Press Releases

RS Components Awarded 5% Club Gold Membership Status in Royal Palace Ceremony

Firm exceeds targets with 11 per cent of employees in ‘earn and learn’ positions

London, UK, 23 November 2021:

RS Components (RS), a trading brand of Electrocomponents plc (LSE: ECM), a global omni-channel product and service solutions provider for industrial customers and suppliers, has been recognised for exceeding its target percentage of workforce in ‘earn and learn’ positions – achieving Gold membership of the 5% Club in its 2021 Employer Audit Scheme by hitting 11 per cent of its workforce in formal skills development. RS will receive an award for this achievement at a prestigious ceremony to be held at the Palace of Westminster in December.

Lindsley Ruth, CEO at Electrocomponents, committed the firm to the 5% Club in 2018. The 5% Club is a dynamic movement of employers all of whom are inspired to take positive action for increased, inclusive, and accessible workplace training for all – and represents 1.2 million employees, 67,000 of whom are in ‘earn and learn’ schemes. The Employer Audit is a unique scheme which validates the employers’ activities, explores their future plans and commitments, as well as examining their approaches to quality, social mobility, diversity and inclusion.

Participants can be on apprenticeships, graduate schemes or sponsored student course placements, which are available up to Master’s degree level. RS offers these across leadership and management, digital skills and customer focused qualifications, and works with organisations including Anglia Ruskin University, Multiverse, University of Reading, Leeds Trinity University, Decoded and Cambridge Spark – among others – to deliver them.

RS Apprenticeship Programme Manager Tim Beasley said: “We are delighted to have received Gold membership of the 5% Club in recognition of our commitment. There are 334 of our employees in ‘earn and learn’ positions. For an organisation of our size, with 3,028 employees, this places us high in the rankings against other, much larger 5% Club members, so we’re very proud of this achievement.

“Furthermore, almost half (49 per cent) of employees in the scheme are female, highlighting our diversity commitment. It is testament to our mission of supporting management at all levels with relevant skills, future-proofing talent and job roles, and developing the skills and behaviour that benefit our customers.”

Jodie Fogell started RS two years ago as an inventory apprentice and is currently part of the Level 6 Supply Chain Management scheme, a four-year course culminating in a Bachelor’s Degree. She is in her third year of university.

She said: “The great thing about my apprenticeship scheme in RS is that I actually get to use 20 per cent of my working week to do university work and keep my portfolio up to date. My qualification will support my career aspirations and provide a rounded knowledge of the whole of the supply chain in theory, as well as getting hands-on work experience. It’s great to be able to understand how your role can impact other parts of the business. In my apprenticeship I’m able to learn a new role every year within Inventory. The ‘earn and learn’ scheme that RS offers truly supports my development and allows me to stay in education while working, and once I’ve finished my Level 6 degree, there is an option to go onto doing a Master’s in my course which I’m really hoping to do.”

RS Head of Governance & Compliance in Global Shared Business Services, Simon Debenham, finished the Data Academy with a Distinction. He said: “I am lucky to have had a variety of roles within RS over my 17 years here so far, and was very much an existing employee when the opportunity to take my data skills to the next level arose. I use data quite a lot - be it analysing fraud triggers or looking at customer patterns, I never seem to look at the same data twice. Having this training means I am happy to perform activities such as time-series analysis on data easily, as I have a better understanding of data and how it can be applied. It means my decision-making is more informed which makes the newfound skills I have gained a real return on the investment from RS.”

Among the 5% Club members are multi-national firms including American Express, Balfour Beatty, Siemens and Aldi. RS’ Gold membership status places it in the upper third of the members list, comprising 58 employers.

Electrocomponents CEO Lindsley Ruth said: “As an innovative and forward-thinking organisation, we saw the fantastic opportunity in the 5% Club for us to further our investment in people and in the growth of future talent. This supports our goal of achieving a diverse workforce with the skills to support the organisation and its customers. This approach serves us well and is illustrated in our excellent employee retention rates, as well as our ability to attract new talent. To this end, we will continue to engage our existing and new employees in the scheme.”
Mark Cameron OBE, Chief Executive at The 5% Club said: “We set out to create a scheme that recognises the efforts of all those employers who invest in their workforce through a broad range of workplace learning schemes. It is fantastic that in these challenging times so many are able to commit to the Employer Audit and to gain the credit for their efforts, and that the majority are striving to expand their schemes over the coming years. Their efforts and achievements are to be applauded, and are testament to their contribution to the future of skills in our economy.”

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Image: RS Head of Governance & Compliance in Global Shared Business Services, Simon Debenham, with RS Apprenticeship Programme Manager Tim Beasley and Jodie Fogell, RS inventory apprentice.