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The struggle for talent in publishing isn’t new. In 2019, pre-Covid, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism published a report on the struggle for talent and diversity in modern newsrooms which starkly laid out the current dilemma – attracting and retaining talent is getting much more difficult across the board, with diversity and inclusion goals adding a further layer of complexity.
For News UK – owner of The Times, The Sun, talkSPORT, and countless other media properties – one solution is the launch of its Sales Academy, an apprenticeship project to help aspiring salespeople. So far the Sales Academy has welcomed eight commercial apprentices across areas such as print, digital and broadcast sales, The Bridge creative and The Fifth, News UK’s influencer marketing agency.
Throughout their first year, Sales Academy apprentices will rotate departments before settling into one position with the goal of securing a full-time position. Additionally, the trainees will receive mentoring and in-house training on sales fundamentals, organizational skills, and practice interviews.
As part of its wider diversity and inclusion strategy, the media owner has also partnered with the UK Government’s Kickstart program and pledged to create up to 100 paid placements for unemployed young people across the wider organization. News UK has additionally launched 45 two-year-long apprenticeships and established more than a dozen partnerships with diversity recruitment specialists as part of a wider strategy to create a pathway to a 50/50 gender split across its workforce, and a 20% target of representation of ethnic minorities.
Dominic Carter, Group Chief Commercial Officer, News UK says, “Our Academy aims not only to improve diversity within the industry, but also to provide structured and detailed training and support in the world of sales to create strong salespeople of the future, regardless of background or experience. For the first time, Sales Academy will provide apprentices with the best possible support and training from leaders across the broad spectrum of News UK’s brands.”
Speaking to WNIP, Sarah Gallo, Chief People Officer at News UK adds, “We are continuing to create and nurture a pipeline to develop talent, especially from under-represented areas, and have welcomed over 50 Kickstart interns and 45 bright young apprentices in the past year – as well as establishing more than a dozen partnerships with diversity recruitment specialists.”
Employee retention
News UK has also strengthened its employee retention goals with a string of initiatives to improve the well-being of its staff. Gallo says, “We run different wellbeing initiatives throughout the year. For example, in January, we ran a News for January Blues initiative, bringing our people the best of culture, food and drink from experts across News each week, along with wellbeing inspiration and resources – and hosted talks on overcoming depression and managing financial wellbeing with our talent.”
We’ve been clear that hybrid working is something that will continue to play a part in our ways of working for the long term, where it’s possible.
Sarah Gallo, Chief People Officer, News UK
Gallo concludes, “The way we approach sustainability, wellbeing, and opportunities to contribute to our communities are really important to us and our people.”
