Rn jan:feb pp20 22

20|Retail News|January/February 2014|www.retailnews.ie

Feeding Ireland’s Future

Grocery Industry Aims to Grow Employment

Pictured are Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, TD, with Declan Carolan, General Manager, ECR Ireland; and Jill Ross, Managing Director, Unilever Ireland.

Feeding Ireland’s Future is a new initiative by the Irish food and grocery industry to support unemployed young people in their search for work.

FEEDING Ireland’s Future is a new initiative which involves food and grocery companies throughout Ireland, as well as service providers to the sector, providing free pre-employment skills for young people during a designated Skills for Work Week from March 3-7 this year.

The companies will provide a range of initiatives, including free on-site skills workshops and site visits

for young people at locations across Ireland during Skills for Work Week.

The focus will be on developing preemployment skills and will include advice on CVs, interview training and behind the scenes tours of factories, depots and offices.

The initiative is being promoted

by ECR Ireland, with the support of its members, in partnership with the Department of Social Protection

through its Intreo service, which helps those unemployed with their employment and income support services needs. The percentage of young people on the Live Register in December 2013 was 15%. Whilst this is down from 17.1% in December 2011, responding to this situation is a key priority for the Government.

“We are in a crisis of our times, with a huge amount of young,

Retail News|January/February 2014|www.retailnews.ie|21

Feeding Ireland’s Future unemployed people in the country,” noted Declan Carolan, General Manager, ECR Ireland. “One in four young people in Ireland are unemployed,” he said, “hence the reason and rationale for prioritising Feeding Ireland’s Future.”

Opportunities For Everybody Speaking at the launch, Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton TD, said: “It is absolutely critical, as we move from a very difficult phase in the country’s history to a recovery phase that we really open out the opportunities of recovery to everybody, in particular to people who, mostly through no fault of their own, have found themselves unemployed, some for a very long period of time.”

The skills mix of young people seeking jobs is vast, Minister Burton noted. “We need to offer a diversity of options for young jobseekers because they are not a homogenous group. We have young people with significant qualifications but who lack work experience and others who left school early and have few if any qualifications but who may possess an aptitude which would be of immense benefit to any employer. Their needs are very different and we have to provide for this diversity of needs.

This initiative is a key component in meeting those needs.”

She cited the examples of numerous highly qualified people, some even with PhDs, who “came out of college at the wrong time, in the middle of a great recession and simply couldn’t find work”, while others haven’t been able to get the “starter or middle entry jobs that would normally have been available”.

The Minister referred to other EU countries, where youth unemployment levels are far lower than in Ireland.

The missing link here, she said, has been the active participation and partnership of employers.

She promised that her department will work very closely with employers to help to get people back into employment. “We have ambitious plans this year to see the numbers of people unemployed fall. We know that the level of economic recovery in the economy is gaining strength. This should be reflected in more people going back to work. Some of those jobs will be going to people who are coming out of school or college as we speak, but my aim would be that a significant number of those jobs should go to people who have been on the Live Register, because it is that mix that will really cement the economic recovery in the country.”

Sustained Success of the Grocery Industry Feeding Ireland’s Future is being led by two board members of ECR Ireland, Jill Ross, Managing Director of Unilever Ireland, and David O’Neill, Managing Director of SHS Sales & Marketing. Explaining why the issue brought so many industry players together, Jill Ross noted how “today’s young people are tomorrow’s workforce and I think this initiative marks a real step-change for us as a food and grocery industry, stepping up collectively to invest more and really inspire our young people. It’s not just the right thing to do for society, but actually it’s critical for the sustained success of our industry.”

The inspiration for the initiative came from Feeding Britain’s Future in the UK, which has grown to become a Skills For Work month, and last year saw 190 companies in the UK offering skills interventions at 1,200 locations across the UK. Indeed, Ross noted how she is “excited about potential of this initiative over the years to come”.

She thanked the Minister for working so collaboratively with the FMCG industry on this initiative. “It is only by collaborating and working together that we can have such an impact.”

“It has been refreshing working with the Department of Social Protection and seeing their commitment to working with industry in achieving this ideal,” agreed Declan Carolan. “They have the important task of liaising with every single company involved to source the young, unemployed people for every single event that is taking place.”

Over the course of the next month, the Department of Social Protection will be identifying and contacting young people who would benefit from this unique opportunity to enhance their employability skills via the expertise and advice of employers in their locality.

