Free trI’ve just found this.
Hgv drivers are in such short supply that recruitment agency boss Stella Godwin is planning to offer free training. Normally drivers have to fund their own training at a cost of around £1,400 but in the West demand is currently very high, particularly from some supermarket distributors.
“We have done this before,” she said. “But there is such an ongoing shortage that we will probably put five at a time through the training.”
Stella, the founder and managing director of Mainline Employment, which has offices in Bristol and Swindon, said: "We will probably take them on as 7.5tonne lorry drivers and then, if they shape up, we will offer the best training to become HGV-qualified.
“It is fair to say they do have to drive for a long time before we get back the money we invested in training,” she added.
Meanwhile, her agency is on track to virtually double annual turnover from just under £7million to around £12million by its year-end next May.
“We are waiting to see how Christmas goes,” said Stella,“but in the past quarter, business has gone off the scale.” The business supplies warehouse, driving and commercial staff.
Stella rewards loyalty with frequent incentives - all-expenses paid trips for agency staff and their partners.
“A lot of companies pay incentives in cash but going whale hunting in Iceland is what people remember,” said Stella.
Her most recent discovery is the high quality of workers from Poland.
“We love the Poles,” she said,"they are so hard working and will not let you down.
"If there are local people out of work we want to use them, but we have more jobs than people.
“So we offer incentives to our Polish recruits to bring people from home on the principle that if they are hard workers, their friends will be of the same ilk.”
It’s a few days old & seems more applicable here than on the news forum.