Annabell, Ewing MSP, Neil Hampton, General Manager RDGC and Jim Oag, Investors in People for the Highlands at Royal Dornoch Golf Club.
Pic – Philm Downie
A world famous golf club’s drive to improve work and training facilities for its young staff has won ministerial approval.
This year Royal Dornoch became the first golf club in Scotland to receive the prestigious Investors in Young People Good Practice Award.as part of a strategy for excellence on and off the course.
Annabelle Ewing, Minister for Youth and Women’s Employment, has visited the club and praised managers for achieving the accolade.
She spoke with young people on their experience of looking for work, their ambitions and challenges they face and also chatted with club officials on how they recruit and train young staff.
Ms Ewing said: “Royal Dornoch Golf Club is internationally renowned for the quality of its courses which attract players from across the world.
“But it is also committed to providing quality employment for its employees, including its young members of staff, as this IIYP award recognises. As the first golf club in Scotland to achieve this, Royal Dornoch is leading the field and I congratulate managers for their work in recruiting and developing young people which is bringing mutual benefits and helping create a talent pool for the future.”
The IIYP award was launched last year by the Scottish Government as part of a flagship policy to reward and recognise employers who employ people aged between 16 and 24.
The IIYP assessment includes examining a firm’s future business needs, including skills, talent and expertise levels, its capacity to deliver on that need and whether this could be best served through the recruitment and retention of young people.
Royal Dornoch Golf Club, which is part of the Highland Golf Links (HGL) partnership, is committed to providing employment to local youngsters who work in all sections of the operation, from green staff and caddie team, to the pro shop and the clubhouse kitchen and front of house.
This year the club employed over 50 full-time, part-time and seasonal staff, with young people making up almost half the total.
On gaining the accreditation, which will remain in place until 2018, Royal Dornoch was praised for its “exceptional” commitment to providing learning and development opportunities for young people, from work experience placements through to on-the-job training, qualifications, apprenticeships and programmes.
Neil Hampton, Royal Dornoch’s General Manager, said the club maintains strong links with local schools and the University of the Highlands and Islands. When recruiting it always looks to offer positions to local people first and also encourages work experience placements.
He added: “We are extremely grateful to the minister for visiting the club and endorsing the work we do here in developing our young members of staff.
“We recognise that our staff are our biggest asset. They help make the Royal Dornoch experience what it is and all have a role to play in ensuring we continue to be recognised as one of the best golfing locations in the world.”
Historic Royal Dornoch Golf Club is preparing to mark 400 years of the game being played on the town’s links in 2016.
Royal Dornoch’s Championship Course has been voted the 6th best golf course in the world by leading magazine Golf Digest and has hosted a number of leading events.
Highland Golf Links also includes Castle Stuart Golf Links and The Nairn Golf Club, as well as the Kingsmills Hotel and Culloden House Hotel, Inverness and the Royal Golf Hotel in Dornoch. The group promotes Play and Stay destination breaks in the region for golfers.
Royal Dornoch Golf Club www.royaldornoch.com
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