Carolan argued that sometimes there can be a disconnect between employers and potential employees when it comes to the job search and that job seekers aren’t the only ones who will benefit from the initiative.

“We think employers have something to learn from the process, particularly in giving feedback to young people who are unsuccessful in their applications.

In many cases, there isn’t a vehicle or a medium for them to do that.”

Why Get Involved?

Carolan summed up the reasons why companies should get involved in Feeding Ireland’s Future:

To invest in young people.

When Feeding Britain’s Future took place in the UK, 98% of participants felt more confident about applying for work as a result; • To be proud of the food and grocery sector, which is one of the biggest employers in Ireland; • To motivate your team. “One of the softer benefits to come out of Feeding Britain’s Future was that 85% of participating businesses said that those who helped with the delivery of the training benefited from their involvement,” he noted; • To spot talent.

“I hope as many companies as possible participate so that future employers will favourably recognise those applicants who have participated in the Skills for Work week,” he said.

“Our industry needs to collectively step up and help inspire young people and I believe that Feeding Ireland’s Future can play a significant role in this ideal.”

Companies already signed up for Feeding Ireland’s Future include some of Ireland’s leading names in the grocery industry, from retailers such as Musgrave Retail Partners Ireland, Tesco, Maxol and Topaz to manufacturers and suppliers, including Cuisine de France, J&J, Keelings, Kellogg's, Kerry Foods, Mars, Mondelez, Nestle, P&G, SHS Sales & Marketing and Unilever, who will open their doors to give young unemployed people firsthand experience of the workings of production and marketing.

Furthermore, logistics companies such as the PRL Group and Pulse Logistics are also signed-up.

These companies will provide a range of initiatives for young people right across the country, including •

22|Retail News|January/February 2014|www.retailnews.ie

Feeding Ireland’s Future

Pictured at the launch of Feeding Ireland’s Future at the offices of PwC were: David O’Neill, Managing Director, SHS Sales & Marketing; Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, TD; Declan Carolan, General Manager, ECR Ireland; Jill Ross, Managing Director, Unilever Ireland.

site visits, advice on CVs, conducting mock interviews, providing feedback, interview tips and techniques, as well as behind the scenes tours of factories, depots and offices.

Highlighting the Career Path A lot of young people see the grocery retail and FMCG sector as a part-time career or merely a stepping stone to something else. How can an initiative like Feeding Ireland’s Future show our young people that there is a potential career path in this industry?

“This initiative has got

participation from right across the grocery industry,” noted Jill Ross.

“With retailers, we have everyone from Tesco and Musgrave to Topaz and Maxol. We have the breadth of suppliers and manufacturers, from Kerry and Keelings, to service providers, like Kantar etc. What young people will have exposure to is the breadth of careers within FMCG. “I think that the wide range of opportunities within our industry often aren’t that visible to people who may be looking for work,” she continued.

“One of the things we hope to get out of

Member Companies of Feeding Ireland’s Future Allied Logistics Category Solutions Cuisine de France Galmere Fresh Foods GS1 Ireland Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard J&J Johnson Brothers Kantar Worldpanel

Keelings Kellogg's Kerry Foods Largo Foods Mars The Maxol Group Mondelez International The Musgrave Group Nestle P&G

PRL Group PwC Pulse Logistics SHS Sales & Marketing STL Logistics Spirit Executive Tesco Ireland Topaz Energy Unilever Valeo Foods

this is that people see that breadth of opportunity. One of the statistics from Feeding Britain’s Future was that 93% of people who participated would be more likely to consider a career in the industry as a result.”

Declan Carolan agrees that there are a plethora of opportunities available in the FMCG sector, from HR to finance, supply chain to marketing, category management to store management. “Maybe we don’t market ourselves well enough,” he says.

The other thing about the grocery sector is that it is a real meritocracy,” argued Ross. “There are numerous examples, both in Ireland and other countries, where you can come in at the bottom and work your way right to the top. It is full of entrepreneurs, and who better to hear from in terms of inspiring young people to take that first step into the industry?”

The last word, however, goes to the Minister: “It is the most critical national job for all of us in Government, in partnership with employers, to try to give everybody an opportunity to participate in the Irish economy.”

ECR member companies interested in participating in Feeding Ireland’s Future should contact: declancarolan@ecrireland.ie or T 087 235 2148