Borders firm Scotmas Group believes the organisation’s apprenticeship model has helped their business through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kelso-based Scotmas has now been named as a finalist in the Scottish Apprenticeship Awards.
Managing Director Alistair Cameron says Scotmas is thrilled to have been short-listed for the accolade.
But he says the business has already won through their apprenticeship programme, as it helped the world-leading chlorine dioxide specialist successfully adapt to change.
Faced with huge restrictions, Scotmas managed to shift the business from their traditional tasks to the increased manufacture of disinfectant for the NHS; something Cameron admits has underlined the value of their apprenticeship set-up.
Alistair said: “We’re obviously delighted to be recognised for the award – the strength and flexibility of our apprenticeship framework has already paid dividends over the past year.
“At the beginning of the pandemic, we lost a large percentage of our business which was in travel hygiene and other areas that were subjected to immediate shutdown.
“We pivoted the business very quickly to expand our disinfectant manufacturing part.
“We redeployed staff and used the apprenticeship template with the emphasis on training and learning at its core to pivot the production very quickly.
“Year on year, we’ve probably ended up evens, but the mix of our business has changed quite significantly over that period.
“Our ability to be able to do that and scale up disinfectant production for the NHS – sometimes within a week’s timeframe – was due to the fact we had a flexible, well-qualified workforce. Our staff had a good understanding of the technology behind what we wanted to do and the willingness and ability to adapt.
“We’ve had a long journey developing this programme and worked closely with Skills Development Scotland on devising an apprenticeship framework that was suitable for our industry.
“But our investment into our apprenticeship programme has more than paid dividends.”
Alistair believes that Scotmas’ excellent apprenticeship programme has also enabled them to develop local talent which has strengthened the business’ reputation as a world-class operator. The business is offering Modern Apprentices to progress on to Graduate Apprenticeships to attract and retain young talent in the South of Scotland.
He added: “We’re a company that is based in a rural area of Scotland and work in a very specialist industry – we export and work internationally.
“We can’t pick staff up on the shelf with the experience and expertise that we need. It’s a fundamental requirement for us to be competitive in our international markets and that our staff are trained, competent and qualified to do the work.
“We found the best way to do that is to do the job ourselves and train the staff properly through an SQA accredited framework.
“We’ve worked very closely with Developing the Young Workforce in the Borders and the local schools. We’ve been really proud not only with our Modern Apprentices but we’ve also now had three Graduate Apprentices coming through our programme.
“Being able to offer very high-quality job opportunities in the local area is very important to us – we’re firmly rooted in the local community.
“We want to show young people, particularly at high school age, that there are opportunities in the local area.
“Some of our staff are now working on contracts in the Middle East, Asia and throughout Europe while still working on their doorstep. You don’t have to travel to the bright lights of the city in order to have those opportunities.”
Scotmas are shortlisted for SME Employer of the Year at the Scottish Apprenticeship Awards, delivered by Skills Development Scotland, which will take place virtually on March 4.
