Greenfield is a firm believer in the value of its older staff gaining qualifications even if they are joining the business later in their careers. The business feels these academic qualifications supplement the additional skills acquired through in-house training in the workplace. If our older staff want to gain qualifications we are more than happy and committed to support the on-going training process outside of work. That’s why its pleasing to report Andrew Balls has just passed his level 2 in Mechanical Engineering as a mature student with excellent pass grades. The landscape is changing as we are living longer and with retirement age rising the need to up skill older workers is very important. Mature workers are as productive, skilled, and loyal as their younger counterparts, so it makes sense to invest in them as much as our apprentices. As a business we want to ensure older workers have equal opportunities and a chance to revolutionise the way we think about later working life.

Andrew Balls said, “When I was studying at home with my college projects I had to prioritise, to get a good focus on balancing home life to hit my ambition of gaining my Engineering Qualification. I’m really grateful that Greenfield gave me this opportunity to get a recognised qualification.”

Simon Walker Operations Director added, “I’m really pleased to see Andrew’s success in gaining his qualifications, and know that he’s worked really hard to achieve the great results, and with a young family well done. We have found all staff having a certificate stating a recognised qualification dramatically improves an individual’s self-confidence and it also acts as an independent referee of their engineering abilities. The business wants to champion mature workers to drive a culture change offering re-training at any age.”