Bakkavor Desserts Newark employees shared their pride in being part of apprenticeship schemes, graduate schemes or the Female Mentoring Programme.

Employees of Newark’s chilled dessert manufacturer, whether for six months or 30 years, describe their pride about working there.

As we toured Newark Bakkavor Desserts, we had the chance to meet a lot of its employees, some of them long-term and others on a post-graduate or apprenticeship scheme.

With nearly 2,000 employees of 63 different nationalities, the world’s biggest chilled desserts factory takes pride in only 2 to 3% of its employees being members of a union due to its active Site Employee Forum (SEF).

“The SEF is vital in terms of ensuring that as a management team, we have got our ears open to listen to what our people are saying and what they want and need,” a spokesman explained.

“Businesses that don’t have active SEFs and rely on a union-based relationship are missing out on so much.

“If the SEF raises something that needs to be done, it gets done and that is the key for developing and growing the success that we have got.”

Two years ago, the company introduced the Female Mentoring Programme, which aims to address the issues on women being under-represented in certain areas.

The programme supports women in progressing in their careers and achieving more leadership roles, as well as encourages more women to join the business.

Monika Rekal started at Newark’s Bakkavor as a line operative 20 years ago and what was only meant to be three weeks of school holiday, but this led to her progression to supervisor and section leader, and then she decided to expand her knowledge in the process department.

She came back to the operation side of the job three years ago and has recently been promoted to production manager.

She said: “The programme helped me see where I need to focus to learn, build and give me more confidence.

“Problem-solving wasn’t my greatest strength or having a difficult conversation, but now we work together, we practice and now as part of my role I have a difficult conversation every day, I feel more confident and more comfortable.

“My mentor was one of the top financial directors, we had a monthly meeting and he gave me a lot of advice, on how I can progress, and then we started focusing on that.

“You are being guided by someone who is a senior and has a lot of experience so you get to learn a lot, it is very beneficial.”

The company is constantly working to improving their employees’ conditions, such as changing sections every hour in the bakery to avoid doing the same movements hour after hour, and investing in progress within the company, they also invest in welcoming new people.

Aoife Blaney, 24, started a three-year post-graduate programme in September 2024 with Bakkavor.

With a degree in food science and nutrition, she decided to take a hands-on job when she saw a graduate scheme opportunity at the company.

“Every day is very different and I think some days you just have a straightforward day, you sort of know what you're coming into and it actually works out that way.

“I get on really well with everybody, so it makes it a bit easier as well when you're new to a managing role.

“I'm on the factory floor managing that and then they move us around in different sections, so we spent some time in the planning department working with the customers and the orders. In the third year I will be at an even higher level, it's quite a fast progression.”

While some people went straight from university to Bakkavor, others decided to have a break between their A-levels and university.

Max Budzyanovskyy, 22, has made his way up to a supervisor role and once he got to work with engineers it inspired him to change roles within the company and apply for an engineering apprenticeship which he started in September.

“It has been really good so far and a bit of a change, because when you work there you get to see the production view and now I get to see things that normal engineers have not seen before,” he said.

“I already know some of the people, can work with them and it is useful working here originally and then getting into a different area.”

Harvey Parker, 18, is also in his first year of the apprenticeship after doing a level two and three electrical course at Newark College.

After having done work experience at Staythorpe Power Station, he realised that there is a lot more to engineering than he thought and wanted to develop his skills.

He said: “I applied for jobs around and this was the biggest company so it’s a no-brainer that when I got given the opportunity I just took it.

“There is a lot to get used to and a lot of things to learn but it is good as I do it in a six-week block of six weeks at college in Birmingham and six weeks on site.”

Despite most people having joined Bakkavor Desserts with an expiration date for the job in mind, people have continued to progress throughout the year and taken the opportunity to learn and develop skills in different areas of food manufacturing.