Kingfisher has unveiled a new target for 20,000 colleagues to have completed an apprenticeship, traineeship or formal qualification by 2030.
It comes after the international home improvement retailer exceeded its current learning target two years early, with employees completing over 6.6 million skills for life learning hours since 2019/20, ahead of its target of five million hours by 2025.
In 2023, over 4,000 colleagues completed an apprenticeship or traineeship, with courses covering specialisms like retail management, software engineering and finance.
According to Kingfisher, 80% of store colleagues who completed Level 2, 3 and 4 apprenticeships at Screwfix became trade supervisors, assistants or branch managers, proving the benefit of its investment.
Kingfisher chief people officer Kate Seljeflot said: “We strongly believe in supporting all our colleagues to develop their skills and reach their full potential”.
“Investing in talent and building our skills base, particularly in growing priorities like digital and data, will be critical to our future success.”
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Kingfisher’s Responsible Business strategy includes becoming a more inclusive company by breaking down barriers to employment and career progression.
Its Screwfix brand recently launched online hub Trade Link, which provides support to tradespeople to recruit the next generation of talent.
B&Q is playing its part by assessing apprenticeship applications against the Indices of Multiple Deprivation, in a bid to champion those in deprived areas of the UK and support social mobility.
Kingfisher has also commited to improving its gender balance to 35% women in senior leadership and 40% women in management by 2025/26.
Seljeflit added: “Our new target underlines our group-wide commitment to empowering our colleagues with new skills, developing future talent and creating inclusive opportunities for young people to enter the workplace.”
Progress against Kingfisher’s new target will be published in its Responsible Business report this summer.
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