Apprentice school turns 60
- January 4, 2017
- Posted by: Simon Wait
- Category: Industry News
SEAT’s Apprenticeship School is celebrating its 60th birthday this year.
Opened in 1957, it’s trained more than 2,600 students for careers in the automotive industry in that time.
It says the high technical level of the facilities and instructors together with on the job training in a real-life environment, are what drive its success, while in 2012 the school added its Dual Vocational Training System, which combines theory and hands-on training in classrooms with work stages in the SEAT production plants.
SEAT vice-president for Human Resources Xavier Ros said, ‘Our students have a triple advantage: they learn a trade, they develop it in a real work environment and they can join the workforce with an open-ended contract when they complete their training. The fact that one of every two students who have gone through the Apprentice School are a part of SEAT’s current workforce and that 11% of the company’s executives graduated from the centre shows the merit of the corporate strategy that has been implemented.’
With a quarter of SEAT employees millennials, the company also works hard to involve them and hear their input. SEAT Talks is a platform for presentations and open discussions on relevant topics such as digitalisation, while its EASY strategy is intended to enhance the company’s digital presence and mobility solutions portfolio.
As part of this, SEAT is developing the Tiki-Taka project, which aims to make it for employees to interact with each other, and last September it organised a Facebook-based collaborative digital workshop with young employees not exceeding 27 years old. It revealed their desire to work in a completely digital, connected, flexible company where room is given to develop autonomy and flexibility, and which fosters collaborative work, co-creation and internal co-working, among others.
