Asda launches apprenticeship scheme to reduce high turnover

Supermarket giant Asda will launch its own apprenticeship scheme this month in a bid to beat the high turnover associated with the industry.

David Smith, human resources (HR) director at the company, told Personnel Today he wanted the scheme to appeal to a wider pool of talent than the traditional school leaver and university graduate applicants. He is expected to open the scheme with skills minister David Lammy as part of a government Apprentice Week later this month.

Smith told Personnel Today: "We want to attract those candidates who are not 'obvious' - ie, they are not school leavers, but they do have two A-levels - to utilise the wider talent market out there.

"This apprenticeship scheme is a direct response to a feeling in the [retail] industry that careers are short-term. Many of our colleagues stay with us for years, and this is further proof that careers in the retail industry are not dead-end, but long-term."

Last year, the government announced its intention to offer an apprenticeship entitlement to every qualified young person who wants one by 2013, as part of its drive to step up UK skills in response to the Leitch Review.