Shropshire firm launches bid to recruit and keep staff

That's what chicken producer Faccenda has discovered as it looks to bring in the manpower necessary to bring its multi-million pound factory extension in the country up to full speed.

The company has invested about £35 million to drive huge growth at its Hortonwood base in Telford, where it cuts and packages fresh chicken to send out to massive chains such as Asda, Costco and Nando's.

Having almost doubled its floor space to 100,000 sq ft, by the end of January the company will have the capacity to process 1.2 million chickens – delivered from Faccenda's slaughterhouse in Bracknell – every week.

The £400 million-turnover business has had to increase its staffing levels accordingly and by the middle of next year it expects to have 900 people employed at its Telford plant, having had about 750 on its books – including those at a sister site in Dudley who have since relocated – before work on the build began.

So with an ever-diminishing pool of available workers, as Telford hits its lowest levels of joblessness in the best part of 10 years, that means extra effort must be made to attract and keep staff.

Now Faccenda is working with Telford College of Arts and Technology on a pilot scheme to ensure its new staff are ready for work when they walk through the doors – and are not faced with a dramatic culture shock.

"It's about hitting the ground running, and what we have seen has knocked our socks off," said Faccenda general manager Catherine Gormley. "It's important that people have an understanding of the environment they are going to work in.

"It's not just about what we need now, it's about our long-term future."

Working with TCAT and the JobCentre, Faccenda has been describing the demands of the job to possible candidates, including talking them through the four degree temperatures in which workers spend their days and the demands of working with raw poultry.

JobCentre employer advisor Nicky Welburn said: "We have promoted the employer and the conditions right at the front end. We are setting expectations out right at the start.

"If they say 'it's not for me' then so be it. The people that are still interested have the opportunity to go forward to TCAT's sector-based work academy."

Faccenda recruitment manager Simon Cooper added: "It's a role where there's so many parts to it. Some people don't like the cold and some people don't want to work with chicken.

"The people that have been here from TCAT have been here, had a tour and know what to expect. They get qualificiations and know what they are coming to do. They know the environment and that makes our job a bit easier."

Potential workers then have an initial assessment at TCAT, including aptitude testing to ensure that they meet Faccenda's own working standards.

They then go through a targeted training programme at the Wellington-based college, at the end of which they are guaranteed an interview with the growing employer – so far all candidates have landed jobs with the firm.

It's a programme that could need to continue. Faccenda has built enough space into the new factory to ensure that a third production line could be installed if required, and that would result in a further 100 jobs.

The company is already one of Telford & Wrekin's biggest employers, but the third line would take its workforce to 1,000 in total.

"The staff are responding fantastically to what's going on here," Mrs Gormley added. "I'm really proud of how everybody has reacted to the huge change we are putting them through."

One worker who has been through the course and landed a job at the site is Wayne Gratwick, who moved to Telford from Stevenage and found himself out of work after previously being an electrician.

"I had expected to be able to stay in the building trade, but it's a bit slow,"said Mr Gratwick, 39, of Leegomery.

"I ended up signing on, but I have worked my whole adult life and it was very dispiriting to suddenly be on the dole.

"Because I'm so used to working outside the cold doesn't bother me, but I've never worked in a factory before, and that was a problem when trying to get a job as there's a lot of them around Telford.

"That's what the college helped me with, and that's given me the chance to switch from building to factory work."