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News SUFFOLK BASED BUSINESS MAERSK LINE UK AWARDED REGIONAL WORK INSPIRATION AWARD Business in The Community (BITC) today announced that Maersk Line UK has been selected from almost 40 entries to be recognised with a 'Highly Commended’ award for providing an inspiring and robust work experience placement programme to young people in the region. Maersk Line UK is the only Suffolk based organisation to have been awarded this accolade. In addition, LSI Architects LLP and Wates Construction have also been recognised in the East of England region. Maersk Line UK is one of the world's largest liner shipping companies, with a network of offices in 125 countries worldwide. Maersk Line started a strategic partnership with West Suffolk College and Career Academies UK in 2007. This partnership provided a tremendous source of growth and development for both the staff at Maersk and the students involved with the college and Career Academy. During the last three years Maersk Line UK has provided a number of work internships in their customer service office for students during the summer months, hosted a number of tours onboard container vessels, mentored students going through the Career Academy programme and also given guru lectures to the students at the college undertaking Business and Logistics courses. The aim of the partnership with West Suffolk College was to generate awareness about employment opportunities in the shipping industry and to position them as a major employer in the region. Maersk Line found that the appreciation and awareness of their industry increased significantly amongst the students. Through the range of initiatives they have participated in Maersk Line believe that employees and the college students have benefited from the relationship and that the partnership has provided students with a unique insight into one of the most important sectors of the economy of the nation. Sarah Gibb, National Campaign Manager said, “We are delighted with the response we have received from all the entrants, which proves that there are many businesses out there already making a big difference by offering inspiring work placements that will ultimately have an impact on a young person’s career decisions. But we know that employers have more to do to bridge the gap between the classroom and the world of work if British business is to find the talent, creativity and skills needed for our future”. To become a Work inspiration employer log onto www.workinspiration.com. Ends For more information please contact Linda Considine on 07502 372 774 or linda.considine@yahoo.co.uk Notes to editors • The new Business in the Community Regional Work Inspiration Award was launched alongside the national Awards for Excellent at the Business in the Community AGM in December 2009 • Almost 40 entries were received and judged by a panel which included representatives from Accenture, Affinity Sutton, BT, Credit Suisse, DLA Piper, Edge Learner Forum, Nationwide Building Society and Reed in Partnership • What is the difference between a regional Award for Excellence and our national Awards for Excellence? • To find the best examples of each, entries to the Regional Work Inspiration Award will be assessed against the other entries in each English region, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales • As a Regional Award for Excellence its function is to provide a means to select the best examples in a particular region. Therefore company’s who are successful in this category are considered to be one of the best examples in that region • Successful entries in this Regional Award are not awarded a Big Tick. A Business in the Community’s Big Tick is only awarded to a company whose entry has competed in a national Award for Excellence category and has achieved a (national) standard set by the assessors that year that demonstrates significant impact across that category’s criteria that has been backed up with evidence of the impact they are having. It is intended to develop this award category into an Award for Excellence in 2011 • Work Inspiration is one of four awards in 2010 that focus on a key component of our talent agenda. The other three include Education, Employability and Skills in the Workplace. For more information on the Work Inspiration Campaign please visit www.workinspiration.com. Background to the Work Inspiration campaign Business in the Community has spent 18 months researching senior business leaders’ ideas on how to tackle the skills and talent deficit in the UK. One of the key issues identified through Business in the Community’s Talent Debates, attended by 2,000 business leaders in 2008-2009, was the gap between young people’s expectations of the world of work and what business expected from those new recruits. There is also a knowledge gap between the world of work and young people: young people are leaving education with little understanding of how to progress with a career; the range of jobs and opportunities available for them; and how to make their first steps in the world of work. This gap poses a critical issue to business: if young people don’t know what jobs are out there and how to get into them, this could lead to a serious lack of applicant and/or appropriately skilled applicants in future. By raising awareness among the corporate sector, we will use businesses as a catalyst for positive change to the way work experience is provided for young people. The gap also highlights a critical social need to better equip young people with a more transparent and inspirational picture of the world of work, so that they are better able to make decisions about their future career paths on leaving school or university.