Passage 2 Cost-effective route to create future managers Mike Turner, chief executive of BAE Systems, Europe’s biggest defence company, and a member of the Apprenticeships Task Force, is a prime example of how starting at the bottom of the corporate ladder can lead to a top job. “I began my working life as an apprentice,” said Mr Turner, who argues that apprenticeships remain one of the most cost-effective ways of filling skill shortages, as well as developing managers of the future. According to the task force's report, published today, BAE expects to save up to £1m a year by training apprentices rather than hiring and retraining outside workers, “as apprenticeships cost 25 per cent less than training non-apprentices.” It is “much more attractive to recruit young people as apprentices, as recruitment costs are lower, staff turnover is lower and apprentices quickly identified with company values,” according to the task force. BT, the telecommunications group, for example, had “calculated a benefit of over £1, 300 per apprentice per annum when compared to non-apprentice recruitment.” Companies, even in industries such as construction and engineering, where training costs were high, found that young people in the later years of their apprenticeships were making “a high contribution relative to their wage costs,” said the task force. Honda had reported that it took two years to retrain someone trained by another car manufacturer. Apprentices by contrast quickly understood their [Honda] company values and practices.” Apprenticeships were also a “cost-effective way of replacing an ageing workforce and ensuring the effective transfer of knowledge”. Xerox, the office equipment group, told the task force.