Investing in Our Future with Graduates

Workforce operations is a specialist discipline. It sits between people, process, payroll and technology, and it rewards consultants who understand all four. The challenge facing our industry is simple. There are not enough of those people, and very few organisations are deliberately creating them.

That is why In-Workforce launched its graduate programme, and why we continue to invest in it. Headquartered in Sheffield and delivering across the UK, Europe and beyond, we made a decision early on that our capability would be grown rather than only bought.

What the Programme Looks Like

The programme is structured around real delivery. Graduates rotate across our five service pillars of Advisory, Implementation, Migration, Professional Services and Managed Services, spending time inside live client engagements rather than observing from the sidelines. They work with UKG Pro Workforce Management and UKG Ready, learn how time, attendance, absence and scheduling data actually behaves, and see how governance and assurance is applied on every project we run.

Each graduate is paired with a senior consultant as a mentor and follows a structured learning path covering platform configuration, testing discipline, data migration principles and client communication. Progress is reviewed formally, and consultancy skills are treated as seriously as technical skills.

One Year On

Arthur Topley joined as our first graduate and has since worked across implementation and support engagements, contributing to testing cycles, configuration work and client documentation.

"Being the first graduate at In-Workforce is a real privilege," Arthur said. "I am excited to be part of a team that values learning and invests in its people. It is a great opportunity to build a career in an industry that is constantly evolving."

Since then the programme has been formalised into an annual intake, with defined competency milestones and a clear route from graduate to consultant.

Why This Matters to Our Clients

Growing our own consultants protects delivery quality. It means the person configuring your absence rules has been trained in our methodology, understands our assurance standards and has been mentored by practitioners who have delivered programmes at scale. It also protects continuity, because capability is built into the business rather than borrowed for a project.

There is a commercial benefit too. A blended team of senior practitioners and developing consultants keeps engagements affordable without diluting expertise, which matters to organisations balancing ambition against budget.

Looking Ahead

We continue to work with local universities, colleges and professional networks to open routes into workforce operations for people who may never have heard of the discipline. Our aim is not simply to fill roles. It is to create careers, develop specialists and raise the standard of consultancy across the market.

If you are a graduate interested in workforce operations, or an organisation that would like to talk about how we resource and deliver engagements, we would be pleased to hear from you.