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  Morrison's gets Salfordians back to work, say Council
More than 160 people are off benefits and back in work at a new Morrison’s store in Ordsall. Salford City Council has been working closely with Morrison’s to support training for local people who had previously struggled to find work. The training was run by Salford City College and Create, a social enterprise that gives the long term out of work the opportunity to practice working and build their confidence. Create set up training facilities at the City Council Broadwalk Centre, right at the heart of the Ordsall community, making the training easily accessible to residents. From the time the initial plans were put forward, Salford City Council worked closely with supermarket bosses to make sure jobs would go to local people.And the work paid off, with 80% of the 211 employees at Morrison’s being from Salford. In addition, 167 of the people employed had been dependent on benefits before getting their job. Councillor John Merry, Leader of Salford City Council, praised the scheme. He said: “It is really important we work with companies to get jobs for local people here in Salford. We are seeing a lot of companies relocating to the city at the moment and we want to make sure they are really embedded in their communities. “In the case of Morrison’s, we’ve worked really closely with them from the start to help them to identify local people who were looking for employment and fill in any skills gaps that may prevent them from getting a job. We know from experience that often the biggest obstacle to a long term unemployed person getting work is lack of confidence, so re-building this confidence is really important to us. “What we didn’t realise is how successful this scheme would be. We had hoped that the workforce would be 50% made up of local people but in fact 80% of the workforce is from Salford, which is not only great news for the scheme, but also for the city.” Morrisons Group HR Director, Norman Pickavance, said: “We arrived in Ordsall following this summer’s problems determined not to be just another faceless retailer and knowing that the area had big challenges. “By working in partnership with Salford City Council and Create we have helped give local people the confidence and the skills needed to get back into work, as well as the opportunities to enable them to progress their career. We believe that everyone’s got talent and that people can go on to achieve extraordinary things with the right support.” Steve Chandler from Create Greater Manchester said; “Create works in a number of UK locations. In Salford we believe that we have experienced, more than anywhere else, the kind of partnerships which creating change. Across many different sectors people have worked together to celebrate this great city and open up opportunities for those who need most chances and have least access to them. Create is proud to be a part of this partnership. Source: Salford Council” Due to problems with spam only SalfordOnline members can now leave comments. Becoming a member of SalfordOnline only takes a minute, just hit the red Join Us button at the top right hand side of the page to create your Personal account. Got a news story? Need help with publicity for an event in Salford? Send it to newsdesk@salfordonline.com or call the SalfordOnline newsdesk on 0161 789 5377. |
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