Employment case studies

Read about some great examples of employability in the retail world, all in the Glasgow area.

 St Enoch Centre

700 new retail jobs will be created as a result of the St. Enoch Working initiative.

As St. Enoch's owners Ivanhoe Cambridge enter the final stages of their £100 million redevelopment programme, the project will see a coordinated approach to recruitment at the Centre which brings together Glasgow's Regeneration Agencies, Glasgow Works, JobCentre Plus and Skills Development Scotland.

Features of the approach to employment

  • A shop unit on the upper level of St. Enoch Centre which will act as a dedicated focus for the project and, from today, jobseekers can fill in applications for a wide range of full and part-time positions online at the St. Enoch Working office.
  • St. Enoch Working will offering help and advice on preparing job applications
  • A programme of training sessions will be provided for centre staff across a variety of areas.

The project will be managed by Glasgow West Regeneration Agency (GWRA) with support from the other partners.

Glasgow Fort Partnership

The Glasgow Fort Partnership was set up to maximise the opportunities from the Glasgow Fort retail development for the deprived Greater Easterhouse area. The Partnership has focused on enabling local residents to access the 1,400 jobs created through a recruitment intervention that included an on-site recruitment office, job matching service, jobs fairs and a pre-recruitment training course. In addition, by developing strong working relationships with the centre manager and retailers, the
Partnership has also looked at wider opportunities for the local community - such as childcare, health and transport.

This project is a collaboration between Glasgow Fort Shopping Park and Glasgow East Regeneration Agency and is responsible for driving the recruitment for the recruitment process for the £200m Glasgow Fort development. A local success story, the project won the Best Practice in Partnership Working in Regeneration at the 2005 Scottish Urban Regeneration Awards.

Features of the approach to employment

  • 'Succession' enables employees to enhance their career prospects within the retail sector through studying for a Modern Apprenticeship qualification
  • 'Responsible Retailer Pack' offers easy access advice and local support services to employees on health, wellbeing, money advice or childcare issues

Phil Goodman, General Manager of the Shopping Park says 'The Partnership provides a forum through which to channel ideas and raise issues which affect the people of the local community and this has been a hugely successful catalyst for a number of initiatives.'


Silverburn

The Silverburn shopping centre worked hand in hand with contractors and incoming companies to tailor job opportunities. Glasgow City Council recognised that agreements had to be negotiated at a planning stage and employing local people had to be a key contractual obligation. In addition, this fostered excellent partnership working between the Council, Jobcentre Plus and Glasgow South West Regeneration Agency

The £350m development has 1 million sq ft of shopping and leisure with a total of 3,000 new jobs expected.

Features of the approach to employment

  • Recruitment centre helps potential employees through the employment process

  • Innovative website and hotline number match a comprehensive database of employee skills with available employee positions

Richard Low of Silverburn's developer said 'We have attracted some of the biggest names in retail and catering to the trading opportunity being created at Silverburn.  It is essential that these companies have access to the best workforce possible and the innovative Recruitment Centre is helping this to happen.'

Other relevant case studies on the EAS website.