Member Article

People 1st secures funding to help retail businesses develop female talent

Workforce and skills development charity, People 1st, has successfully gained government funding to provide retail employers with subsidised training and mentoring for women working in their businesses.

The new funding, which has been awarded through the UK Commission for Employment and Skills’ EIF Women and Work fund, represents the first time a grant has been awarded specifically for women working in retail.

People 1st established its Women 1st campaign, which includes the training and mentoring programmes, in 2009 to address the lack of women working at board level. Following The National Skills Academy for Retail’s move to the People 1st group, the campaign has been extended to cover retail which, like many other industries, faces a challenge when it comes to women’s representation at senior levels.

While retailers face few problems attracting women into the industry – 58% of the UK’s retail workforce is female – research shows that men dominate management and leadership roles. Women currently make up almost two thirds (64%) of sales and retail assistants, but just 37% of retail managers and directors, which suggests that businesses are not making the most of their female talent. [1]

To help address this issue, the funding will enable women working in retail to take part in Women 1st’s renowned Step Up management training programme at a significant discount.

This programme has already helped more than 1,000 female managers in other industries transform their leadership skills, resulting in more than 33% of participants being promoted or gaining additional responsibility.

The funding will also enable People 1st to set up women’s mentoring networks for retailers at a heavily subsidised price. Up to 50 mentors (both male and female) and mentees (women only) will be able to take part in the programme, and each will receive specific training so they can get the most out of their mentoring partnerships.

Sharon Glancy, executive director at People 1st and founder of the Women 1st campaign, says: “Research points to the fact that leadership teams with a good balance of men and women perform better. One recent report by Catalyst found that companies with women on their boards outperformed those with all-male boards by 26 percent in recent years.

“But research also shows that retailers face a mismatch between the number of women at entry level and board level. And before there can be change at the top, we need address the issues at junior and middle management levels, where so many women choose to either leave the industry or reach a plateau in their career.

“That’s what our Step Up and mentoring programmes are designed to do. They make women really think about their career goals, and build their skills and confidence so they feel that they can push beyond that level and go for more senior roles. We’re delighted to have secured this funding so that retailers can take advantage of these fantastic programmes at a discounted rate, and look forward to working with businesses to help them develop and retain their brightest female talent.”

Subsidised places on both the Step Up and mentoring programmes are limited. Businesses interested in taking advantage of the funding should contact the People 1st team at enquiries@people1sttraining.co.uk or call 0203 0741212.

[1] ‘Women in the Tourism and Visitor Economy 2013’, People 1st

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simone Roche .