GAN Membership

At Accenture, we believe one of the most successful early career paths to skills-based hiring is apprenticeships – a combination of structured training, on-the-job learning, and mentorship with a path to an ongoing career. Our apprenticeships have delivered deep impact and countless ripples of change to our own company and to the communities where we live and work.

Apprenticeships are essential to shaping the future of work. The rise of AI-driven data center roles in automation, energy optimization, and predictive maintenance, for instance, presents a unique chance to expand U.S. apprenticeship programs. By aligning workforce policies with these emerging demands, we can open pathways into high-growth careers while bolstering America’s competitiveness in advanced technology infrastructure.

Apprenticeships are a strategic investment in our future workforce. At Bühler, apprenticeship has been the backbone of our industry’s success and innovation for over 110 years. It is pivotal worldwide, enabling us to build critical capabilities internally where labor markets fall short, sustain a future-ready talent pipeline, and advance diversity in engineering and technology roles. The more we in different industries pull together and foster apprenticeship schemes, the better it is for each individual, for business, and for the world.

Apprenticeship is an exceptional program, tailored to the company’s needs and values, and built on a structured framework. It enables apprentices to enter the workforce upon completing their training, demonstrating strong employability aligned with both company and economic demands. Moreover, apprenticeship is a springboard for a career rooted in continuous learning, opening opportunities across all job levels.

At L’Oréal France, apprenticeships represent a strategic, long-standing investment since 1990, forming a central pillar of our early career hiring strategy. Continuously evolving, our program, redesigned in 2025, emphasizes work-based learning, enabling young talent to gain invaluable practical experience and skills. With almost 1,000 apprentices in France today, they are vital to strengthening our talent pipeline, embodying innovation, ambition, resilience, and agility. By fostering diverse talents, we are actively building future leaders who will shape the beauty industry.

Apprenticeships are part of the broader talent and workforce development commitments aligned to Microsoft Elevate, designed to address critical skills gaps, strengthen workforce diversity, and build a sustainable talent pipeline with technical and human-centric skills essential for the AI era.

At Nestlé, we believe that high-quality apprenticeships nurture the curiosity and entrepreneurial mindset needed to drive innovation.

At SAP, vocational training is a strategic, long-term investment in both people and future skills. Our STAR program creates a direct pipeline of motivated early talent, allowing us to recruit, train, and quickly convert high-potential individuals into full-time contributors while embedding the practical skills and mindset needed for innovation. By aligning hands-on learning with business priorities, vocational training shortens time-to-productivity, strengthens workforce resilience, and ensures we have the right capabilities to meet today’s needs and tomorrow’s challenges. For trainees, the program provides real-world experience, mentorship, and a clear career pathway that accelerates professional growth and long-term employability.

At UBS, we view apprenticeships as a strategic investment for the future of our workforce. Our commercial apprenticeship program has been a cornerstone of UBS’ talent development strategy for decades, offering young people a structured, inclusive, and future-oriented pathway into the financial sector. Apprentices play a vital role in strengthening our internal talent pipeline, contributing to sustainable growth and innovation from the outset.

At GAN Global, we’re proud partner with partners such as the IOE and ILO GBDN to recognize the benefits of including persons with disabilities in the world of work, particularly through adapting work-based learning and apprenticeship programs.

When I finished mandatory school at 15 and walked out of those doors for the last time, I thought my love of sports would define my career. At that time, studying wasn’t what I wanted to spend time on. And so, I started an apprentice job in a small Swiss bank… As Chairman of the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce, board member of GAN Global and head of Switzerland’s largest bank, I know the value of apprenticeships to Swiss business.

46% of our team at ACS identifies as having a disability. What’s remarkable is that we have a 20% higher retention rate amongst those who have a disability. And for those employees who have stayed with the company over 5 year, 60% of them have a disability, so we see the ROI of engaging, training and hiring people with disabilities and we encourage other companies to do so, in our line of work, in construction and other sectors as well.

Our goal was to bring stakeholders together to collaborate on issues and find solutions to adapt vocational training, work-based learning, lifelong learning, and skills development initiatives to the evolving labour market in the manufacturing and industrial sectors. Here in this room, we have employers and business organisations, manufacturers in the industrial sector, investors, TVET institutions, and representatives from government agencies such as Ministries of Employment, Education, and Youth in South Asia and beyond.

Our unwavering focus remains on developing high-quality apprenticeship programs that connect apprentices to the dignity of work.

The impact for the company is even greater than the social impact; it creates happier employees who feel part of a family that contributes to society.

Professionally, working with GAN has been very rewarding. When I was a PhD student, I was taught that apprenticeship systems face a classic problem of collective action. Enterprises may hesitate to invest in training because the skills acquired through apprenticeship are portable. Workers can move, and other firms can poach those who have already been trained. So, the incentive to invest is weakened. But GAN has shown that this problem is not destiny. It can be addressed when enterprises, employers’ organizations, governments and international institutions work together. Through initiatives, advocacy and proactive engagement, GAN has demonstrated that apprenticeship can be built not only as an individual firm-level investment, but as a shared commitment to skills, productivity and decent work.

I am proud of everything the GAN has accomplished since its creation. I still remember being there more than 10 years ago, working with the GAN in its early days, and it has been inspiring to see how much it has grown and evolved over time.

Apprenticeships and skills development matter more than ever, and GAN’s role remains truly impactful. You can count on IOE to continue supporting this important mission.