Wolseley develops award-winning talent strategy

Apprenticeships designed to unlock Wolseley’s people potential across the company

In a market where specialist colleagues make all the difference, developing their skills is vital. We’ve aligned apprenticeships to Wolseley’s overarching talent strategy to make this happen, creating high potential individuals that are armed with the skills, knowledge and behaviours to excel in their roles.

Currently, there are 104 learners on programme with Lifetime, and they’re in roles across the business. From customer service to project management, business admin, data and warehousing, our programmes are upskilling diverse teams across Wolseley.

Apprenticeships are fully backed by its senior teams, creating a top-down, bottom-up approach to nurturing talent – and one that instils a culture of training. The programmes fit alongside other routes for colleague development, working hard to drive talent across departments and open up opportunities for all.

A “think apprentice-first" recruitment style

Wolseley successfully retains its people. But with high retention, comes an ageing workforce. Now its apprenticeships are set up for success, the programmes will support Wolseley's new ambitions for recruiting younger talent into the business.

It will take its apprenticeship recruitment to the next level, with an attractive talent strategy and a “think apprentice-first" approach to recruiting its people for the future.

As its strategy evolves to reach more people, Lifetime’s apprenticeship recruitment service will support Wolseley, hand-picking the best candidates for roles across the business.

This future-focussed approach is how it will stay an employer of choice, with a sustainable strategy for career progression so its new colleagues stay and grow with the business over time.

Future ambitions for Wolseley’s apprenticeships

Looking forward, Wolseley will build on its award-winning offering to grow its future with internal talent. It will encourage colleagues to consider their development pathways, offering bi-annual performance reviews to uncover the best apprenticeship routes for boosting careers.

With an increase of colleagues opting into a variety of apprenticeships (and the news spreading about their successful completions across the business) its L&D team will continue to expand to meet the growing appetite for apprenticeships and reinforce operations to meet demand.

Through apprenticeships, Wolseley will not only promote its talent internally, but open up new roles that attract fresh talent. By developing colleagues this way, it will begin to see its leaders of the future.