Improved talent retention and recruitment through new training programme for award-winning Pump Street

Pump Street Chocolate and Bakery is a family-owned business making small-batch chocolate from beans imported directly from family farms and cooperatives around the world, and handmade bread and pastries. Pump Street sells its wares in its shop and café outlets in Suffolk, as well as exporting its chocolate globally.

Pump Street had a problem sourcing good candidates due to a skills shortage in the region, despite paying above market rate. It received 90 applications for one vacancy but no candidates had the relevant capabilities.

Following the Talent 360, Moore Kingston Smith’s People Advisory suggested Pump Street recruit at school-leaver level and train the new recruits up onsite. This led our team to creating an entire training programme: they designed the year-long programme, job profiles, selection process, workbooks, projects and even the award ceremony.

The People Advisory team also took the current employees through a values initiative about understanding what working at Pump Street means. The company now has a set of tangible values that all employees are passionate about.

On advertising the training programme, Pump Street received 30 excellent applications, from which they selected the four strongest candidates to be their inaugural trainees. Additionally, productivity has increased due to a better engaged workforce.

Joanna Brennan, co-founder of Pump Street, said: “The creation of the trainee programme has solidified our understanding as a team of the exciting opportunities we have to offer new recruits. It has also gained us recognition and reach as a forwarding-thinking employer locally and internationally within our sector. We are very much looking forward to the trainees joining and we are now in a place where all roles are filled with motivated, happy talent. The company is set to be more efficient, in a stronger financial position and on course to reach, or even exceed, our ambitious growth forecast. Thank you to the team at Moore Kingston Smith People Advisory.”

Photo credit: Angus D Birditt