Greene King to create 1,000 jobs in partnership with The Prince's Trust

Pub company and brewer Greene King has pledged to create 1,000 jobs for young people across a new five-year partnership with The Prince's Trust as well as making an increased financial commitment to the charity.

Under the new terms of the partnership, funding will be increased by one third and invested into projects that will support Greene King's commitment to raising the percentage of young people from BAME backgrounds it employs through The Prince's Trust programmes.

The Suffolk-based company has said its ambition is to support 1,000 young people into its workforce over the five-year period, lifting the percentage of young people from minority ethnic backgrounds entering the business from 24% currently to 40% by year five.

Nick Mackenzie, chief executive of Greene King, said: "We are really excited to announce this new partnership programme with The Prince's Trust. We have a longstanding and excellent partnership with a track record in helping young people from all backgrounds get into a rewarding careers. Supporting young people into careers now is more important than ever as we face globally uncertain times.

"We care about building a diverse workforce that represents the society we live in. The Prince's Trust delivers outstanding programmes and opportunities for young people and we are delighted that in strengthening our partnership with them we will together achieve our common goals.

"We are committed to developing an ambitious programme on diversity, particularly focussing on welcoming colleagues into Greene King from BAME communities and we will be updating with more detailed plans in the coming months."

Greene King has worked in partnership with The Prince's Trust for four years supporting 440 young people across the UK with training, work experience and employment, through its Get into Hospitality and Ready to Work programmes. At the beginning of the pandemic, it pledged a £20,000 donation to The Prince's Trust Young Persons' Relief Fund to help the charity provide practical and emotional support to young people's across a range of areas from wellbeing to education.

The new pledge forms part of Greene King's wider diversity strategy and will enable the partnership to support more young people from minority ethnic backgrounds to begin a career in hospitality. The partnership will also deliver mentoring and talent programmes, including Get into Hospitality and Ready to Work as well as recruitment through ‘Get Hired' and The Prince's Trust's online Job's Board.

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