expand their schemes over the coming years. Their efforts and achievements are to be applauded.”
Gill Cronin, director of operations at The 5% Club, added: “Having seen the club grow to more than 750 members, I am always impressed at the commitment, drive and energy our members channel into offering ‘earn and learn’ skills opportunities. To now see so many of these members gain Bronze, Silver and Gold accredited membership of the club is inspiring and demonstrates how these companies are all contributing to the future of skills in our economy.”
