Quality of Life, Brazil
Luiz Carlos Collino, retired Nestlé manager and Nestlé Brazil personnel development consultant. “The benefits that the Quality of Life program brought me are very positive and they can be shown through numbers. I have lost nine kilograms and had a 13.8% reduction in body fat through increased physical activities and balanced nutrition. Being fit made me feel psychologically balanced, with less stress and better moods, and this can be seen all the time on my face.”

The Nestlé Apprentice Programme in Colombia
"It’s not only a matter of learning bakery; we also learn about microbiology, finance, budgeting, costs, sales, how to treat the customer, and so on. That is the reason I think that this is really something that is going to give meaning to my life. It will be very useful for everything.” Jair Andrés Santa, Apprentice Baker, La Rosa Factory Dosquebradas, Nestlé Columbia.

The Nestlé Apprentice Program in Colombia has been running since 1960, and has continued throughout the political turmoil the country has experienced in that time. Today, with a national training requirement corresponding to 5% of employees, 24 apprentices aged 18 to 22 begin each year, normally after completing their secondary school studies. They are sponsored by Nestlé but their training is given in a government institute, SENA, combined with on-the-job training in the company. The program varies from 9 to 18 months depending on the sector: the choice includes administration, accounting and finance, maintenance, laboratory functions, bakery and electrical trades – skills that are not Nestlé-specific but highly transferable. A high proportion of ex-apprentices are still with the company 20 years after their training.