One of the most exciting aspects of both UKWA National Conference and last month’s UKWA Lunch & Awards has been the contributions, insights and experiences shared by young people coming into our industry.
At our National Conference, Bethany Windsor of Think Logistics CILT and Novus spoke of the importance of education as a route into the sector and introduced three young graduates Tienne Oates, Eismantas Sungaila and Sunnah Habib, all of whom spoke to delegates with confidence and passion about their respective roles in warehousing and logistics. All confirmed that what they looked for from employers were training and a clear personal development path, but vitally also ethical values and a culture that ‘matches who I am and what I want to be as a person.’
As an industry, we should all do more to promote ourselves in schools and colleges to build awareness of the many opportunities we have to offer, as Bethany said, “Young people can’t be what they can’t see!” Subsequently, we have taken on two young graduates – Daisy Sheerman and Shakar Tayib – to work with our team at UKWA, and we have all felt invigorated by their enthusiasm and fresh perspectives, while they tell us that they are amazed and excited by at the scope and complexity of warehousing and logistics.
Then at our recent UKWA Lunch & Awards, we were incredibly impressed by the nominations for Young Employee of The Year by our members. Choosing a winner from a shortlist of five outstanding candidates proved impossible, and so we presented Highly Commended certificates to three finalists and declared Graduate Management Trainee at Speedy Freight Francesca Hughes joint winner with Jack Fountain, Warehouse Section Manager of ILG.
Jack joined ILG aged 17, as a Warehouse Apprentice five years ago. Now he is responsible for half of ILG’s 40,000 sq ft Gatwick warehouse, which provides services for 31 customers across a spectrum of industry sectors.
Francesca is project managing the implementation of a warehouse management system across the Speedy Freight organisation, and supported the opening of two new warehouses in Knutsford and Northampton. She is a member of the Young Forwarders Network and an Environmental Champion at Speedy Freight.
Both Jack and Francesca represent all that is best about our industry, and it is essential that we use role models like these to attract more young talent.
For our part, we are proud to be an official partner of the newly launched government backed Generation Logistics campaign, and continue to work with Think Logistics, Talent in Logistics and others to develop more of a ‘youth culture’. We will also be looking to establish a Young Person’s forum at UKWA, comprising our own new recruits together with selected young employees from member organisations to feed ideas and insights into the UKWA management board, keeping us on point!
Clare Bottle
UKWA, CEO
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