Nature And Landscape

#Grow WWT Early Careers Grow Phase Project

We have problems recruiting and retaining staff in key areas of our operations and our workforce lacks diversity. To address this conservation sector-wide challenge requires better engagement with young people from minority and/or disadvantaged backgrounds; however, we have lacked a consistent approach to work experience, have had very few apprenticeships, and, until this year, our university-level student work placements were unpaid and difficult to recruit for. In the Test Phase, we are now establishing a coordinated early careers programme at WWT; in the Grow Phase, we will roll this out across our UK sites, offering more and better work experience, apprenticeship and paid placement opportunities, building our reputation as an employer of choice within the sector and creating an early careers model we can share with others. Ultimately, we hope to have a workforce that is more fully representative of the UK, with the skills WWT needs for the future.