Aurora
Aurora Fashions demonstrates its dedication to staff development
"At a brand and a group level we're very proud of our heritage of investing in talent. We're fortunate enough to attract some of the best talent around but believe that, in order to keep and grow our staff, we need to offer people the opportunities afforded in other industries."
Meg Lustman, Managing Director, Warehouse
"The Aspire2Accelerate programme is an amazing opportunity, that's why I applied to join it. I think it will push me forward, helping me make the next step in my career."
Laura McGrath, Oasis
The challenge
Being part of an industry known for having a high rate of churn, Aurora recognised the need to focus on retaining their best talent for the journey from sales staff through to area managers, to ensure it would have a stream of talented staff for its managerial positions in the future. The challenge was to create a recognisable career path for staff to aspire to follow.
While developing their staff is a key priority, the impact of the initial training on day to day retail store operations needed to be limited, and finding a learning solution for staff members spread across the UK and Ireland was crucial.
The solution
We've created a programme that offers store staff three higher education level qualifications targeted at all career stages from sales advisor through to area manager. Each completed stage results in the learner earning academic credits which, on completion of the whole programme, will form a university degree in Retail Management.
The programme combines academic theory and work based knowledge with vocational skill development which will support learners in the work place. To tackle the geographical dispersion of the learners, all content for the programme has been made available through a customised online learning portal, where learners get the support and guidance of their online tutors.
