New GROW Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in the workplace course
Garden Centre Association (GCA) members are being offered a new course that has been launched by the organisation’s Garden Retail Online Workshops (GROW) e-Learning platform this month to help create inclusive workplace environments (March 2025).
This is the 96th course to be added to GROW and it’s available to GCA member garden centres and their teams, as well as Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) member centres too.
GROW’s Instructional Designer, Antony Snow says: “As the UK becomes more culturally diverse, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion has quickly become an essential training topic for all organisations.
“Employees at all levels, whether they are an employer, manager, supervisor or part-time assistant, have a responsibility to support and promote Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the workplace, so this course has been written to help our members to create inclusive environments that reflect the diverse backgrounds of their colleagues and customers in their centres.”
GROW offers a wide range of essential courses on topics to help employees, so they can effectively help any customer and colleague who needs assistance.
GCA CEO, Peter Burks continues: “Our members say GROW is an important, cost-effective way of providing staff training and personal development. It’s accessible every day of the year, at any hour of the day, making it perfect for garden centre staff to use when convenient for them.
“If you’d like to find out more about GROW, or this course and the other 95 provided, please contact Antony or take a look at our dedicated webpage www.gca.org.uk/gca-grow-information. You can also email Antony via grow@gca.org.uk.”
GROW started as an initial idea, devised during a strategy meeting of the GCA’s executive committee, to bring education and training tailored to individuals employed in the garden centre industry.
It’s a self-funding and non-profit facility with any surpluses being reinvested into its ongoing development and improvement. There are currently 96 courses and more than 12,000 users throughout the UK.
These courses include a wide range of topics that cover horticulture, customer service, food safety, regulated sales and health and safety.
All the courses have been written by experts in their field and are designed to apply to a garden centre environment, with the content for the horticultural courses drawing on the vast experience of members within the GCA.
The new course is accessible immediately to existing subscribers.
For further information, please visit www.gca.org.uk.