Superdrug has pledged its commitment to support young care leavers this National Care Leavers Week (28th Oct – 3rd Nov), with the ambition for care leavers to make up 5% of its workforce by 2030. The health & beauty retailer is also providing care leavers with access to its Life Skills programme, to help upskill young people and drive social mobility.
As part of its commitment, Superdrug and sister company Savers, are working closely with the Care Leaver Covenant to promote job vacancies across its store estate and assist young people into roles. Dedicated support is then provided to help with job seeking, writing applications, developing skills for life, and general career guidance. Successful candidates are also entitled to expenses to cover travel costs until payday and the full range of benefits available to all staff. They are also offered in-work support through a dedicated work-buddy scheme, designed to help individuals achieve their potential and progress through the business.
With approximately 83,000 young people in care, Superdrug is passionate about training young people to expand its diverse and inclusive workforce and understands the importance of gaining ‘skills for life’, an area the retailer has been supporting recruits with for the last two years with its industry leading bespoke Life Skills programme.
The scheme, designed and created by the Superdrug Team, supports young people with general life skills, such as writing a CV, or helping them understand their finances, and has been invaluable to those that have already participated in the programme. The Life Skills programme also received an ‘outstanding’ rating as part of last years OFSTED inspection, recognising the teams’ efforts in apprenticeship support.
In support of National Care Leaver’s Week, members of the Superdrug team will be taking part in a webinar organised by the Care Leavers Covenant (CLC), on 31st October (6-7pm), to talk about retail career opportunities, including apprenticeships, and to answer an questions young people might have.
Supporting care leavers is the latest initiative from Superdrug to drive social mobility, following the launch of its ‘Rise Up, To Level Up’ campaign last year. The apprenticeship campaign aimed to reinforce the BRC’s calls for change to the Apprenticeship Levy, which asks for more flexibility in the scheme to ensure that valuable funds can be used in more ways to support those in Apprenticeships and not wasted. The retailer has also been working closely with female prisons on an education programme to provide support to disadvantage areas of society.
Superdrug’s people director, Amy Davies says “We’re incredibly passionate about supporting the UK’s young people and giving them the opportunity to develop themselves both personally and professionally. Our aim is not only to give care leavers the best entry into retail that we can, but also to help them grow and develop in their roles, so they choose to progress their careers within our businesses.
“We’ve worked hard to be able to offer not just job vacancies, but also provide care leavers with any extra support that they require to get a step up in life, whether they need help with general life skills, such as CV writing or financial wellbeing.”
Superdrug is also working closely with the Drive Forward Foundation, a charity helping young adults leaving foster or residential care, offering work placements at its head office over the summer.
“The placement has really helped my confidence, and I’ve learnt about how you work as an individual through Business Chemistry and working in an office environment. I’ve also learned about the value of feedback, if I think about my interview, I wanted to get things right, but I’ve learnt that feedback is good to allow you to improve yourself. I didn’t want to leave. I would absolutely recommend a placement and I’ve developed new skills, met new people and increased my network,” said Carolyn, six-week placement in the procurement team at Superdrug head office.
For more information and to apply for a position visit https://mycovenant.org.uk/signatory/savers-and-superdrug-stores-plc/?filter=true&s=superdrug
