IN CONVERSATION WITH NICOLA DRURY UK Apprenticeship Manager at Amazon

IN NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP WEEK (6TH - 12TH FEBRUARY 2023), CHAIR OF THE PURPOSE COALITION, RT HON JUSTINE GREENING, DISCUSSES HOW APPRENTICESHIPS DELIVER OPPORTUNITY WITH NICOLA DRURY, UK APPRENTICESHIP MANAGER AT AMAZON

JG Tell us about your current role at Amazon and how the apprenticeship programme has developed at the company?

ND I think I’ve got one of the best jobs ever and I’m definitely living my best life! I joined Amazon just over ten years ago and in 2013, as Learning Development Manager for operations across the UK, I was given the opportunity to launch our first apprenticeship scheme with just six engineers. That was before we had the Apprenticeship Levy and since then we’ve seen a lot more people wanting to join the programme, from a much broader range of backgrounds. It creates opportunity for people –for those who have just left full-time education or for those at a later stage in their lives. There’s a huge diversity of roles that are on offer for people to retrain or upskill.

JG Amazon is now one of the largest private sector employers of apprentices so give us a sense of how you’ve scaled the programme up?

ND When we started our programme in 2013 it was very focused on trade roles. It still is, and we now offer over 130 engineer roles a year. But we also offer a wide range of other roles – software development, safety, HR, project management or data – across all our business areas. People don’t always realise there’s more to us than our delivery services. There are over 40 schemes going from Level 2 to Level 7, each of them offering opportunity and with an entry point for everyone. There’s a programme for existing employees too that enables them to upskill within the role and we have a real range of ages participating in that.

JG How has Amazon had to change in order to develop the apprenticeship programme?

ND It’s very much about the environment you create as an employer. Amazon is very invested in skills so I don’t think apprenticeships are a challenge for us. We recognise that everyone has different learning curves, depending on their background and experience, and time is automatically built in to take account of that. But in a big company that is still quite new to apprenticeships, I think the biggest challenge has been to educate people about what an apprentice is, and to help managers understand what to expect and what they’ll need. That won’t be the same as other new employees but there’s no doubt that apprentices bring something different to the workplace as well as new ideas.

JG Amazon has now been recognised as one of the UK’s top 100 apprenticeship employers so what is it about its culture that allows the company to host opportunities at this scale?

ND It’s our 25th anniversary this year and in that time we’ve built up a large UK footprint. We have the operations side which is the biggest part of the business but also the Amazon Web Services (AWS) and corporate sides. We also have a huge number of brands that people recognise. Having a diverse portfolio attracts a diverse range of people. We have people doing apprenticeships right now aged 18 to 60. Five per cent are over 50. In that specific cohort, many of them have had careers before – teaching, IT, even entertainers on cruise ships for example – but they want to keep learning. They tend to take part in shorter schemes as they often already have the transferable skills and behaviour that younger apprentices have to learn.

JG We know that people are retiring later and living longer so the Amazon experience allows people to try something different, not just as a way of reskilling but as a way of trying something new? Perhaps the timing was never right for them earlier in their lives, or they just didn’t really know what they wanted to do when they were younger. They may always have wanted to do a degree or had a particular interest which they weren’t able to pursue. We look for potential and passion in a person rather than whether they’ve got any qualifications or what they’ve done before. Taking on something new can be challenging but it can also be really rewarding. Apprenticeships give them that opportunity. We also want to keep calling them apprenticeships but we need to dispel the myths around them – that they are only for school leavers or they are only for careers in trade. 400 completed their apprenticeships last year and most will stay with Amazon. Sixty five per cent of all our apprentices are still with us. Some will move on of course but the measure is that they have completed the programme and they have achieved three key goals – they’ve received a funded qualification, earned a salary and got work experience. Whatever they decide to do, they can move on to new opportunities.

JG Are apprenticeships helping young people reach the next steps?

Level 2 is our biggest scheme and is offered to our supply chain across the UK. It attracts people of all ages from lots of different backgrounds, giving them the confidence to start learning again and perhaps go on to a higher level where they have even more options. Thirty per cent of those who took Level 2 went on to take Level 3, the A-Level equivalent. Not only have they continued to work and completed two apprenticeships, they’ve gone on from the supply chain to areas like software development, accountancy, project management and corporate social responsibility. That is social mobility in action.

JG As the Education Secretary who introduced the Apprenticeship Levy and allowed businesses to transfer some of their funding to their supply chains, I’m interested to hear about Amazon’s Apprenticeship Fund and how it supports small businesses?

It’s easy to forget that lots of small businesses operate through the Amazon platform. We work with 80,000 British SMEs who sell over 50% of our products so we have a huge audience there. In the last year we’ve committed £2.5m through the Apprenticeship Fund to help small businesses, creative industry partners and AWS customers upskill their workforces by taking on apprentices across a wide range of careers. We also work with combined authorities across the country and can see the different skill needs in their regions. We’d like to encourage more employers to work with us, we want to do more.

JG What are the challenges to doing that?

Combined authorities have lots of SMEs who are interested but haven’t always got the funding. We do need to look at flexing the levy more to support those SMEs better. Recruiting apprentices is different from a normal industry hire – it’s not as straightforward. They need more things, like a laptop for example, which all cost money and may be difficult for SMEs to fund. Combined authorities are doing a fantastic job of supporting SMEs in that recruitment process but it takes time and it would be good to get more support for them. Amazon receives a really high volume of applications for our apprenticeship programme and not all will get through. We’re looking at whether we could divert those who don’t to SMEs. Not everyone wants to work for a large employer or in a big team so a small business might suit them better.

JG Perhaps in the next budget it would be good to take stock of the Apprenticeship Levy since it was launched five years ago and use that learning to plan for the next five years, to use the levy more creatively and flexibly. You’re clearly passionate about what you do and it’s all about having some sense of purpose, whether you’re an individual or a business. Is there a piece of advice that someone’s given you when you were younger that you’ve hung on to?

ND When you’re feeling uncomfortable or overwhelmed that’s a positive thing – it means you’re doing something new and you’re learning. I’ve passed that on to apprentices and I’ve carried it with me throughout my career.

JG And any other advice that you’d pass on to help to steer others in the right direction?

ND Go for it! If you’re presented with an opportunity then take the risk. What’s the worst that can happen? If someone believes in you enough to offer you that opportunity, then you can probably do it.

JG And finally, how do people find out about apprenticeships and career information at Amazon?

ND Our Apprenticeship Job Page has all our vacancies which are now live. Any other job opportunities with Amazon across the UK can be found at www.jobsatamazon.co.uk/#/.